The scale and dignity of yesterday's funeral for Pope John Paul II in Rome gives a new meaning to the universality of Catholicism directed from that city to the world as a whole. It was the largest gathering of political and religious leaders and of ordinary mourners within living memory. By their presence they honoured the personal esteem in which John Paul is held, the universal appeal of his religious, political and ethical role in world events and his great success in communicating the values on which his long life was based.
This was a worldwide occasion which affirmed the common humanity of those attending and all the religious and national diversity they represent. It reflected John Paul's remarkable record as a traveller, his political convictions, his deliberate appeal to younger people, the dialogue he opened up with Jewish and Muslim leaders and his less successful efforts to reconcile differences with Orthodox and other Christian churches. Above all, his insistence on the compatibility of his Polish identity with his role as a world leader was affirmed by the huge turnout of his fellow-countrymen at yesterday's ceremony. He never saw nationality and common humanity as incompatible and always saw identity affirmed by its encounters with difference. That is a central part of his universal appeal.
Many of these themes were taken up in Cardinal Ratzinger's eloquent homily and in the heartfelt responses to it from the two million-strong congregation in the Vatican. They recognised his suffering in the final years of his life and the equal determination to continue giving leadership to his church until the very end. It was a spiritual and religious biography which never lost sight of the ordinary humanity and simplicity of the man. This was recognised the world over and fully reflected in the many tributes paid to him over the past week.
Pope John Paul has made an immense contribution to the human condition by the dignity and honesty with which he faced his own death. The subject is usually avoided in public discourse, all the more so in these consumerist times. His appeal to young and old broke that mould in an example that is life-enhancing in spiritual and ethical terms. Millions of non-religious or non-observing people recognised this and found a common bond with him on it. This helps to explain the universal appeal of yesterday's ceremony and the great goodwill it has created.
After the funeral attention turns to the search for a successor to John Paul. As Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said yesterday, succeeding popes are usually very different to one another. The debate on whether the next pope should represent continuity or change has already opened up in the contrasting interpretations of John Paul's life and record. His manifold achievements and personality defy easy categorisation. What is certain is that they leave a legacy not only for his own church but for the whole of humanity as well.