Southland Churches Hold Tearful Memorials for Pontiff

Tearful mourners attended memorials for Pope John Paul II throughout Southern California on Thursday, paying their respects with music, writings and personal testimonies.

At Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, more than 400 mourners, some weeping and clutching rosary beads, filed through the church’s black-shrouded doors and knelt upon entering.

“He was a beautiful and spiritual human being who stood for values and morals in this age of human destruction,” Laura Sanchez, 35, of Santa Ana, said of the pope.

Sanchez recalled a visit to Rome in 1997 when she came within 100 feet of John Paul, and said the experience still brings tears to her eyes. “I’m not awestruck by celebrities, but there was just something very dear and holy about him.”

Another mourner, Sandi Gonzales, 58, of Tustin, was similarly moved on a 1999 visit to the Vatican.

Gonzales said she was outside, writing a postcard to her husband, when she looked up and saw John Paul stepping out onto his balcony. Gonzales said she started crying, and her tears blurred the words she had just written. She still keeps the postcard.

“I’m so extremely proud to be a Catholic. He has been the world’s greatest role model,” Gonzales said. “He was just awesome; there’s no other word.”

At the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, nearly 2,000 mourners gathered beneath a haze of gray incense in the cavernous sanctuary as musicians performed a requiem.

Beyond the sanctuary, a candle burned within a temporary memorial. Beside it, mourners left messages in a large sign-in book.

“May God bless you forever,” read one. “We love you for all your dedication to your children.”

Brothers Mel and Aarne Lozano drove more than an hour from Riverside to attend the vigil.

“As far as I know there wasn’t anything like this near us,” said Mel Lozano.

“We just wanted to join in some sort of public memorial for the pope.”

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Times staff writer Monte Morin contributed to this report.