Pope John Paul II- A Pastoral Leader

Pope John Paul II-A Pastoral Leader
He was our leader, giving pastoral care especially to the poor and sick of the world. He travelled to 129 countries to see his people, prompting world peace and love.

Pope John Paul II had passed on, our Holy Father on Earth, our Earthly Shepherd of the Flock had relinquished his post and gone to Heaven.

He was made Pope in 1978, the year I was born, but yet I only know about him today on his demise. The reports on him and the Catholic faith is at worse, inspiring. I cannot describe how proud I am to be called a Catholic nor can I explain the pride of being one of the flock to that Polish Shepherd.

When he came to Singapore in 1986, I was but a mere 8 year old. All I could remember was that it was raining and I was feeling restless to be at a mass in the huge stadium, drenched. Little was I to know that Singapore would be one of the 129 countries the Pope was to visit in his lifetime. And that figure stuck me, hard.

How come he goes about visiting these countries? What is his purpose in doing that? Or rather, what is the role of the Pope?

In my little way, I understand. He travels to gather his flock. He travels so that his flock can see him and learn from his examples, of an untiring servant of Christ.

Then I wondered, how come he doesn't need to do adminstrative work? Doesn't he need to build churches? And how come he doesn't go around appealing for donation drives?

But instead, he goes about writing his spiritual messages, broadcasting it through mass medias, travelling to provide pastoral care, meeting the different spiritual leaders for world peace, comforting the poor and the sick, protesting against the terrorists and wars and most importantly leading the Catholics in prayer and love.

And that is why Pope John Paul II is our contemporary hero, where there is even a comic book by Marvel Heroes depicting his life story.

I pray that when other spiritual groups and our fellow Christian brothers and sisters who read about him would be touched. Perhaps Pope JPII could bring about unifications in his demise.

And perhaps our own Church leaders can learn from him. That we do not need administration leaders, we only want Pastoral leaders.