Posted by bethesdabob on April 13, 2005, at 12:19:02
In reply to My thoughts on Pope John Paul, posted by messadivoce on April 9, 2005, at 1:32:09
In 1979 I had the great pleasure of being part of the protective security detail that guarded the Pope when he visited Washington DC.
The Pope's handlers had worked out this very strict schedule, one minute here, two minutes here, etc. His first stop was to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the grounds of Catholic University. The Shrine had a large red carpet unrolled from the entrance to the curb (about 100 yds.) the sides of the carpet were roped off and there were easily over 10,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse.
As soon as the limo stopped and the Pope got out the people went nuts, at no time did the Pope's feet ever touch the carpet, he plunged right into the crowd, kissing babies, hugging children and shaking hands with many of the folks that came to meet him, those of us on his detail all feared something happening to him but the Pope had no fear.
A few years later after the Pope had been shot five times in the chest by Mehmet Agca the Pope made a visit to Fatima, where the blessed Mother had visited young children before WW I. The Pope took the five bullets that had lodged in his chest and put them in a silver box and laid them on the altar over the spot. The attempted assassination I learned took place on the date the Virgin first appeared to the children, he credits her intervention with his being alive.
poster:bethesdabob
thread:480264
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20050312/msgs/483746.html