CNS STORY: Pope offers silent Easter blessing, sends faithful written message

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CNS Story:

POPE-EASTER Mar-28-2005 (1,010 words) With photos. xxxi

Pope offers silent Easter blessing, sends faithful written message

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II offered the city and the world his solemn Easter blessing in silence.

Although the 84-year-old pope had a microphone March 27 and mouthed the words of the blessing, the only sound heard was his deep, rasping breathing.

Holy Week and Easter 2005 marked the first time since his 1978 election that Pope John Paul did not personally preside over the liturgies commemorating Jesus' last supper with his disciples, his suffering, death and resurrection.

In his annual Easter message, read by the Vatican secretary of state, Pope John Paul focused on how the risen Lord has remained among his disciples in the Eucharist and in the Scriptures.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus said to Jesus, "Stay with us, Lord," a request renewed each day by Christians around the world, the pope wrote.

Sitting in the window of his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul turned the pages of his text as it was read by Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The pope underwent a tracheotomy Feb. 24 to ease breathing difficulties. The last time he spoke in public was March 13, a few hours before being released from Rome's Gemelli hospital.

In the text of the pope's Easter message, he prayed to Christ, "Stay with us, faithful friend and sure support for humanity on its journey through history.

"Living word of the Father, give hope and trust to all who are searching for the true meaning of their lives," he said.

"Bread of eternal life, nourish those who hunger for truth, freedom, justice and peace," the pope prayed.

Pope John Paul's message asked for special prayers for peace, especially in the Middle East and in Africa "where so much blood continues to be shed."

Among the crowd in St. Peter's Square, Angela Dinan of Shannon, Ireland, said that for her 70th birthday present her daughter gave her the gift of a trip to Rome to celebrate Easter with the pope.

She was not disappointed that he did not celebrate the Mass or proclaim the blessing.

"His presence was enough," Dinan said. "We are praying for him. He shows all people that in weakness they are still valuable."

The Booth family from Chicago -- Kevin and Kim and their children, Brittany, Katherine and William -- is not Catholic, but wanted to see Pope John Paul.

"You don't have to be Catholic to be moved by this," Kim said. "Everyone was holding their breath to see if he would make an appearance. We did not expect to hear him."

Ryan Rooney, a 19-year-old student at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, attended the Mass with a group of his peers.

Rooney said Easter was the first time he had ever seen Pope John Paul in person and "it was wonderful."

"My prayer is not so much for him, but for the world to see who he is: the vicar of Christ on earth," Rooney said. "His being at the window, being present says so much. He loves us so much that even though he is suffering he comes to the window."

Traditionally, the pope returns to his window on Easter Monday to lead the noon recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer.

Although hundreds of people had gathered in the square March 28 hoping to see the pope, and although the Vatican television cameras shifted their focus from St. Peter's Basilica to the papal apartment at 11:50 a.m., the pope did not appear.

At the Vatican's Good Friday of the Lord's Passion liturgy, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa ended his homily giving voice to a thought on many minds: "Get well soon. Come back soon, Holy Father, Easter is not Easter without you."

Pope John Paul had watched the Holy Week and Easter liturgies on television, sending messages read at the beginning of each service, but disappointing the crowds that had hoped to see him in person.

In his message to the thousands of people who gathered in the night March 25 at Rome's Colosseum for the Stations of the Cross, the pope wrote, "I, too, offer my sufferings so that God's plan would be fulfilled and his word would spread among the nations.

"I, in turn, am close to those who are tried by suffering at this moment. I pray for each of them," the pope wrote.

Those gathered at the Colosseum and those watching on television knew the pope was watching as well.

Big screens set up at the Colosseum showed the pope, dressed in his white soutane and wearing the red stole he would have worn at the service, watching the Stations of the Cross on television in his private chapel.

The television cameras showed the pope only from behind and slightly to the side. His face was never shown in any of the repeated shots broadcast over the course of 90 minutes.

As he would have done had he been at the Colosseum, Pope John Paul held a crucifix during the proclamation, reading, meditation and prayer recited for the last station.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote the meditations for the Colosseum service and presided in the pope's name over the March 26 Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica.

During the Mass, the cardinal welcomed into the Catholic Church -- by baptizing, confirming and giving them the Eucharist -- a 10-year-old Italian girl, two adult women from Japan, a woman from Congo and a woman from Peru.

In his homily, Cardinal Ratzinger said following Christ means listening to "the living word of God that corrects us, renews us and shows us the true values that are important for the world and society."

"Following Christ means having compassion for the suffering, having a heart for the poor; it also means having the courage to defend the faith against ideologies, having trust in the church and in its interpretation and application of the divine word to current circumstances," the cardinal said.

END

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