As the lying in state continues, even the grandeur of St. Peter's is no

match for the living monuments to Pope John Paul's ministry. I just met a

young man from Sicily whose story touched me very deeply.

This fellow is one of a group of university students from Sicily who

spontaneously chartered a bus to come to Rome. Seventy of them left home

yesterday at 3 p.m., travelled all night by boat and bus, and arrived here

at 6 a.m. They joined the line-up at 9 a.m. and had just finished seeing

the Holy Father when I met them around 6 p.m. They had not had any lunch.

After a quick dinner, they will board the bus and drive all night home to

Catania.

I asked the young man, tired and unshaven, why he'd done this. "This Pope

has shaped my whole life," he said. "How could I not come to say good-bye?"

Since he is an agriculture student, I told him that he and his friends

represent the fruit of the "new Springtime" for which Pope John Paul often

prayed.

Despite such inspiring stories, there are signs that some of the countless

reporters covering the funeral do not "get" what is happening here. Half of

those I've talked to want to know whether the next Pope should reverse the

direction taken during John Paul's pontificate: a strange question while his

enormous impact is so evident. I told a reporter from France that the

throng of humanity were here to honour a leader, not a follower.