The day began with a flood of messages from Canada and elsewhere. One young

woman wrote that the Pope's inspiring death "makes me realize how much I do

not need to suffer alone," echoing something an elderly woman had said to me

earlier in his illness. Another friend said "There won't be another one like

him, and yet, that's the beauty of it. The conclave, in its wisdom, and with

the help of the Holy Spirit, will find us someone who brings us something

all his own. But I do miss him."

A young consecrated woman wrote " it's hard to believe someone so much a

part of my life and vocation is not walking around somewhere...but in

heaven," while a man "For me, it feels like the loss of a parent, meaning

that I have to grow up that much more."

I then headed off to class, where many students were missing--still lined up

at St. Peter's--and others were bleary-eyed from paying their respects in

the early hours of the morning when the line-ups were shorter. The line-up

now winds around for blocks and blocks; someone estimated that there are

100,000 people in line at any given moment. A nice touch: the Italian

police have cleared a special path for parents with small children!

There are numerous young people from Europe and elsewhere, most of them with

backpacks and sleeping bags: they have little hope of a place to sleep so

will have to camp out. Although the weather is pleasantly cool and slightly

cloudy, disaster relief officials are handing out thousands of bottles of

water to the crowds.

With the scale of things, it seems unlikely I will get very close to the

altar at the funeral Mass, now scheduled for Friday morning. The decision

was taken yesterday, at the cardinals' first meeting. There were some 65

present, a little over half of the 117 electors; the College of Cardinals is

responsible for running the Church until the new Pope is elected, according

to very detailed laws.

The Canadian media are now assembled, and we are doing our best to assist

them. Kevin Newman of Global News asked me about the decline in church

attendance in Canada. I told him I was from Vancouver so knew nothing about

it!

At the university this morning we had a Mass for the Holy Father, celebrated

by our rector and concelebrated by at least two hundred priests (professors

and students). The rector was on retreat when the Pope died, meditating on

the passage where St. Paul writes "when I am weak, then I am strong." He

said that Pope John Paul put his youth and his energy at the service of the

Church's mission in the first part of his papacy, then placed his weakness

at the service of the same mission when he aged. He said that the Pope's

willingness to allow the world, with its obsession with physical fitness and

beauty, to observe his decline and humiliations was a supreme service.

I will join the pilgrims in the line-up this afternoon, but with little hope

of entering the basilica.

All for now.