IT was a warm and sunny Sunday morning in the spring of 1973, when an amiable man in red robes put his hand around my shoulder and beamed a big smile as he thanked me in Polish.
I had finished serving as an altar boy for a Mass to welcome Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to Brisbane at the Polish community’s Our Lady of Victories Church, Bowen Hills.
I had never met a cardinal before so I remember feeling awestruck, and at the same time a warm glow, in the presence of this man of God.
Little did I know that in another five years this same man would become Pope John Paul II.
As I recall my meeting with the future Pope, I find it easy to see why he was chosen to head the Catholic Church.
He has been blessed by God to lead his people. Even after an assassin’s bullet almost killed him, he found the strength to continue his important mission.
Today, burdened by poor health, he places his trust in God to continue serving God and his people.
Many have questioned how much longer the Pope can go on, but that would be to underestimate the perseverance of this unique figure in the history of the Church.
