Catholic World Report has an article in its June edition about the beatification of Pope John Paul II. For the Saturday evening vigil in preparation for the beatification ceremony the next day, over 200,000 people listened to music, testimony and prayer honouring the late pope. The report comments that among the testimonies, “Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the former director of the Vatican press office, remarked that in beatifying John Paul II the Church would not be making him a saint but acknowledging his sanctity since ‘one is a saint in life or never will be.’ The long-time papal spokesman said he had an indelible memory of the late pope’s respect for the transcendent character of the person... and this respect is something that, once experienced alongside someone like him, one can never forget.” How I wish I could have been present at the beatification! As it happens, I was offered the opportunity: a friend had to pull out at the last minute and offered me both a flight and a place to stay in Rome for five days. Alas; I had commitments that I couldn’t ignore – so I passed on the offer to a chum who had entered the Church the week before, at the Easter vigil. He was free to go, jumped at the chance and sent me this report from Rome, his first visit to the eternal city: