Brian Sees the Pope

On the last weekend of May, Pope Benedict XVI came to Poland to “walk in the footsteps” of Pope John Paul II. After spending a day in Warsaw, he arrived in Krakow on Friday evening. At about 8 p.m. I was walking through the main market square and I noticed all of the people waiting for the Pope’s motorcade to pass by. Not being able to understand the local media I did not know what time he was scheduled to arrive so I just waited. It was interesting to observe the crowd as they waited for him. It was a quiet and reserved crowd, or maybe the better word would be reverent. No one was yelling, and not much loud talking either. Cell phone chatter was to a minimum. But at 9:30, when the motorcade came down Grodzka Street, they erupted into cheers and waved thousands of their yellow and white Papal flags. And as luck would have it, or was it divine intervention, the Pope and his entourage passed by my spot 2 times. Of course, he was in his Popemobile, or as they say in Europe, “papamobile”. And there was a large phalanx of security and media vehicles. So around the square he went once, waiving like you’ve seen all Popes waive. Although I had a good view, it was interesting to watch the reply on TV the next day. I saw the replay on the monitor of the television studio that had been erected on the square. I was able to watch a local anchorwoman lead the news program while reporters cut in from different parts of the city. I did see far more on the replay than I did on Friday night. But it did not matter because Sunday was the big day.

On Sunday I attended Mass with the Pope. My closest million friends and I assembled on the Blonia (think Central Park in NYC) for the 2 ½ hour Mass. If you have ever seen images of Cracovians assembled for prior Papal visits, or on the evening that John Paul II died, then you saw them on the Blonia. Free tickets were available from the churches around town so I picked up 3 of them so that Ken Daniels and Kate Dailey, two other ex-patriots, could also attend.

We met at Kate’s apartment at 7:30 a.m. and proceeded to walk to the Blonia. No map was needed as everyone just followed the crush of people doing the same. In fact, there were so many people that we just walked in the streets, much to the chagrin of the drivers. When we arrived at the park we realized that we were at the opposite end from where our assigned section was. To give you an idea of the layout, the park was cut into pie-shaped sectors and everyone had a ticket for one of them. The problem was that we had to get from 3 o’clock on the dial to 10 o’clock. So we decided to take the straightest path but were turned back after awhile because we were not allowed to pass through sector “E” to get to “A”. So we backtracked and made it to one of the half-moon roads that bisected the pie shapes. Then we hit a major roadblock. The security force was linking arms to close off the path because they wanted to get a security vehicle through. But you know what a crowd does when it can’t go any further. It continues to press against the obstacle because the people in the back do not know what is going on at the front. (Do you remember that infamous Who concert in Cincinnati on December 3rd, 1979?) At about this time I had flashbacks to my second, and last, New Years Eve in Times Square and the plate glass window of the Burger King that I almost went through. (Now you know why it was my last.) But back to the crowd. At about this time the guards opened up a path to allow us to exit the main path so we walked to the back and eventually made it to the entrance to our sector. But there were so many people standing in it that we decided to walk further back to get a spot of grass to sit on. We wound up in an uncrowded area with a good view of the large TV screens and the altar to the left of us. All of that and we still had 20 minutes to spare until the 9:30 Mass.

The Mass itself was full of pomp, pageantry and reverence for God. There was a very large symphony orchestra that performed some beautiful music. There were introductions of the President of Poland and other dignitaries and words of thanks for people who made the event possible.

The Pope made his opening prayer in Polish but did the remainder of speaking in Italian. His homily was translated into Polish as he spoke. Then came Holy Communion. During the Eucharistic Prayer, hundreds of priests and altar boys (no girls) spread out among the masses and prepared to give communion. Then towards the end of communion, I saw people leaving in droves and thought that they were trying to beat the crowds out of the park. But they weren’t, they were flocking to the fence line to get in position to see the Pope pass by one more time.

As the Mass ended we made a fast walk for the road out of the park and back to the center of town. After a couple of detours we finally made it to a good lunch spot where we sat and watched the people go by hoping the crowds would die down by the time we finished. But they did not. It is hard to imagine a continuous stream of people for more than hour. The largest crowds I remember of late have been the ones for the Beale Street Music Festival each May. But at only 50,000 people it was more like a gathering than a crowd.

As I write this I am digesting the experiences of the weekend. Here I am 5,163 miles away from home and I have the opportunity to see the Pope and hear him celebrate Mass. His tour to Poland was billed as “his following in the footsteps of John Paul II”. But Pope Benedict was not the only one following in someone’s footsteps. You see, in 1964-65, New York City hosted the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow Park. (If you saw “Men in Black” you saw the fairgrounds that had been used.) I remember attending the fair but years later my mother told me that the night after we went; she and my dad went back to attend the Mass that Pope Paul VI celebrated. So 40 plus years later I have walked in the footsteps of my parents.

For those who are interested, what follows is the itinerary of Pope Benedict’s visit to Poland:

The Vatican release of the May 25-28, 2006, apostolic trip to Poland, was made public April 26, and includes papal visits to: Warsaw; Czestochowa, the site of shrine of the Black Madonna; Krakow; Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II; Kalwaria Zebrzydowska; and the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Friday, May 26. Benedict XVI will celebrate morning Mass in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square. In the afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to Czestochowa where he will visit the Shrine of the Virgin of Jasna Gora and meet with religious, seminarians and representatives from Catholic movements and institutes of consecrated life. He will then travel to Krakow where he will spend the night in the archbishop's place.

- Saturday, May 27. The pope will celebrate a private Mass in the archbishop's palace in Krakow before traveling to Wadowice, where he will visit the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and the house in which John Paul II was born, and later meet local inhabitants in the town's Rynek Square. He will then visit the shrine of the Virgin of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and upon his return to Krakow, visit the shrine of Divine Mercy and Wawel Cathedral, and, meet with young people in the city's Blonia Park.

- Sunday, May 28. Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass in Blondie Park, and pray the “Regina Coeli,” before traveling to the former concentration camp and the center for dialogue and prayer at Auschwitz and participating in a prayer meeting in memory of victims in the former concentration camp of Birkenau.

Photos:
#1 - During Mass. #2 - People watching from Kosciusko Mound. #3 - The Papa Mobile as the Pope arrived for Mass. #4 - Looking out over the sea of people estimated to be between 1 and 1 1/2 million people.