As Pope John Paul II has been declared a saint in Vatican on Sunday, miles away in Thiruvananthapuram, the faithful still fondly remember an evening 28 years ago when the then Pope came calling.
The Pope, who was on a ten-day visit to India, set foot on the capital city in the afternoon of February 8, 1986. A member of the team which made arrangements for the Pope’s visit to the city vividly remembers that special day.
“After uttering short prayers in the Pattom St Mary’s Cathedral and the Palayam St Joseph’s Cathedral, the Pope reached Shangumugham by 6 pm. The entire coast resonated with hymns. Over a lakh of people had come from Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari, Pathanamthitta and Kollam. Once in a while the cry ‘holy father’ would erupt from among them. Other than this, the usual din and noise that one would associate with a crowd was missing,” says Ninan Thomas, a retired professor of zoology.
Six months before the Pope arrived, the teams here had begun their work. Eight committees, including those for food, reception and publicity, were set up for the welcome. Ninan Thomas was in charge of the Ground and Medical Aid Committee. One of the responsibilities of the committee was to get three A-ve blood donors. They hunted high and low, and finally zeroed in on three students from Mar Ivanios College.
This committee also erected a concrete rostrum in Shangumugham, from where the Pope would address the crowd. In record time, the work was finished. However, after the Pope left, the structure was demolished. Ninan Thomas recalls why. “The rostrum was on the pathway of the Travancore Maharaja’s annual ‘arattu.’ So Archbishop Mar Gregorios had promised the Maharaja to demolish the structure as soon as the event was over,” he says.
Ninan Thomas fondly remembers a special role he got when the Pope arrived. In order to ensure the security of the Pope, he was asked to test orange juice, every time before it was taken to the Pope. Because of this he got to stand right below the dais. When the Pope came down the ramp, he stopped in front of Ninan Thomas and allowed him to kiss the papal ring.
Many of those who were part of the committees are now no more. And most who are around are old. Their withered memories cannot recall what the Pope said. But they remember his charisma, his humanity. “The Pope prayed for people who were suffering,” says 82-year-old Joseph Lopez, one of the three key people who oversaw the entire arrangements.
On this, Ninan Thomas has another story. “As the Pope was about to leave in his popemobile, a special car that takes him everywhere, a loud wail pierced through the air. The Pope turned around to see a lady and her daughter struggling to get past the tight security. She had already climbed the security ledge. The Pope asked the security to let her through, and waited till he blessed her. Later we got to know that she had come all the way from Malaysia only to meet the Pope,” says the retired professor, his eyes twinkling.
Fr. Eugene Pereira remembers that the popemobile was donated to Mother Teresa, who sold it off to raise money for charity. Standing next to the Pope, he had felt that the latter was like a father figure.
World over, as debates rage on over the politics of the double canonisation, Thiruvananthapuram remembers a human being who left an indelible mark in just a few hours.
