Catherine Merlino and her husband, Paul, got up early Friday morning to watch the televised funeral of Pope John Paul II. Paul Merlino, 93, then went to the 6:30 a.m. Mass at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg; his wife went to the 8 a.m. Mass. “We’re Catholic,” Catherine Merlino said with a shrug after attending a memorial Mass for the pope at the cathedral yesterday afternoon. “There’s a kind of reverence for a man who suffered a lot and still, I feel, he did a good job,” she said. Mary Stoner, of Latrobe, wouldn’t have missed the service. The pope was one of a kind, she said. “He was the best disciple here on earth. To experience that in our lifetime, I am in awe,” Stoner said after a service attended by about 500 people. Many of those attending the service were families with children, a testament to the pope’s popularity among young people. John Paul was a valiant warrior who the world watched “wear out, not suddenly, but step by step,” the Rev. Roger Statnick, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, said during the homily. In the beginning of his papacy, John Paul “had energy, life and a message, a message full of courage and hope … His energy was contagious, and his message both challenged and comforted us,” Statnick said. He kept going through illness, hospitalizations and surgeries. The pope stood up “against the culture of death and injustice, in abortion, war, genocide, the death penalty, economic exploitation in any form,” Statnick said. But 26 years in the office took its toll on the pontiff. “We could see him wearing out, walking with a cane and then not walking, having to lift his head to see straight in front of him, slurring his words and then unable to speak despite his bravest efforts,” Statnick said, adding that he painted this picture of John Paul as “his last gift to us.” “For as we watched him wear out, we were seeing through him to the truth of his life that he proclaimed as the truth for humanity,” he said. In Rome, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, also spoke of John Paul’s suffering in his homily. “None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing,” said Ratzinger, who is mentioned as a possible successor to John Paul. Concelebrating the Mass at the Greensburg cathedral were five other priests and Bishop Emeritus Anthony G. Bosco. Statnick said the world watched John Paul “wear out, wear thin and finally wear through hearts hardened by suffering, death, destruction, injustice and selfishness.” “He wore out thirsting for God for all peoples,” Statnick said, likening the pope’s thirst for God to the thirst that Jesus felt on the cross. The Rev. Richard Curci, pastor of Mt. St. Peter Parish in New Kensington who is on sabbatical leave in Rome, said a crowd of about 300,000 in St. Peter’s Square was reluctant to leave after the funeral. About 2 million people were expected to attend the ceremony. The Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman stadium, served as a makeshift hostel for thousands of pilgrims. Huge video screens were set up there and around Rome to carry the funeral service live. “Nobody seemed to want to leave. It was like a sacred holiday,” Curci said from his room at the North American College, a pontifical seminary. He said one of the most beautiful sights of the ceremony was when people applauded as the pope’s body was recessed into the basilica. “There were so many priests waving goodbye,” he said. Curci took a stroll through the square at about 9:45 p.m. last night and people were still there, praying and lingering. He said he was impressed by the sacrifices the pilgrims made to get to the Vatican to pay their respects to the pontiff. “The money, the time … some people from Poland traveled 35 hours, Spain — 28 hours. It certainly has been a pilgrimage,” he said. Statnick said the pope’s pilgrimage purportedly ended with the words “Amen — So be it.” John Paul “was worn thin in his flesh, but the responses of the crowds these past days reveal the fullness of the spirit in his life,” he said.

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