Phoenix, Ariz., Apr 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Site of the 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II, the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona is joining millions worldwide in mourning the death of the Holy Father.
“While I am tearful at the news of his death”, said Bishop Thomas Olmsted last weekend, “I am deeply grateful for the way he fulfilled his mission to the end. Many have already referred to him as John Paul the Great. Has he not earned the title?”
Bishop Olmsted, who worked for nine years in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, said that what he will remember most about the Holy Father is “his bond of love with the living Jesus Christ. All he did and said, all the hardships he endured, were done for the love of Christ.”
In a litany of praises for John Paul, the bishop also expressed his admiration for the pope’s “remarkable personalism…commitment to the truth…amazing rapport with young people” and his “engagement of cultures.”