People are People

Thanks to the four-day workweek and the wonders of technology, I was able to witness a royal wedding in London and a funeral in Vatican. John Paul II’s requiem Mass was held last Friday, April 8 and Prince Charles’s take two at marriage took place last Saturday, April 9.

The beauty and culmination of the papacy of John Paul II was at its best during the funeral mass. The Mass was beautiful and moving despite its being said in Italian and lasting for almost three hours. What the Pope has done in life, he has surpassed in death. What the Catholic Church has been preaching for centuries has never been clearly spoken until the final rites for the Pope, that Christ is for everyone and the fellowship of the Church is universal and need not be defined by belief or faith. St. Peter’s Square was a sight to behold. World leaders sitting side by side: the US’ GW Bush with France’s Chirac, Arab leaders, Catholics, Kofi Annan. The ceremony was witnessed not only by the one billion Catholics around the world but by other faiths as well. It was carried by Al-jazeera and was shown in Pakistan, Chile and South Korea. It was a farewell fit for a man whose greatest achievement is bringing the world together ironically, in his death when he has spent his lifetime tearing down communist walls, advocating freedom from foreign debt, promoting inter-faith dialogues and bridging the north and south divide. The flock has lost its shepherd, the man most seen in flesh more than any other person in history. The line “chosen by God” has never been truer.

Camilla Parker-Bowles is officially a legitimate member of the House of Windsor. Finally. It was nothing compared to Lady Di’s fairy tale wedding in Westminster in 1981. But its charm stems from the fact that this was a union nobody thought would be possible. It is after all, the end of an era. It closes more than 30 years of mad paparazzi chase and fascinating and oftentimes harsh speculation and rumor mills about what probably is the biggest scandal that a Queen, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, had to face. There was no white carriage or young and charming prince, but it sure is Camilla’s fairy tale come true.