Even though we all had lived through the twilight years of the reign of His Holiness John Paul II, of happy memory, it was still a shock for many of us the moment that he died. Of course, it's always in bad taste to speak of when a pope might die, and so I never speculated.
In April of a.D. 2005, parishes across the world held Funeral Masses for the soul of the beloved Pontiff. As millions of mourners descended upon Rome from the four corners of the air routes, it was evident in many of the Roman parishes that a Rome Funeral Mass for the Pope should be celebrated in the lingua franca of the Catholic populations: Latin!
We held our own Funeral Mass for the Pope at our parish of San Gregorio dei Muratori in Rome. With an overflow crowd from all over the world, we all prayed together in Latin. It was a delight! Visitors to our chapel were mesmerized by the beauty of the common tongue. To us, it was only natural as all of our Masses are celebrated throughout the year exclusively in Latin at our parish (see our great site: www.fssp-roma.org)!
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