Utah parishioners are among the crowds in Rome for canonizations of the two popes

Friday, May. 09, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Jennifer and Fernando Rodriguez from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sandy traveled to Rome to witness the April 27 canonizations after seeing Pope John Paul II in the Philippines in 1995 for World Youth Day. 

“It was an exciting time; Pope John Paul was the pope we grew up with and the feeling was incredible when he passed by in the popemobile,” said Fernando Rodriguez. “This was a person that just getting a glimpse of him gave you goose bumps; the feeling was incredible. To have an opportunity to see him become a saint was an opportunity we didn’t want to pass by.”

Debbie Jensen from Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden also attended the canonization ceremonies; she converted to the Catholic Church when she was 19 and was greatly inspired by Pope John Paul II, she said.

Pope Francis canonized Popes John XXIII and John Paul II April 27 during a ceremony witnessed by huge crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Millions more around the world watched as the two former pontiffs were installed as saints in a dual canonization; it was the first time in history that two popes were canonized on the same day. 

Jensen and the Rodiguezes were among the faithful and the curious who packed the streets of Rome around the Vatican before dawn, hoping to gain entry to St. Peter’s Square to catch a direct glimpse of Church history in the making.

“We arrived about two hours prior to the Mass of the canonizations and the guards had already blocked the square, and the entrance to the streets surrounding the Vatican, so we stood on one of the bridges to hear and watched it happen on a teleprompter. It was all in Italian and Latin, but it was the Mass so we knew what to do, to recite the Our Father or to share peace,” said Jennifer Rodriguez. 

The crowd portrayed a large party atmosphere, said Fernando Rodriguez. “You knew something was going on. There were flags everywhere and there were signs in multiple languages saying the trains would be running 24 hours Saturday through Monday. They were prepared. When we got to the Vatican museum the day before, the line was so long and you could see people already starting to camp. It was extraordinary. When 9 o’clock struck, that was when the canonizations took place. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. It can never happen again.”

During the canonization, Jensen was about three streets away from St. Peter’s Square, she said. “It was just so far away,” she said. “We could hear the bells ring, but that was about it. We didn’t take sleeping bags to camp outside. It was insane with people; there were people on every street, every alley, even the back streets were full. It was just amazing; almost a panic thing. I was thinking someone could really get hurt, there were so many people. We had to maneuver through people; sometimes we couldn’t even move, there we so many people.”

There were a lot of Polish people for Pope John Paul and tons of Italian people who were in love with Pope John XXIII,” said Jensen. “People had chairs, sleeping bags and tents, and were carrying tons of stuff to sit out and wait for it all to happen. It was amazing to be there with the spirituality of all the people. I’ve never seen so many religious people together at once. Thanks be to God the Church has that kind of support.”