April 5, 2005. Rome was packed with throngs of people.

I don't know what the word throngs actually means. But if the rough translation of "throngs" is "way too many"...then that's a good description of how many people were in Rome.

Look at these lines! At least 20 people wide, all jammed together, for blocks and blocks. You could leave your place in line to use the restroom (thank God!), but that was about it. No place to sit and rest. No place to get food. And yet oddly enough, no complaints.

Over the last few days, people seemed to come out of the woodwork. Of course, "coming out of the woodwork" is another term I don't quite get - since I'm not saying any of these people were termites.

But from absolutely all parts of the world, everyone showed up to say good-bye to John Paul II:
They came from Australia... Africa... Asia...and even countries that didn't start with the letter A.

There was a handful of people from a country called "Poland". Apparently, they're pretty Catholic there. And apparently they don't mind waiting in lines. Looooong lines.


In the background of this picture you can see the dome of St. Peter's. And since that was the destination for all the people waiting in line...at this point they had roughly 12 hours of standing before they would have a few seconds to see John Paul II lying in state.

Talk about devotion and love. This is what John Paul II meant to us. And hopefully still does.