Pope John Paul II

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

His Holiness John Paul II, may he rest in peace.

In 1981 I was a Protestant attending a Catholic (Jesuit) College in the Philippines. The country at that time was under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos (Imelda Marcos' husband.) I had a chance to see the Pope speak and it was one of those heart stirring events in my life. There were hundreds of thousands of people there. I stood in the hot sun for hours, but it was worth it because I had a good spot close to the stage and was 20 feet away from an aisle he used after he was finished. The closeness of his presence was very emotional.

Philippine political scientists now believe that his visit sowed the seeds for the eventual overthrow of the Marcos regime in the People Power Revolution.