Knock: The able-bodied and the infirm - all came to Knock yesterday to remember an earlier visitor, reports Marese McDonagh
Many people at Knock yesterday had planned their visit to the Co Mayo shrine long before the Pope's condition became grave and were there to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, a date that he himself had inserted in the church calendar.
But many more were in Knock because they felt it was the place to be as they mourned the death of the man who had visited the village less than a year after he took office.
Mgr Joe Quinn, parish priest of Knock, who as curate in a local parish in 1979 was the MC for the Pope's visit there, described the atmosphere at the shrine in recent days as one of "affection and solidarity".
"There is great sadness as a lot of people would have been here in 1979 and so they feel a kind of personal bond," he said.
All day long, as visitors made the Stations of the Cross, filled empty Lucozade bottles or more conventional containers with holy water, or joined the snake-like queue in the church where 30 priests were hearing confessions, the talk was of Pope John Paul II and his impact.
Mary Lehane from Cork city did the round trip of almost 400 miles because she wanted to be in Knock on such a day. "Because he had been here, I knew the response would be here," she said.
Dolores McDonough from St Louis in the USA said: "I sobbed the other night when I realised the end was near but I was very happy for him when he passed away."
First stop for most pilgrims to Knock is the Apparition Chapel where the Pope blessed the statues of Our Lady, St Joseph and St John, the recreation of the vision reported by 15 local people in 1879.
Yesterday his portrait was placed on the altar beside a candle as he was remembered at Masses in churches around the shrine.
Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazarotto had been due to celebrate Mass in the Basilica at Knock yesterday but had to change his plans because of the Pope's death. Instead, Archbishop of Tuam Dr Michael Neary was there and he commented on the extraordinary scenes of recent days around the globe as " the whole family of humanity seemed to keep vigil" with the Pope on his final journey.
The Archbishop described Pope John Paul as a man of granite faith who reached out to people of all religions and none.
"I believe that history will take some time to evaluate the giant that was Pope John Paul and we have been very privileged to have lived through his Pontificate, " he said.
Seán Egan, a native of Knock, surveyed the crowd estimated at 10,000 and recalled the logistical nightmare of preparing for 450,000 visitors in 1979. "There were no mobile phones then and indeed Knock had those wind up phones where you had to get the exchange to connect you," he recalled.
As he filled a bottle with holy water, Michael Doyle, a native of Kilkelly, Co Mayo now living in Tipperary said he did not feel sad at the Pope's passing. "He has done his job and he did a good job," he said.
