He's been mobbed by millions of adoring fans, but he's not Bono or Justin Timberlake. Since 1978, he's met with hundreds of heads of states, but he's not Jimmy Carter.
His 1987 visit to Phoenix and to ASU was a major local event.
And this summer, he's coming back to the Americas.
I'm talking about Pope John Paul II.
The Pope's a comin' and I couldn't be more excited. Seriously.
I'm not Catholic, and I'm not too keen on the church in general — especially its stand on reproductive rights — but I like this Pope.
And millions of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, who already love their "Papa" must be feeling the same way.
Of course, when I say millions of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, I mean the Catholic majority.
When the Spaniards invaded what is now Mexico in the sixteenth century, part of the whole push was to "introduce" Catholicism. Indians were convinced (willingly or otherwise) to convert, and among these was a 57-year-old Aztec peasant named Juan Diego.
According to tradition, Juan single-handedly delivered to his people — his invaded, conquered, converted people — something miraculous: their very own Virgin Mary.
According to the "Our Lady Of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas" web site (www.sancta.org), an apparition of the Virgin appeared to Juan and cured him of an illness. Posthaste, he was off to see the local bishop, who dismissed him, no doubt, as a lunatic.
Juan persisted and the apparition, who kept on appearing to her little "Juanito," ultimately helped him to win his case by providing him with armloads of roses for the bishop ... in the middle of a barren desert winter!
The fact that she ended up with a Spanish name, "Our Lady of Guadalupe," probably owes to the fact that the Spaniards weren't too concerned about getting the Nahuatl version (pronounced "quatlasupe") right.
Of course, not much has changed since the 1500s.
Juan Diego reportedly devoted himself to hard work in the fields, not unlike Mexicans today. Juan supposedly said to the Virgin, "I am a nobody. I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf."
I think a lot of Mexicans feel like that.
They're made to feel like they're "small ropes" and "tiny ladders." Certainly, working in Mexican maquilladoras must make one feel that way. And here, a man might feel a connection to the leaves when he spends his days blowing them around.
Mexicans south of La Frontera live with a little more dignity, but still, many consider them the poor peasants of North America.
Juan's story and the ultimate recognition of his Virgin had to be a comfort to his people. Our Lady of Guadalupe was, and still is, a figure of adoration and pride to Juan's descendents. She embodies the compassion, the strength and the pride of the Mexican people.
According to sancta.org, John Paul II has praised Juan Diego for his simple faith and pictured him as a model of humility for all of us.
This year, the Pope is going to finally make a saint of poor little Juan, dead these 400-plus years.
It's kind of fitting since John Paul's first official "apostolic voyage" abroad was in 1979, to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where he beatified Juan Diego. At almost 82 years of age and in failing health, the Pope can't be making a lot more "voyages."
The Pope might heed the words "Our Lady" is said to have expressed to her beloved Juan Dieguito:
"Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything."
Thanks Juan Diego. Thanks John Paul.
Amen.
Dawn Leonard Tripp is a journalism junior. Reach her at dawn.tripp@asu.edu.
