Feeling blessed to have met Saint John Paul II

Anxiety was written all over Rogart Zongo’s face a few days before his ordination on September 2, 1990. He just could not wait to become a priest.

He was 30 at the time, had finished all his courses and had vowed to live a life of celibacy. All he was waiting for was the anointment.

“Those were nervous moments in my life. I was just waiting to be granted my lifetime wish of standing at the pulpit to deliver sermons,” recalls Fr Zongo, now a Parish Priest at St Patrick’s church in Morogoro Diocese.

At that time, he cared less about who would ordain him. All that mattered to him was having his dream of becoming a priest come true.

He did not believe it when the late Bishop of Morogoro that time, Adrian Mkoba, hinted to him that Pope John Paul II was to ordain him and others during his visit to Tanzania. He just took it as a joke.

“I had heard that the Pope was to visit Tanzania, but I did not want to believe my bishop’s words,” says Fr Zongo, recalling the conversation with the late bishop in 1990.

Twenty four years on, Fr Zongo is so nostalgic about the day when the late pontiff ordained him to the priesthood, as thousands of Catholic believers who had thronged the Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam to celebrate mass with the Pope witnessed. Fr Zongo is equally happy today that the person who anointed him is now a Saint, having been recently canonised into sainthood- Saint Pope John Paul II.

True shepherd

Not even in his wildest dreams had the now 54 year-old priest ever thought he would meet the Pope, let alone be ordained by the world head of the Catholic church. The man has now become a patron and a source of prayers to the over 1.2 billion believers worldwide.

Fr Zongo still recalls the day just like it was yesterday and as he puts it, it has lent significance to his life on earth, a milestone that he will forever remain with throughout his life.

“I remember when he placed his hands on my head, a certain feeling ran through my spine. It has since remained with me and I think he deserved the canonisation last month. He was a caring leader and a true shepherd who I looked up to,” says the priest.

Born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Saint Pope John Paul II was also known as Pope John Paul the Great mostly for his deeds during his time on earth.

He is recognised for helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. He significantly improved the Catholic church’s relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

The late Pope will go down in history as the only pontiff who travelled the most, having made trips to 129 countries. Word has it that during his papacy, the second longest serving pontiff visited more than 10 countries in Africa including Tanzania.

From September 1st to 5th, 1990, Tanzania became a beehive of activity as scores of people gathered wherever St John Paul II went to have a glimpse of him. The places he visited in the country include Dar es Salaam, Songea, Tabora, Mwanza and Moshi.

Wherever the Pope went, the Catholic faithful from neighbouring regions and countries went to get his blessings. When he went to Mwanza for example, believers from neighbouring regions of Kagera, Kigoma, Shinyanga and Musoma all gathered in Mwanza. When he went to Moshi, people came all the way from Kenya to see him.

His influence on Africa

While celebrating mass at St Peter’s Church in Dar es Salaam on April 27, the day Pope John II was canonised, apostolic nuncio to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Padilla described the late Pope as somebody whose influence had grown like wild fire.

“In rural communities throughout Africa there is a whole generation of young Catholics who bear the name John Paul, a number of whom have now become priests...their parents have been touched by the witness of this great Pope and his love of Africa,” he noted in his homily.

In Dar es Salaam, some of the places the pontiff visited include St Joseph’s Cathedral, St Peter’s church, the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) in Kurasini and Jangwani grounds where he celebrated mass with the city residents and ordained new priests, among them Fr Zongo.

Among the scores of residents who struggled to have a glimpse of the Pope at TEC were Goodlove and Goodluck Lwayu, twin sisters and daughters of Mr Elias Lwayu, who worked as a driver at TEC that time. The twins, then aged eight were among the few people who were lucky to be touched by the Pope.

Now an administrative secretary at St Augustine University of Tanzania’s Msimbazi campus, Goodlove still cherishes the moment she and her sister shared with the pontiff.

“We were lucky to have met him, I always call Goodluck and remind her of the moment, it means a lot to us,” says the 32 year-old.

What makes the twins even prouder is the fact that they were lucky to have met someone who would 24 years later join the ranks of saints.

“I think we are just lucky, not all had an opportunity like us, it means a lot to our families,” says the mother of two.

Goodlove says she has since placed Tanzania under the patronage of Saint Pope John Paul II, especially now when the country is in the process of writing a new constitution.

“I pray that our leaders will make wise decisions under his guidance,” she says.

When David Riganda, a Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) employee went on an official trip to Rome in 2008, he duly used the opportunity to tour St Peter’s Basilica, at the headquarters of the Catholic church.

A dream come true

The church was a stone’s throw from the window of the hotel he stayed in and so he could not just afford missing celebrating mass at the Basilica on Sundays.

During one of his visits, one thing caught his attention; St Pope John Paul II’s burial site interred in the grottoes under the basilica, at the Tomb of the Popes.

“When I arrived in Rome I always wished to fulfill my dream of visiting his burial site and thanks to my eagerness, I was able to get there,” says Mr Riganda, who is TIC’s zonal manager for Southern Highlands.

Even though he had no chance of meeting him personally apart from reading about his visit in the newspapers in 1990, Mr Riganda says he keenly followed his life and his mission as the leader of the Catholic Church in the world.

“I was just a Form Four student at Makoko Seminary in Musoma that year, but I was passionate about his life and his teachings, I liked him personally,” says the father of two.

It was not easy for Mr Riganda to gain access of Saint Pope John Paul II burial site and when his request was granted by the Swiss Guard manning the area, he made the most of it.

“It was a dream come true. I knelt there and prayed for ten minutes. I felt very peaceful in mind and soul when I finished praying,” recalls Mr Riganda.

Just like Goodlove, Mr Riganda uses Saint Pope John Paul II as his patron and always turns to him when in trouble.

During the Pope’s visit, the auxiliary Bishop of Bukoba, Methodius Kilaini had just returned from Rome where he had gone for his PhD. He was among the photographers who dotted the TEC grounds to take shots of the event.

Then out of nowhere, Saint Pope John Paul II approached the then 42 year-old priest and greeted him, in a manner suggesting that he had seen him somewhere.

“I had met him while in Rome for my studies but I didn’t expect that he would recall me on that day,” says Bishop Kilaini.

Saint Pope John Paul II also blessed Bishop Kilaini after the meet and greet.

“The crowd gathered at TEC spoke volumes of the kind of person the Pope was, he was truly a magnet,” Bishop Kilaini says.

According to the bishop, Mama Sophia Kawawa, the late wife of the late former prime minister, Rashid Kawawa loved the Pope so much that she hung a portrait of him in her house.

Some people still have mementos of the Pope’s visit such as vitenges and T-shirts printed that time.

Many of those who were lucky to meet him that time count themselves lucky to have seen one of this world’s saints. Many feel that the country was lucky to have hosted and received blessings from the saint when he visited Tanzania.

[email protected]