Worshippers file through the Stations of the Cross at St. Patrick's Cathedral (Heidi Schumann/www.hsfoto.com)

NEW YORK, NY April 03, 2005 —Catholics throughout the region have been heading to church to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II.

FM: Saint Patrick’s Cathedral was full last night for the 5:30 mass, and a line of the devout -- and the simply curious -- snaked around the block in the rain. In front, posted near the flowers on the altar, were large portraits of the Holy Pontiff. Cardinal Edward Egan recalled the man he said was both a father and a friend to him.

EE: For all of us who have been touched by him, we tell the father in heaven, we are grateful. We will never forget this good and holy man.

FM: After the service, many worshippers said they were pained by John Paul’s death but were glad his suffering had ended.

-"He actually lived Christ's life. And I'm sure right now he's with the heavenly father."

-"His being the Pope made me come back to the faith moreso than I was. I strayed away."

-"I'm going to find it very difficult to cope with a new pope."

-"He really reached out to the people, and he traveled so much, and he had such courage in his last few years."

FM: Many people who came to St. Patrick’s were not Catholic, but said the Pope had inspired them – with his strength, humility and kindness. Greg Packer is Jewish, but believes that in reaching out to Jews, the Holy Father set an example everyone can follow.

GP: He saved a family from the death to the Nazis, and that’s enough for any Jewish person to remember.

FM: Faustina Nischk saw the Pope in 1995. She touched him, when he came to Central Park. In September of 2001, while visiting northern Italy, her husband surprised her with a detour to Rome. They arrived in St. Peter’s Square, as the world was reeling from the terrorist attacks on the U.S.

FN: He was not angry, but just very sad. [He was] saying we must pray for all, everyone in the world, and to learn to forgive.

FM: Although many people said they hope a new pope will continue to John Paul’s stalwart traditionalism, some expressed hope the Vatican will become more open to the modern world. Dan Cossachi is a student at Fordham University.

DC: For a most of us, the group I came with anyway, this is the only Pope we’ve ever known, and I think there are a lot of things that need to be looked at in the church – ordination of women, married clergy. I think we can make big steps some serious thought over the coming weeks as to who can take steps in those directions.

FM: Outside of Manhattan, in the largely Polish neighborhood of Green Point, feelings about the Pope are not so mixed, and dissent is hard to come by. Mike Madigan says listening to John Paul was the closest thing to listening to God – an experience that gave him strength.

MM: He helped me, because I’m an alcoholic. And I haven’t been an alcoholic now . [For] 22 years, I’ve been off the booze, and he and the Bible are the ones that got me off the booze.

FM: Worshippers have been packing services at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church here for days, praying for the Holy Father before and since his death. Like many people here, Maria Nowak takes a special personal pride in the Polish Pontiff.

MN: I remember when he came to Poland after Communist collapse, and he gave for our nation such a strength to fight.

FM: In a way, though, every nation considered John Paul one of theirs. In Washington Heights, Maria de la Cruz still lived in the Dominican Republic when the Pope visited her country. She lived in a rural area and could not make it to Santo Domingo to hear him speak. But she vividly recalls listening to him on the radio.

MDLC: It made me so happy that he went to my country and I got very emotional when he said wanted to get to know this country that loved Christ so much that even the flag had a cross and a Bible on it.

FM: The list of possible successors to John Paul includes cardinals from all over the world. Whether he comes from a European nation or -- as some people think -- one in Latin America, Africa or Asia, there is probably a community somewhere in New York that will take a special ‘home-town’ interest. And all will be watching to see what in what direction he takes the Vatican.