It was just before dawn on Sept. 17, 1987.
Guadalupe V. Candelaria, her husband and two children were
waiting in the drizzle and fog at the Laguna Seca Raceway in
Monterey.
Hollister – It was just before dawn on Sept. 17, 1987.
Guadalupe V. Candelaria, her husband and two children were waiting in the drizzle and fog at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey.
It wasn’t a race that drew the Candelaria family from San Juan Bautista and about 50,000 other people out into the cold that morning. They were waiting for something more important: a visit from Pope John Paul II.
“There was a lot of excitement in the air,” Candelaria said. “Then we heard his (the pope’s) helicopter. As it lowered through the sky, the sun came out and the clouds opened-up. It was almost as if the sun came with him.”
Celebrating Mass with the pope that morning is a fond memory for Candelaria, who is the office manager at Old Mission San Juan Bautista.
“It was very special,” she said, “I felt that I was experiencing something very historical.”
The Vatican said Friday morning that John Paul was in “very grave” condition after suffering blood poisoning from a urinary tract infection the previous night, but that he was “fully conscious and extraordinarily serene” and declined to be hospitalized.
By Friday night, the pope’s condition had worsened, and he was suffering from kidney failure and shortness of breath but had not lost consciousness as of 9:30pm, the Vatican said.
“This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope,” Angelo Comastri, the pope’s vicar general for Vatican City told the crowd.
As the pontiff comes closer to death, parishioners of the Monterey Diocese – which includes San Benito County – are holding those good memories close and taking comfort in their community and their belief that death is not final.
“When something like this happens, with the Pope in ill health, you get the feeling that we’re part of a universal church,” said Kevin Drabinski, communications director for the Monterey Diocese. “You get the feeling that people all over the world are praying for him. It highlights the spirit of a universal religious community.”
Bishop of Monterey Sylvester Ryan will celebrate Mass on Monday at 7:30pm at San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey.
“If the pope is still living, the Mass will be said for his intention,” Drabinski said. “If he has passed, it will be a memorial.”
“I suspect that when the pope passes each parish will have a similar Mass,” he said.
“He was a strong, powerful, forceful leader,” said Father Dan Derry, head of St. Mary Parish in Gilroy, reflecting on the pope’s accomplishments. “He’s been a great leader – a good image of Christ as a shepherd with the special care he had for the marginalized, social justice and human dignity. He combined that with a great deal of personal holiness and personal appeal.”
In Morgan Hill, the local Roman Catholic community was praying for the pope’s health at St. Catherine Church where a Mass was celebrated at noon on Friday by about 20 people, according to a church representative. The special Mass was in addition to the regular daily Mass held weekday mornings, the representative said, and was a “spontaneous” event resulting from the number of calls the church received requesting church members unite in prayer for the pope.
Meanwhile, halfway across the globe, a crowd up to 70,000 people prayed and stood vigil late into the night at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Wrapping themselves in blankets, many tearfully gazed at John Paul’s third-floor windows, where the lights remained on early Saturday.
John Paul’s health declined sharply Thursday when he developed a high fever brought on by the infection. The pope suffered septic shock and heart problems during treatment for the infection, the Vatican said.
Septic shock involves both bacteria in the blood and a consequent over-relaxing of the blood vessels. The vessels, which are normally narrow and taut, get floppy in reaction to the bacteria and can’t sustain any pressure. That loss of blood pressure is catastrophic, making the heart work hard to compensate for the collapse.
Even the fittest patients need special care and medicine to survive.
“The chances of an elderly person in this condition with septic shock surviving 24 to 48 hours are slim – about 10 to 20 percent, but that would be in an intensive care unit with very aggressive treatment,” said Dr. Gianni Angelini, a professor of cardiac surgery at Bristol University in England.
On Friday morning, John Paul asked aides to read him the biblical passage describing the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christ took to his Crucifixion and burial, Vatican Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters. The pope followed attentively and made the sign of the cross, he said.
John Paul also asked that scripture of the so-called “Third Hour” be read to him. The passage is significant because according to tradition, Christ died at three o’clock in the afternoon.
“This is surely an image I have never seen in these 26 years,” the usually unflappable Navarro-Valls said.
Choking up, he walked out of the pope’s room.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com.
