Faithful Pray for Ill Pope

Battling drug and alcohol addictions, Ruben Linares had turned his back on the Roman Catholic Church until Pope John Paul II visited Los Angeles almost 18 years ago.

“His visit encouraged me to follow a different path,” said Linares, who has conquered his addictions. “Through the years he has been a good leader.”

Now, with a 20-year-old Marine son scheduled to redeploy to Iraq in seven days, Linares, 43, of Highland Park, said he depends on the pope more than ever for spiritual strength.

He joined about 2,000 others at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday in appealing for the health and speedy recovery of the recently hospitalized pontiff. Similar services were conducted around the world.

“[The pope] is always praying for peace. He knows there are many families out there being destroyed,” Linares said. “There is so much going on in the world today. We need him.”

At the weekly noon Mass on Wednesday at the cathedral, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony offered special prayers for the pope and for all people plagued by illness.

Mahony called the 84-year-old pontiff the “point of unity” linking Catholics worldwide. “When our holy father is ill, it touches us all deeply,” Mahony said of the pope, who was hospitalized in Rome on Tuesday after experiencing breathing difficulties brought on by the flu.

Mahony said the pope is an inspiration to people around the world who continue to live and work despite infirmity. “In the midst of illness and disability and handicap ... he still gives of himself fully,” the cardinal said.

Among those attending the Mass was Gerardo Pinedo, 29, who said that God would hear the many prayers for the pope’s health and heal him.

“Prayer and faith, above everything else, are very important, especially in matters of health,” said Pinedo, who works nearby in a Los Angeles County supervisor’s office.

Elvira Lara agreed. The 62-year-old Huntington Park resident speaks little English but attended the English-language Mass despite the language barrier. “I came to pray for him and for his health,” she said in Spanish. “With God, there are no languages.”

Despite reassurances from the Vatican that the pontiff was doing better, Lara and Linares said they worried the pope’s condition might take a turn for the worse.

“If it’s God’s will to call him today, I accept that,” Linares said. “But it would be nice to have him for a few more years.”