Media members recall John Paul

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, RSM, will remember Pope John Paul II as "the pastor of everybody."

Speaking to The Evangelist before she flew to Rome to help coordinate media coverage of the papal funeral and ensuing conclave to elect the pope's successor, Sister Mary Ann said he "never lost the common touch. Historians will see him as a very great figure of the 20th century -- and, now, the 21st."

Sister Mary Ann, a native of the Albany Diocese and former staff writer for The Evangelist, is deputy director for media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She had personal contact with Pope John Paul since the early days of his pontificate.

"My first really big story for The Evangelist was covering the Holy Father's visit [to the U.S.] in 1979," she remembered. As they encountered the then-athletic and active pope, she said, those in attendance realized they "hadn't seen that kind of emotion and energy since John F. Kennedy."

Compassion

The Pope's connection to his flock was also evident to Rev. Kenneth Doyle, Albany diocesan chancellor for public information and pastor of St. Catherine's parish in Albany.

Father Doyle spent three years as Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service in the 1980s and later handled media relations for the U.S. Catholic bishops. He was also editor of The Evangelist from 1973-'81.

Father Doyle labeled Pope John Paul "a very compassionate man." As an example, he cited a 1983 visit by the pontiff to a tiny church in San Francisco, where he met a group of people with AIDS.

"He put his hands on their heads and blessed them," said Father Doyle. "It was just the essence of him coming out."

Spontaneity

That desire to connect with people often made advance planning for the Pope nearly impossible, according to Sister Mary Ann.

"He always reached out. It used to drive the Secret Service crazy," she remembered. "They'd have something all planned, and he'd see a handicapped person or a child and go right over."

She had her own encounter with that aspect of the pontiff when he visited Denver for World Youth Day in 1993. Sister Mary Ann helped to coordinate complex details for one event; after the time-consuming effort was complete, Pope John Paul went around and personally thanked everyone in the room.

"We're not that important," Sister Mary Ann remarked to a co-worker, who responded, "We are to him!"

"The Pope didn't see us as functionaries. He saw us as his people," Sister Mary Ann told The Evangelist.

Young people were especially dear to the Pope; Sister Mary Ann said that "he was the only leader I can ever recall that reached out to young people."

Her most vivid memory of the Pope was simply watching him interact with youth at World Youth Day in Denver: "You could see the humanness of the man."

Sense of humor

The papal sense of humor was often in evidence to those who knew him. Both Father Doyle and Sister Mary Ann remarked on how Pope John Paul often kibitzed with the media as they peppered him with questions on the plane during his travels.

Once, said Sister Mary Ann, the Pope was asked why he was on his way to the Netherlands when his visit wasn't welcomed by many in that country. "Because it's my duty and they invited me," he told reporters.

After completing his successful visit, he saw Sister Mary Ann again and teased her with, "You see why I had to go?"

"What struck me about him most was his brilliance," Father Doyle added. On those plane trips, "he would spend part of the time with the journalists. You could ask him a question in any one of seven or eight languages, and he'd answer in that language!"

Evidencing a sense of humor again, Pope John Paul joked with media on a 1982 trip to England to meet with then-Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie. When asked if full union with the Anglican Church was possible for Catholics by the year 2000, said Father Doyle, "The Pope winked at me and said, 'I share in the prophetic mission of the Church, but I am not a prophet!'"

Teacher

Despite his amicable demeanor, Pope John Paul was known for his firmness on certain issues. In 1987, Father Doyle remembered him telling Americans on a stop in Detroit, "America is a country uniquely blessed with material abundance,...and your worthy national vocation as Americans is to take care of people who have less than you."

In 1989, Father Doyle continued, martial law was in effect in Poland, the Solidarity labor movement was prohibited, and the Pope's countrymen were in despair.

As the pontiff traveled to Poland, Father Doyle's fellow reporters speculated that Pope John Paul would handle the situation delicately, being "low-key" about his disagreement with the state of Poland.

"Just the opposite!" Father Doyle stated. "Every opportunity he had, he lauded Solidarnosc [Solidarity]. The Polish bishops said to us, 'We knew he would be like this.'"

Pope John Paul also demanded to meet with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa before leaving Poland -- and got his way. That historic meeting spurred the labor movement on.

"More than any other individual, he brought down the Iron Curtain," Father Doyle added.

'Toughness'

That's because the pontiff had no problem with holding sometimes unpopular views -- something Father Doyle called "psychological toughness."

He once observed the Holy Father being asked if it bothered him that many people disagreed with him on a certain issue; the Pope retorted, "I am not the first. Jesus was the first."

Pope John Paul was not above getting angry, either. "I saw him get mad once, really mad," said Father Doyle. The Pope was returning from visiting a refugee camp in Thailand, where he'd learned that Western countries were offering to take in the refugees to save them.

"It's all very well and good that nations are willing to adopt these people, but where they really belong is in their native countries!" the Pope said in anger.

"It was a real shot at the diplomats from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam," Father Doyle said. "He said, 'It is not a political question; it is a human question.' You could hear him all over the plane."

Immediately, however, the Pope regretted his outburst. "If I raised my voice," he said more calmly, "it's because I care about those people."

Passing years

Father Doyle and Sister Mary Ann both spoke of the physical changes in the Pope over the years. A month after the failed assassination attempt on the pope, his doctor told Father Doyle, "This man has the body of a boy."

Sister Mary Ann often recalls a Scripture quotation in reference to Pope John Paul's later life: "Power is made perfect in infirmity."

"He was the world's moral leader," Father Doyle summed up the late pontiff.

Women and pope

As she prepared to leave for Rome for her media work, Sister Mary Ann applauded the Pope's advancement of women to positions of authority in the Church, including serving as chancellors and vice-chancellors of dioceses. "They're at the table," she said of female Catholics.

Helping with media coverage of the Pope's funeral and watching his successor being chosen, she added, "is the closing of a significant chapter in my life. I feel very blessed to be able to be a part of history."

(4/7/05)