The recent beatification of the late Pope John Paul II is a significant event for people everywhere in the world.
Blessed John Paul II’s holiness shone far beyond the confines of the papacy into the humblest of homes and the pompous corridors of politics.
He is revered in his home country, Poland, for enlivening compatriots’ struggle against the tyranny of communism, which eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He is equally loved by Catholics everywhere for his vigorous defense of human life from womb to tomb and everywhere in between.
Blessed John Paul II inaugurated an era of harmony between Catholics and other religious confessions, between Christianity and other faiths.
He presided in 1986 over the first world meeting of religious leaders in Assissi, Italy, and a dozen years later entered with Lutherans into a common declaration that put to rest rancor on the question of justification that first gave rise to Protestantism.
John Paul II was especially loved by Cebuanos, so much so that a monument to him was erected in the Archbishop’s Residence along D. Jakosalem Street, where he stayed in his 1981 visit, long before he died.
In that visit, Cebuano youth made such an impression on the pope with their liveliness and energy, they in part inspired him to inaugurate the biennial or triennial World Youth Days that have consistently shown the robust, youthful face of nearly 2,000-year- old Catholic Church.
Filipino composer Trina Belamide’s “Tell the World of His Love,” the theme to the 10th World Youth Day in Manila in 1995 led by Blessed John Paul II remains a favorite in huge convocations of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
In light of the late pope’s beatification, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said that he is looking into the possibility of naming a Cebu City street in Blessed John Paul II’s honor.
Expect the Catholic Church in Cebu to go for more than just the usual honors for a Holy Father raised to the glory of the altar.
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of the Archdiocese of Manila already told journalists that he asked for the intercession of Blessed John Paul II to enlighten the hearts of legislators who will vote on the controversial Reproductive Health Bill in Congress sooner or later.
How the pro-life teachings of Blessed John Paul II will shape domestic politics years after his death is something to watch.
Meanwhile, those who love him in the Philippines and in Cebu in particular will continue to remember nay venerate him as someone who epitomized the courage and hope that he exuded when he first spoke from the Vatican the words: “Be not afraid!”