Covering Pope John Paul II

On the Papal Plane enroute back from Poland in 2002. Trisha Thomas with Pope John Paul II. Credit: Osservatore Romano
On the Papal Plane enroute back from Poland in 2002. Trisha Thomas with Pope John Paul II. Credit: Osservatore Romano

Dear Blog Readers — If any of you follow me on twitter, you know that I have spent the day frantically running around the Vatican covering the preparations for tomorrow’s two pope canonization.  Tomorrow morning Popes John Paul II and John XXIII will be made saints. This morning I started early interviewing pilgrims who had spent the night in sleeping bags on the edge of Saint Peter’s Square.  With AP Cameraman Gianfranco Stara we filmed Red Cross workers setting up an emergency room tent, and a tent for mothers who have to breast-feed or change diapers.  We filmed some of the 1000 chemical toilets that have been placed around the Vatican, workers in helmets climbing up scaffolding to set up massive loudspeakers all along Via Della Conciliazione, florists from Puglia setting up the flower arrangement in St. Peter’s Square, satellite trucks and dishes, bomb-sniffing dogs and police in a rubber dinghy searching under the bridges on the Tiber River for bombs. If I can find the time and energy tonight, I will do a photo-post on all those preparations, and tomorrow I will post on the actual canonization, but I was thinking that this might be a good time to share some of the memories I wrote up in the past about covering the last ten years of the Papacy of John Paul II from 1995-2005.

Memories of Covering John Paul II

When I began covering the Pope John Paul II back in 1995, I was a complete novice.  I knew nothing about the Vatican and I had three strikes against me — I am a woman, an American and not Catholic. It took me years to learn the basic etiquette, never mind all the intellectual background that I would need.  For more on my initial floundering see my blog post “Watch Your Tongue, Hands and Eyes.”  By the time I took my first Papal trip I was just starting to get the hang of it.

One of the few advantages of covering the Pope is joining the papal entourage when he travels around the world.  This means flying on the papal plane.  Journalists have to pay what would be the equivalent of a first-class ticket, an exorbitant price, which also covers all the transportation that is provided  on the ground.

My first papal plane trip was to nearby Croatia to cover John Paul II’s visits to Zagreb and Split.  We were greeted in the Alitalia business class lounge with a delicious lunch spread.  Then we were escorted onto the papal plane where we were immediately handed a load of papers and documents.  First came an ivory-colored folder with a gold ribbon and gold lettering about the size of a placemat.  Inside, printed in gold letters, was a description of the snack we would have on the short flight from Rome to Zagreb (i.e. smoked salmon, lobster medallions, roasted potatoes and cheeses, pastries and coffee).  In case we were thirsty there were two kinds of white wine, three kinds of red wine and two types of champagne.

Another document was emblazoned with the papal seal and said “The Journey by His Holiness Giovanni Paolo II, Rome-Zagreb, October 2, 1999”. Inside there was a detailed map of the flight route and a description of the aircraft.  Then came the gifts — Dolce e Gabbana perfume for women, Christian Dior scent for men, and cartons of cigarettes for everyone on board as well as various other goodies.

As we fished through our bags of gifts, a stewardess pulled shut and snapped closed a green curtain separating the first class from the rear.  A series of flashes, followed by the plane’s engine revving, announced to us that His Holiness was aboard.  I noticed a police jeep driving at the tip of the plane’s wing as it taxied out to the runway.

After take-off, I think all the journalists on board lit up three cigarettes simultaneously as if they wanted to use up their whole cartons en route.  Until recently, smoking was allowed on the papal plane.  I studied my documents and munched on lobster medallions as we winged our way to Croatia.  There was the official papal farewell to the President of Italy.  Then there was the official papal greeting to the President of Croatia.  Then there were embargoed copies of all the greetings, addresses, papal statements and homilies that he would be making on his first day in Zagreb, both in Italian and Croatian.  I took my job very seriously, reading every document word for word, underlining what I thought were important points, and trying to pick out themes and messages, but I must admit it was boring.

I had covered John Paul II for television for ten years by then and knew one had to be careful.   Because the Vatican insists on excessive formality, so many things the Pope says and does do not appear interesting on the surface.  For journalists, a trip filled with one to two two-hour masses a day can be tedious. But one could never allow oneself to get distracted because Pope John Paul II was the television Pope.  He had a phenomenal, natural charisma.  He was the first Pope who had a permanent television crew dedicated to covering his every move.  Under his papacy, Vatican TV came into existence.  John Paul II knew how to brilliantly manipulate television and even made Ronald Reagan look like an amateur.  When it came to kissing babies, caressing the handicapped and holding the hands of the elderly, John Paul II won the prize.

Part of my job was to collect powerful images of Pope John Paul II for his obituary.  When he was old and ill, many people forgot how energetic he had been in his early years, but AP Television has wonderful shots of him charging down the stairs of the papal plane and kneeling to kiss the ground on his arrival in a foreign country.  There are shots of him hiking in the Italian Alps and in Africa surrounded by female dancers in grass skirts, and an excellent one of him with a dove that landed on his head at his window in the Vatican.

Most of the Pope’s comments that AP Television used on a weekly basis were when he spoke about world events, in particular, about conflicts.

Over the years he had a lot to say about the conflicts in the Balkans, Iraq, Zaire, Rwanda and East Timor.  I admired his determination to promote peace and to speak out against what he perceived as the guilty parties whether they were Catholic, Orthodox, Islamic or Jewish, or whether a nation was small and forgotten or a superpower.  He never held back on unpopular social issues that were dear to his heart.  He never hesitated to denounce homosexuality, abortion, birth control or the idea of women priests, despite the fact that on those issues he ran counter to the opinion of many Catholics, particularly in the West. But the Papacy is a sort of dictatorship, and the dictator is elected for life, so whether or not he is a talented politician, the Pope does not have to worry about polls.  He only had to win votes once; for Pope John Paul II,  that was when he was still a Cardinal.

Upon landing in Croatia, the travelling entourage was scooted onto buses and dashed off to the first event, a mass at the Zagreb Cathedral. A few photographers and cameramen remained in a tight pool covering the airport welcoming ceremony.  Our buses whizzed into the center of town. The roads were lined with Papal fans waving yellow and white Vatican flags.  We were rushed into the square in front of the Cathedral and squashed around a central fountain amidst thousands of singing faithful.  On a giant screen we could see the Pope making his way toward the center in his Pope-mobile, waving at crowds along the route.  Darkness descended and the crowd became agitated as they realized from the images on the screen that the Pope-mobile was nearing the center.  People lit candles and sang louder.

Suddenly two helicopters roared overhead, with gunmen leaning perilously out the doors.  The helicopters flew over the crowd.  I noted they were buzzing around below the top of the Cathedral and I was afraid they might slice off the steeple with the helicopter blades.  A line of fuchsia-belted Bishops waited eagerly on the podium.  At last the Pope-mobile appeared and some people in the crowd burst into an “Alleluia Chorus”, while others cheered wildly.  The Pope responded to the crowd, waving vigorously with both hands. Everyone waved back. The television images were spectacular, and that was what was seen around the world.

In the fall of 1999, I travelled with the Pope on a one-day trip to nearby Slovenia.  The Pope looked fine during the morning mass, but by the time his last appearance of the day arrived, he looked awful. Since there were fewer journalists accompanying him than usual, we were allowed to get quite close to him.  I cringed as I watched him.  He was unable to straighten up in his chair, he could not focus his eyes, and his hand was shaking terribly.  Although the Vatican would never say it, he had Parkinson’s disease.

John Paul II would get an enormous charge out of his world travels.  During his papacy he made over one hundred trips.  When he was old, frail and in pain, he was still determined not to let up.  I spoke to Vatican officials who said he would not be stopped:  nobody at the Vatican could convince him not to travel abroad once he had made up his mind.

In the spring of 2000, the Pope decided to visit the Middle East, going first to Cairo, then following in the steps of Moses at Mount Sinai, and then to Jordan, Jerusalem and the West Bank.  I was six months pregnant with my third child and I really wanted to go.  I applied for a seat on the papal plane without telling them about my condition.  I figured travelling with the Pope had to be pretty safe for a pregnant woman.  As we flew across the Mediterranean from Rome to Cairo, we were served a large breakfast.  After breakfast the Pope’s spokesman, the suave Jaoquim Navarro-Valls, emerged from the front of the plane and headed for the toilets at the rear.  He passed my seat and then took two steps backwards.  “Don’t tell me that’s just your breakfast,” he laughed pointing at my belly.

Unfortunately, the reality was that it was a bit harder than I had anticipated to cover a Pope trip six months pregnant.  The journalists travelling with the Pope are often shuttled back and forth from events hours before the Pope arrives and after he leaves.  The Pope often arrives on a helicopter while the journalists travel on buses.  Long waits at crowded events are not comfortable at any time and especially not when pregnant.  During the trip to Cairo, toilets became an obsession for me.  While standing in line for a security check at the Cairo Stadium, I saw a toilet and slipped away from the group earning the wrath of a Vatican official and an Egyptian security guard.  It was not easy to explain to either one that, when you’re pregnant, sometimes you really gotta go.

The trip from Cairo to Mount Sinai provided me with additional difficulties.  We awoke at dawn to take an Egyptian military C-130 Hercules to Mount Sinai to get to the Santa Caterina Monastery a few hours ahead of the Pope.   Inside, the plane was completely dark.  The small windows were covered with heavy cloths.  You could see parts of the plane along the roof and sides.  We squashed ourselves into the tight seats.  There were no overhead compartments so computers, tripods and cameras were shoved underneath seats, held on laps and tossed in the aisles.

As the pilot revved the engine, I noticed one Italian journalist praying, while another crossed himself.  I sat in my seat wondering about safety.  Suddenly I remembered a note in my pregnancy book, “What to Expect When You are Expecting.”  I was pretty sure it said pregnant women should not fly in un-pressurized planes.  I leaned across the aisle to ABC correspondent Bill Blakemore and asked him if he thought the plane was pressurized.  He suggested I run up and ask the pilot.  I rushed to the front of the plane where the crew was preparing to depart.  I grabbed a crew member’s arm and over the noise of the engine yelled, “Is this plane pressurized?” “Don’t worry,” He yelled back.

“No, you see it is important,” I responded pointing at my belly. “You see I’m pregnant and I can’t fly in an un-pressurized airplane.” “Okay, okay, yes, pressurized, don’t worry, don’t worry,” he answered, urging me back to my seat.  Dubious, I squashed back into my seat, leaned across the aisle to Blakemore and NBC’s Stephen Weeke and smiled confidently, “No problem, the crew says it’s pressurized.”

The plane took off and the baby started a massive kicking marathon.  I put a sweaty palm on my belly and contemplated whether she was kicking me because she was mad at me for taking the risk or she was having a ball.  The plane was completely dark and the engine was loud.  I felt like a bird in a cage that someone had thrown a blanket over.  There was nothing to do but close my eyes and hope for the best.  When we arrived in Sinai, Stephen Weeke stood up and said, “Trisha, this plane is definitely not pressurized, but we were flying so low it can’t be a problem.” To this day Chiara likes to tell people, “I travelled on the plane with the Pope inside my Mamma’s belly.”

I started covering John Paul II in 1993 when his health was already an issue until his death.  Unfortunately for me, I was not there in the invigorating beginning of his papacy when he shocked the Vatican and the world by leading the charge against the Communism in his homeland, Poland. I did not see the Pope when he moved like a rock star through crowds in Latin America with his fans cheering wildly, eager just to touch him.

Nevertheless, even being near the Pope in the last 12 years of his life was enough to get an idea of what an incredibly charismatic and courageous person he was.  I covered him on his last visits back to Poland where the crowds went wild and he was clearly boosted by their affection.  I was with him once on the island of Ischia (off the coast of Naples) where, despite the fact that he was clearly suffering and in pain, and hardly able to speak, he joked and waved to a crowd of young people.

I covered his famous apology for the sins of the church in the Jubilee year, 2000.  This extraordinary gesture, apologizing for everything from the Crusades to the Inquisition, shocked even some of his closest collaborators, including Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, his successor as Pope Benedict XVI.

I was once invited up to the front of the papal plane to have my picture taken with Pope John Paul II.  He was old and frail at the time.  He held my hand and I showed him some pictures of my children and nephew and he blessed them.

A Vatican photographer snapped a photo of us:  I keep it above my desk at work between the photos and drawings of my children.

One of the biggest news story that I will ever cover in my life was the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II.

I was on a ski vacation in February 2005 when I came off the slopes to learn that the Pope had been taken to Gemelli Hospital in Rome during a breathing crisis.  In the middle of a terrible snowstorm that afternoon I caught a bus that wound perilously around slippery hairpin turns and down out of the mountains to a town where I got a train back to Rome. On the train I received a text message from a colleague that the Pope had undergone a tracheotomy but he was okay.

For the next several months I spent most of my time outside Rome’s Gemelli Hospital along with hundreds of other journalists.  AP Television brought in dozens of people and we had round-the-clock shifts at the hospital.  We had a live truck positioned on the hill across from the Pope’s hospital window with a camera permanently pointed at his window.  We interviewed every possible visitor from Cardinals to politicians, nuns, priests, and the faithful who came from all over the world to stand under his window, to pray, to sing, or to just stand and stare.  It was a sad and difficult period.

I felt guilty.  It was as though we were vultures standing on the hilltop waiting for him to die.  When Pope John Paul II gave his last Sunday Angelus prayer at Gemelli Hospital, he was unable to speak so he had an aide read it.  The dying Pope appeared at his window with dozens of cameras focusing on him, and this was his message,

“In these days of hospital recovery at Gemelli Hospital, I feel the presence and the attention of the mass media.  Today I would like to extend to them a word of thanks, because it is not without sacrifice that they carry out their much appreciated service, thanks to which the faithful, in every corner of the world, can feel me near to them, and can accompany me with affection and prayer.”

His words brought tears to my eyes. I was shocked.  The Pope was speaking to me; he was thanking me.  Indeed, I, and my AP Television News colleagues, had been virtually camping out at Gemelli Hospital for weeks.  And yes, I had not seen very much of my three young children.  But I also was feeling guilty about broadcasting to the world all his pain and agony.  But, there it was, the most media-savvy Pope in history said it loudly and clearly himself.  He appreciated the media attention because it brought the faithful closer to him.

The last time I saw Pope John Paul II alive was shortly before he died. He came to the window of his room in the apostolic apartment to deliver the Angelus from the same place he had delivered it for decades.  But again this time, as much as he tried, he could not speak.  In his frustration he banged his hand against the plexi-glass lectern.  Finally his aide urged him to step back into the room.  Pope John Paul II was known by those around him to be extremely stubborn and determined.  On this occasion, it was clear to all:  despite his condition, he desperately wanted to speak.  Down in the square the photographers, cameramen and journalists standing around the obelisk, with their faces turned up towards the window, stood in silence waiting.  As the Pope disappeared, we swallowed hard and looked at each other, knowing it was not going to be long.

There was a special atmosphere around the Vatican in the days before the Pope’s death –sadness combined with anticipation.  I work in television, so I am conscious of images.  At Gemelli there was the ugly hospital building.  While the Pope lay dying in his room in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, the scene was majestic, almost theatrical.  The stage was St. Peter’s Square with the centrepiece St. Peter’s Basilica, a masterpiece created by some of the greatest artists and architects in history from Bramante and Bernini to Michelangelo.  Emerging from St. Peter’s Basilica is the magnificent curved construction known as the ‘Braccio di Carlo Magno’ (Arms of Charlemagne), a series of colonnades that form an embrace around the enormous oval piazza.  Yellow lights lit up the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica and blazed in the papal apartments. Hundreds of people of all ages, from all around the world, the faithful and the curious, filled the square around the clock, singing, lighting candles and praying.  We kept cameras fixed on his bedroom window, but we also had beautiful shots of people in the square.  While thousands were waiting and praying in the square, one also had the impression of great activity going on behind the Vatican walls.  John Paul II had been Pope for 26 years, and many at the Vatican had been preparing for his demise.

In the initial hours after his death, St. Peter’s Square filled with people leaving flowers, notes, pictures, poems, photos, messages, and prayers on every lamppost.   Journalists accredited to the Vatican were taken for a viewing of the Pope’s body, first laid out in the Clementine Hall, before he was brought into St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a shock for me to see this man, who was always so large in life, lying as a small figure in death.  Even in his final years, when he had shrunk and was smaller, he never seemed small when he was alive.

The transfer of the body from the Apostolic Palace through a packed St. Peter’s Square and into the Basilica combined an ancient Vatican tradition and modern media techniques. The media changed dramatically in the 25 years that John Paul II was Pope.  Television technology has advanced so rapidly that is was possible for Vatican TV to film the moving of his body with wireless cameras showing every step of the way, through long Vatican corridors and down the Scala Regia staircase.

Vatican officials chose my colleague, cameraman Gianfranco Stara, who had covered dozens of Papal trips with John Paul II, out of a pack of camera crews from around the globe for a choice position in the square.  Papal Gentlemen, wearing tuxedos and white gloves, carried the Pope on a bier, right past Gianfranco’s camera.  They were escorted by Swiss Guards in full regalia, the red plumes on their metal helmets blowing in the wind and their halberds (15th c weapon consisting of a battle-axe and pike on a long handle) sticking up in the air.

In the days leading up to the funeral, some three million people came from all over the world and waited in line for hours or even days to catch a glimpse of the Pope.  The lines snaked down Via Della Conciliazione, through the Borgo, along the ancient wall and across the bridge over the Tiber River. Many held umbrellas over themselves to keep the hot sun from beating down on them.  Others sang to pass the time. They did not complain about standing in the sun, being hungry or thirsty, or having no decent bathrooms; all the discomfort was worth it to them just for a few minutes in front of the body of John Paul II.  It made me gain perspective on the importance of this man.

It was handy to have the Vatican press pass in that period.  While the public were held into lines by metal barriers, journalists could move up and down the sides interviewing people.  On several occasions I was taken with AP Television cameramen up to the front of St. Peter’s Basilica to film the faithful passing in front of John Paul II’s body.   The body was placed on a simple table, his head propped up on several pillows to provide a better view.  Four Swiss Guards stood near him, one on each corner.  After hours and hours in line, I expected the faithful to use their few minutes in front of the Pope to pray. Instead I was surprised to see that most of them used the moment to take a picture with their cell phones.

I was looking down at the top of President George W. Bush’s head as I filed my live report for AP Radio at the beginning of Pope John Paul II’s funeral on April 8, 2005.   Some journalists had been permitted to watch the funeral from the top of the Colonnade. Down below me the US President, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the kings and queens of Spain and Jordan, Prince Charles and religious leaders from around the world were among those attending.  The square was packed and there were banners reading “Santo Subito” declaring in Italian “Saint Now”.

Associated Press Television was broadcasting the event live around the world.  Millions of people were present; billions were watching on TV.

Further down the row of onlookers, I noticed my Swiss Guard friend, Tiziano, wearing a suit, instead of the usual Swiss Guard uniform.  He smiled and waved. I finished my radio report and put away my cell phone. Below a red book of the Gospel lay open on top of the Pope’s simple wooden coffin; the pages fluttered and flipped in the wind and then closed.

5 thoughts on “Covering Pope John Paul II”

  1. Thank you for such thoughful commentary on your experience covering JPII. I visited your blog hoping you would write about it. I remember keeping watch myself; I was glued to the tube praying for him, and I sobbed when he died . He was the only pope I was old enough to remember. It seemed like all the world was waiting for the inevitable . To the end, He showed us how endure suffering and to die well. Thank you for giving us a window through which to witness to it all.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Alison — I am glad you found my memories interesting. It was hard not to get emotionally involved while covering the end of the life of John Paul II. Whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him, he was an incredible man.

  2. What a beautiful tribute to JPII! I remember having an assembly in the cafeteria of my high school about his death and his funeral. I loved that he brought World Youth Day to reality and his Theology of the Body teachings are both poignant and significant to my generation.

    Although the image of St. JPII in my mind is one of frailty and suffering (it breaks my heart every time I think back to that moment where he was so frustrated with himself and he banged the plexi-glass), I also admire him for his charismatic and leadership characters. Amazing man.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Pauline – I think you are the only person who read that post and I am so pleased you did. I posted the photo-essay one hour after and I think everyone just saw that. Pope John Paul II was one of the most incredible people I have ever covered as a journalist. I am happy you found my comments interesting.

  3. Thank you for sharing your beautiful experience with us, and ohh that was so beautifully, wonderfully and perfectly written.. Thanks again!!

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