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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: In Rome, ceremonies and festivities honoring the papacy of John Paul II, who was elected pope 25 years ago. Also, beatification for Mother Teresa.
Kim Lawton reports from Rome.
KIM LAWTON: There's been an air of celebration in Rome all week. Tens of thousands of pilgrims have flooded into the city to honor two of the most influential figures of modern Catholicism.
JOHN ALLEN (Vatican Correspondent, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER): These two people, John Paul II and Mother Teresa, I think, have been the face of the Catholic Church in the 20th century. It's hard not to feel good as a Catholic, that your faith community produced two such consequential, mesmerizing figures.
Cardinal THEODORE MCCARRICK (Archdiocese of Washington): It's a wonderful -- I was going to say coincidence, but I'm sure it's not a coincidence. I'm sure the Holy Father, who never likes to do something just for himself, I think he said, "One great way to celebrate my 25th anniversary would be, let's do something for Mother Teresa."
LAWTON: One of the largest groups of pilgrims from the U.S. came from the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Delegation members said they were drawn by their love for the two spiritual leaders.
FRANK BALLMANN JR. (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): If there's a hall of fame for popes, you'd certainly think John Paul would be in it, and Mother Teresa has been sort of the patron saint of the 20th century, I think, even though she's not a saint yet. But we're working on that.
BETH NALYVAYKO (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): How they've lived their lives, we try to live ours.
LAWTON: Many said this has been a truly life-changing spiritual pilgrimage.
ROSEMARY CELIA POMPA (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): It strengthened my faith before I got here. It will just shine off of me. I just spread the word, I just want to spread the word to everybody. It's just much stronger, forever. It's forever.
LAWTON: Mother Teresa's diaries and letters reveal a complex spiritual journey that included intense mystical experiences as well as decades where she felt God had abandoned her.
Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick says her faithfulness through it all sends a strong message.
Cardinal MCCARRICK: Holiness is not dead in our time. It is still possible to be a holy person. It is still possible to be a saint. We've talked to Mother Teresa and we've known we talked to a saint.
LAWTON: John Paul may have wanted to shift some of the focus away from himself this week, but there was no denying the historical significance of this anniversary.
According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter was the longest-serving Church leader. Among Peter's successors, only two other popes have reigned longer than John Paul II. They were both in the 19th century.
There was nothing but enthusiasm at the pope's 25th anniversary mass. John Paul told the crowd that from the first moments of his papacy, he has depended on Christ's mercy to enable him to fulfill his responsibilities to the Church -- a church he has shaped dramatically over the past quarter century.
Take, for example, the Pontifical North American College, where many U.S. men come and study to be priests. Jason Vidrine and Robert Keighron are second-year seminarians there. They are both 22 years old.
JASON VIDRINE (Seminarian): It is difficult for me to imagine a church without John Paul II because he's the only pope that I've ever known. And for the most part, seminarians in my generation really see the Holy Father as a hero, as someone who embodies everything we aspire toward to be a priest.
Kim Lawton reports from Rome.
KIM LAWTON: There's been an air of celebration in Rome all week. Tens of thousands of pilgrims have flooded into the city to honor two of the most influential figures of modern Catholicism.
JOHN ALLEN (Vatican Correspondent, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER): These two people, John Paul II and Mother Teresa, I think, have been the face of the Catholic Church in the 20th century. It's hard not to feel good as a Catholic, that your faith community produced two such consequential, mesmerizing figures.Cardinal THEODORE MCCARRICK (Archdiocese of Washington): It's a wonderful -- I was going to say coincidence, but I'm sure it's not a coincidence. I'm sure the Holy Father, who never likes to do something just for himself, I think he said, "One great way to celebrate my 25th anniversary would be, let's do something for Mother Teresa."
LAWTON: One of the largest groups of pilgrims from the U.S. came from the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Delegation members said they were drawn by their love for the two spiritual leaders.
FRANK BALLMANN JR. (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): If there's a hall of fame for popes, you'd certainly think John Paul would be in it, and Mother Teresa has been sort of the patron saint of the 20th century, I think, even though she's not a saint yet. But we're working on that.BETH NALYVAYKO (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): How they've lived their lives, we try to live ours.
LAWTON: Many said this has been a truly life-changing spiritual pilgrimage.
ROSEMARY CELIA POMPA (Delegation Member, Washington, D.C.): It strengthened my faith before I got here. It will just shine off of me. I just spread the word, I just want to spread the word to everybody. It's just much stronger, forever. It's forever.
LAWTON: Mother Teresa's diaries and letters reveal a complex spiritual journey that included intense mystical experiences as well as decades where she felt God had abandoned her.Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick says her faithfulness through it all sends a strong message.
Cardinal MCCARRICK: Holiness is not dead in our time. It is still possible to be a holy person. It is still possible to be a saint. We've talked to Mother Teresa and we've known we talked to a saint.
LAWTON: John Paul may have wanted to shift some of the focus away from himself this week, but there was no denying the historical significance of this anniversary.According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter was the longest-serving Church leader. Among Peter's successors, only two other popes have reigned longer than John Paul II. They were both in the 19th century.
There was nothing but enthusiasm at the pope's 25th anniversary mass. John Paul told the crowd that from the first moments of his papacy, he has depended on Christ's mercy to enable him to fulfill his responsibilities to the Church -- a church he has shaped dramatically over the past quarter century.
Take, for example, the Pontifical North American College, where many U.S. men come and study to be priests. Jason Vidrine and Robert Keighron are second-year seminarians there. They are both 22 years old.
JASON VIDRINE (Seminarian): It is difficult for me to imagine a church without John Paul II because he's the only pope that I've ever known. And for the most part, seminarians in my generation really see the Holy Father as a hero, as someone who embodies everything we aspire toward to be a priest.
PHILIP PULLELLA (Vatican Correspondent, Reuters): Certainly, conservatives are happy that this papacy has lasted so long because it's given them time to consolidate some of their positions. On the hand, liberals in the Church think the papacy has lasted too long because it hasn't provided for enough open discussion on some issues that they would like to discuss, like the issue of the role of women in the Church, sexual morality, and the role of divorced who remarry.
Cardinal MCCARRICK: The Holy Father has given us this long pontificate -- which is not over, which, please God, will go on for a long time still -- I think for a reason. He has taken the doctrine of the Church and the teaching of the Church and has put it together and he's done it in such a way that we live it now -- maybe not as well as we should, but we know, I think, better what road we should walk into the next few hundred years.
Mr. ALLEN: Obviously, there is a great deal of conversation among themselves as to what are the big-picture, front-burner issues facing the Church, what profile of a man, of a future pope, is necessary to confront those issues. And certainly in their own minds, if not so much out loud, many of them are thinking about as they're looking around among their own number, which of these guys, which of these cardinals might meet that profile?
LAWTON: Still, the pope's obvious physical decline has made this week's festivities somewhat bittersweet. But many here say they are celebrating this pope's past -- and trusting God for the future.
