In 1978, the jaws of a billion Catholics dropped when the College of Cardinals elected a Polish pope. Up until that point, it was assumed that the successor to Pope John Paul I would be an Italian.

Soon, however, we were delighted by the novelty of the choice of this cardinal from behind the Iron Curtain. Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Krakow was not listed as a likely candidate for the papacy but the Holy Spirit was at work and inspired the convocation to select the man that ultimately proved perfect for our precarious times. That the combination of this Polish Pope and President Ronald Reagan successfully defeated communism may be disputed but not by anyone with an open mind.

There have been four other popes in my lifetime. Pope Pius XII, ne Eugene Pacelli, the pope of my childhood, was a distant figurehead during the time when Latin dominated our religious rites and the Church itself was full of ritual and ceremony. But the papacy was shrouded in mystery and that has led to much speculation about the Pope’s reign during World War II.

Pope John XXIII, ne Angelo Roncalli, was a roly-poly friendly man who completely upset the apple cart of worshippers by inaugurating the Second Vatican Council. His ecumenical movement was and still is regarded as a betrayal of the faith, but I consider it the culling of the faithful. Those who were in the church solely for the external trappings and rituals fell by the wayside while those who truly understood the meaning of our faith were steadfast.

Many regarded Vatican II as a modernization of the church when in fact it was a throwback to the very beginning of the church. The masses were now to be in the vernacular. The priest would be facing the congregation. No more meatless Fridays except during Lent. Many other changes were made in ritual but never dogma.

Unfortunately, many Catholics liked the mindless rules and ritual and became disenchanted with what they consider the “newfangled” church.

I was in high school when Vatican II was being introduced and I recall my teacher, a Sister of Charity, telling us that while Jesus had said He would be with us till the end of time, he never promised how many would still be in the church.

Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) was the first Pope to visit the United States, but he had little charisma. He was a brilliant man and wrote a remarkable encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which discussed the church’s position on sexuality and birth control. It was a groundbreaking document, but the man himself remained a distant pontiff and while we might have respected him, we never really learned much about him.

John Paul I (Albino Luciani) was only in that sacred office for one month before he died under mysterious circumstances. Once again, the Vatican seemed to be a place of secrecy and intrigue.

The weekend vigil coverage of John Paul II’s illness and subsequent death was extraordinary. I can’t recall anything like this happening over the transition of the papacy and that is because this Polish Pope was unlike any other that I’ve known. He unveiled the papacy. He was a visible pope who traveled the globe and welcomed the youth of the world into his heart. My son who traveled to Denver to see him described a stadium full of teenagers and young adults cheering his arrival in the helicopter as if he were a rock star. “John Paul II, We Love You,” was their enthusiastic chant wherever he appeared.

Youth groups here held raffles and washed cars to raise funds to travel around the world to see and hear him speak. These were not luxury pilgrimages but required miles of walking in heat and sleeping on cold grounds to hear his words because they knew how much he loved and respected them. He spoke to them about their importance in charting the future of the world. In Denver 1993, he said to them, “I have great confidence in you, I have great pride in you: I am filled with encouragement, I am overflowing with joy.”

Considering the battles we’ve had lately on the issue of the value of human life, it’s well worth us to remember his parting message to America that year: “America, land of the free! Use your freedom well! Use it to cherish and support, with all your strengths and capacity, the dignity of every one person! America, defend life so that you may live in peace and harmony.”

Indeed, John Paul II will be a very difficult act to follow.