Vietnam, Catholics and Communists celebrate St John Paul II, "the Angel of Christians"
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews ) - Thousands of Vietnamese Catholics watched
the
Canonization Mass of the two Pope Saints - John XXIII and John Paul II
- celebrated yesterday at St. Peter's in Rome in front of hundreds of thousands
of faithful . And
in the days leading up to the event , in many parts of the country
(particularly in Ho Chi Minh City in the south, the traditional birthplace of
Christianity in the Asian nation) prayer meetings and liturgies were held. For
example, more than 1,400 people gathered Saturday, April 26 in Caritas Saigon to
pay tribute to their second patron Saint, Pope John Paul II , taking part in a
solemn thanksgiving Mass in the parish church of Đồng Tien. During
the celebration the virtues and witness of St. John Paul II were recalled as he
was raised to the Altars of the Saints along with Pope John XXIII .
"Thanks
to this event" Mr. Louis tells AsiaNews , " I learned a lot
more about the life of John Paul II, who knew how to love everyone". And
even in the most difficult situation, he adds, " he was always able to
forgive and to love. He visited many nations, without ever getting tired".
Another
faithful from the Caritas group, Mr. Joseph adds that he learned a lot "from
the virtues of St. John Paul II: to do charitable work for everyone, to love
God and neighbor". He
says he does not fear losing "worldly goods or social prestige, in exchange for
a lie " because "following the word of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
I feel protected". Instead Jean
Baptiste was struck by the profound
"humility" of the Polish pope, the highest representative of the
Catholic Church "to apologize to our older brothers [Jews] in the Middle
East ."
Even
non-Catholics have been won over by devotion and admiration for St. John Paul
II, as pointed out by prof. Trần
Xuân Ngọc, lecturer at the communist state university in Hanoi, who wrote in
his Facebook page : "A personality that belongs to the world, a messenger
of peace, and the Angel of Christians". Kaing
Khemara , a teacher belonging to ethnic minorities, describes the Polish
Pontiff as their "idol, who has done many good things for the world".
Mr.
Truong Duc Hải, a native of the province of Nam Dinh who moved to Ho Chi Minh
City in search of work, says he is not Catholic, but stresses that "everybody
loves him".
During
Mass, the new archbishop of Saigon Msgr. Paul
Bui Van Đọc distributed 548 certificates of registration to various charities
in the various parishes, who have completed the training course and are now
qualified to work across the territory in various activities . At
the end of the function the faithful chanted a song, written and dedicated to
St. John Paul II, entitled "The signs of his passage".
Hundreds
of thousands of faithful, 122 delegations from around the world , two billion
people connected via TV and radio participated in the canonization of Pope John
XXIII and John Paul II. The
concelebrants included Benedict XVI who was greeted and embraced warmly by Pope
Francis before the ceremony and again at the end. During
his homily, Pope Francis spoke of his predecessors describing them as "priests, bishops and popes
of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic events of that century,
but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful."
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