John Paul II will be a tough act to follow

NEW YORK - The "Today" show's Matt Lauer was in Vatican City as Pope John Paul II's health took a turn for the worse late last week and through the announcement of his death on Saturday.

He describes the overwhelming outpouring of grief at the pope's death and how the pontiff's incredible selflessness seemed to be the characteristic that united so many divergent people in mourning his passing.

You were in Rome from early Friday morning when fears were raised about the pope’s health through the announcement of his death on Saturday. Can you describe how the mood changed?
It was extremely tense for the day and a half after I arrived. All day Friday — we had learned that the pope had had an episode of heart failure — and throughout that day, the fears for his condition grew.

So, there was just a constant stream of people coming in to St. Peter’s Square to say prayers for the pope.

On Saturday morning, for a brief time, I think there was almost a ray of hope in that one of the updates came on his health, and the mere fact that he hadn’t passed away gave the people in the square some kind of lift. There was spontaneous applause and there was singing and there was clapping. It was almost incongruous because it was almost a festive atmosphere.

Of course, once the news came on Saturday night that he had passed away, there was almost a sense of stunned silence.

I heard you say that after the pope’s death was announced, people began just walking towards St. Peter’s. Can you describe what it was like to see that sea of humanity fill St. Peter’s?
We had left St. Peter’s Square at the end of that day. We were pretty much finished broadcasting and didn’t expect to get another update until in the morning, so we were actually getting something to eat, a few of us from the show. All of a sudden, someone we knew came in and walked over to our table, and told us that the pope had died.

The first thing you could sense was the reaction in the restaurant. We got up immediately and by the time we were heading out to our cars, I could see other people in the restaurant getting up. Then I could see people coming out of other buildings. The word was probably only five minutes old at the time, but it was spreading.

As we drove toward Vatican City, all of a sudden there was enormous traffic. Everybody seemed to be flooding the same streets, heading in the direction of Vatican City.

Then the sidewalks were just filled with people holding hands — either standing still or some people were embracing. Some people standing by cars, listening to the radio. The majority of people were just walking toward St. Peter’s Square.

When I say “people,” there were thousands of people. In the last several blocks before the intersection between Rome and Vatican City, there were just thousands of people walking on the sidewalks quietly. Not saying anything.

You could just tell, they just wanted to be there. They realized it was too late. They realized the pope had passed away. But, in some way, they just wanted to be there on that night. Either to say they were part of that historic moment or just to offer their respect. 

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