Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks to many of you for your messages, particularly those expressing

condolences on the Pope's death. I am not going to be able to reply

individually right now--not only have I just returned from a week in

Ontario, but I am getting calls and e-mails from the media wanting

interviews and am trying to fit those in with school and spending time at

St. Peter's. (I gave my first interview at the baggage carousel at the

airport.)

I will try and send a group e-mail whenever there is something to report.

Today's big impression is simply magnitude. The scale of the arrangements

around St. Peter's is hard to describe: the funeral is five days away, but

the large boulevard leading to the Square is already closed to traffic and

filled with people. There are hundreds if not thousands of police, army,

first aid workers etc., gathered from all over the country. I noticed that

even the Forest Fire Protection service has joined the security team! The

media presence is astonishing--reporters, cameras, dishes and trucks are

everywhere. (I have had two e-mails from friends who want me to line up

hotels for them this week: this is like asking for tickets to the Stanley

Cup final an hour before the game.)

This afternoon the Pope's body was moved from a room in the Vatican, where

dignitaries had been paying their respects, to St. Peter's. There was a

procession and a service, broadcast on large screens up and down the Via

della Conciliazione and in the Square. Among those watching in respectful

silence was a rabbi, and of course many young people. And yet to a certain

extent life went on as the loudspeakers boomed the litany of the saints,

with people eating ice cream etc.

For me the most moving moment of my first day back was in the taxi coming in

from the airport. The driver, a man in his forties, said "I never cry. But

this time I did. There will never be another Pope like this one." This was

quite remarkable when you consider that many Romans had their doubts about a

Pope who wasn't Italian.

The atmosphere in the house and the neighbourhood is a mix of sadness and

wonder--sadness for obvious reasons, wonder at the marvels "John Paul the

Great" accomplished during his years as Pope. It almost seems that his

death has suddenly brought into focus just what a giant he was, even though

he was obviously much admired throughout his pontificate. My own feeling is

that his very public death is almost a "seal" on his life's work of

proclaiming to the world "Be not afraid!"