Drawing People To Christ

Pope John Paul II looked peaceful and serene, just as the way he looked when he was deeply fixed in prayer, said Cardinal Roger Mahony to The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

Cardinal Mahony of the archdiocese of Los Angeles was among those who had the opportunity to view the pontiff's body laying in state at the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

"It was just a serenity about him that made all of us serene," Cardinal Mahony says. "It also evoked the deep spirituality."

It is a very different image of the Holy Father from the last few weeks, the cardinal notes, when the pope struggled even to breathe.

"When I saw his eyes closed, it reminded me of how often he was at prayer," he says. "It reminded me yesterday that he's eternally at prayer. It was just a wonderful moment."

People close to him say the late pope would spend as many as six or seven hours a day in prayer, something Cardinal Mahony notes most Americans are not particularly aware of.

He says, "Particularly in the United States where we're so prone to follow the clock and the school and duties and tasks. So we're not rooted as spiritually as he was."

Even though Pope John Paul II was an intellectual – he had several doctorate degrees - one of his greatest legacies is his spirituality, Cardinal Mahony says.

"There is a lot of talk about the Iron Curtain and all the other things of the world. Those are important," the cardinal says, "But he was a deeply spiritual man and called all of us to a life of prayer and wanted us to deepen our lives in Jesus Christ. I think that's probably his greatest legacy for me."

There was a surety about him from the standpoint that this was a man without ambiguities. While that may have been controversial for many Americans it gave clarity to the church's message.

"The fact that the primary message of Christ is unchanging," Cardinal Mahony says. "Pope John Paul II said we have to find a way to communicate that message to different areas of life in this world.

"His challenge was to remain faithful to the gospel but make it appealing. He did that with young people in an extraordinary way."

CBS News analyst Father Paul Robichaud notes, as he walks through the piazza, it is extraordinary to see that the whole world is there and half of them are young people singing, praying, and chanting his name.

"This pope had an incredible ability to connect with young people throughout the world," Father Robichaud says. "When he was a younger pope, when he was athletic, he always loved even as a young priest, he loved working with young people. But he managed to keep that over all these years, even as a fragile elderly pope."

It was his very straightforward message that was very appealing to so many young people.

Father Robichaud says, "They say that the generations have difficulty with each other. This pope never lost his heart or spirit for young people. Young people picked that up - as oftentimes as black and white because this pope was very traditional, very conservative in many, many ways. His moral message was very, very clear. And yet young people really were drawn to him in a way that is amazing for many of us."

Cardinal Mahony notes the pope called the young to do difficult things. As a cardinal he also has the huge responsibility once the funeral is over to begin the process of deciding who should succeed Pope John Paul II.

"Well, actually, that part of it, I haven't really started," the cardinal says. "Right now is a wonderful time of prayer and a time of reflection for the whole church. It's something like after Jesus died, and you had Holy Saturday, a whole day where nothing was going on. It was just a day of reflection. And I think that's where we are. Right now, we're in that 'Holy Saturday' day. That's going to take several days."

And just like in those days, people didn't know what was going to happen next. "We don't know what surprise the Holy Spirit has in store for us either," Cardinal Mahony says.

Pope John Paul II's body will be moved Monday to St. Peter's Basilica, when common people will be allowed to see him. Rome expects up to two million pilgrims to flood into the city to pay their respects.