Sunday, January 24, 1999
Pope's visit stirs particular passion
Many Tristaters will make trip to St. Louis
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The world's nearly 1 billion Roman Catholics surely would understand if Pope John Paul II retreated to the privileged seclusion of the Vatican to live out his last days, as many popes before him have done.
He is, after all, 78 years old, an advanced age for someone born in rural Poland in the 1920s. He has survived an assassination attempt and repeated surgeries, and his slurred speech and shuffling gait are widely attributed to Parkinson's disease.
Instead, the leader of the Roman Catholic church continues the grueling travels that have marked his 20-year papacy. He is in Mexico now, and about 500 Tristate resi dents plan to travel to St. Louis this week to get a glimpse of him.
Those making the pilgrimage admire John Paul's work against communism and abortion and on behalf of the world's poor. In the waning days of his papacy, though, his sheer determination to keep going despite infirmity is what most inspires many followers.
“In his weakness he's strong and getting stronger, and because of his suffering he understands people who are suffering,” said Grace Vo gelsang of Middletown, 70, who prays for the pope every day and is driving with friends to St. Louis. “He'll never stop until the day he dies. He'll stand up and speak for what is right. It's just beautiful.”
The trip to St. Louis is Pope John Paul's third to the Midwest, and its schedule reflects his physical condition. Unlike earlier trips to Chicago and Detroit, which were part of ambitious, multicity jaunts, St. Louis is his only U.S. destination. His stay there will last about 30 hours.
But that he's coming at all made many locals jump at the chance to go to St. Louis, even if it means taking off work, taking kids out of school and driving six or more hours in unpredictable January weather. The chance to see the pope is tinged with the knowledge that this might be the last chance.
“I'm really looking forward to seeing him. Here's a man who will go down in history as one of the great men of this century,” said Louis Rekers, 75, of Wyoming, who is driving to St. Louis with his wife, Jeanne. Recounting the pope's accomplishments, Mr. Rekers slips into the past tense.
“He understood the politics of the world around him and he responded to it. He was the kind of man who didn't sit in a corner and moan about it, he went out and met it,” said Mr. Rekers, a member of St. James of the Valley Church.
The pope is scheduled to make a 20-city, 12-day trip to his native Poland this summer, and he talks often of wanting to visit the Middle East in 2000.
For many Catholics, the pope's willingness to keep up his schedule despite infirmity is in stark contrast to earlier popes, who often dropped out of sight years before their deaths.
“I'm old enough to remember, I was a seminarian in Rome during the last years of the papacy of Pius XII, and the older he got, the less he saw of everybody,” said the Most Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk, archbishop of Cincinnati, who will lunch with the pope and other bishops Wednesday.
Archbishop Pilarczyk spent several days in Rome last May as part of his ad limina visit, which bishops make every five years to update the pope on their dioceses. Although John Paul obviously was weaker, the archbishop saw no signs of either mental or spiritual decline.
“My impression is the pope has always been a very energetic person, always on the go, always writing, thinking, talking. I perceive all of those energies have been maintained even as his physical state has weakened,” he said.
The pope's admirers see lessons in his willingness to remain in the public eye as he ages. Respect for all life has been a central message of his papacy, and what better way to argue against euthanasia than to allow oneself to be seen in physical decline?
“He is suffering, but there's a reason for his suffering and he's not dwelling on it,” said Linda Abner, 33, of Villa Hills, who is taking her three young children on a whirlwind trip to St. Louis. “I think he's a good example for everyone — he goes on and doesn't blame God for it.”
And in the pope's progression from a robust skiing-and-hiking enthusiast to his current state, many see themselves: what they are going through now, or what they may experience as they age. His willingness to remain in the public eye, to remain on the road though he no longer has to, makes people such as Claire Moriconi feel they know and love him even more.
“This pope seems so close to the people, probably because he travels so much. I feel like I know him. When I was a child the popes seemed so far away and out of touch,” said Mrs. Moriconi, 61, the mayor of Crescent Springs.
“You kind of wonder if this will be the last chance (to see him). That's why I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to go, because I wonder if he will take us into the new millennium.”
Pope's visit stirs particular passion
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