April 2, 2005

As I am dictating these words for the friar’s website on Saturday, April 2nd, we are all deeply moved by what appears to be the last days and hours of the life of our great Pope. The news is filled with examples of his peace and acceptance as he faces the inevitable. I dictate these words with a real reluctance because I have to put them in on Friday and don’t know what the news will be on Sunday. It does occur to everyone that Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday and there will be an incredible appropriateness for the Holy Father to come before the Throne of Divine Mercy, which he has celebrated and proclaimed so clearly during his Pontificate.
People from the press are asking me what I think about the end of his Pontificate. Everyone knows that for years I have considered this Holy Father one of the greatest Popes in history. It may well be, even from a secular point of view, that he is the greatest pope since the middle ages because he had such an important part to play in the collapse of the Soviet Empire. This has been even acknowledged by Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union.
Naturally every one of us is praying for the Holy Father in his last days and as he comes, as we all must come before the judgment seat of God. It is never wise to proclaim somebody a saint before they are canonized. Pope Honorius wanted to canonize St. Clare at her funeral and the cardinal’s dissuaded him because she might need the prayers. She was canonized two years later. May I suggest that you pray fervently for our Holy Father in life or in death. We all need prayers and this holy man deserves our prayerful support. That prayers and petitions for other people work is something that I know all too well. I have seen the effects of intercessory prayers for the living and the almost dead in my case, so let us pray for our great pope.

-Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR

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