As one headline proclaimed at the time, the west was blessed when Pope John Paul II visited St Leo the Great parish in Altona North 30 years ago.
The pontiff led prayer and hymn singing in the church before meeting the children of St Leo the Great Primary School, granting a private audience to grade 4 pupils and teacher Marianne Massarany.
Parish priest Father Paul Tru said the 30th anniversary of the visit would be celebrated with a mass and blessing of a statue of the Pope.
“It’s a wonderful thing because we are the only parish in Australia visited by him,” Father Tru said.
“We are not rich, we are not big, but we were blessed by his visit. And now he is not only a mere Pope … he is a Saint Pope.”
Bishop Mark Edwards will conduct mass from 5pm on Sunday November 26, followed by a party in the school hall from 6pm.
Seaholme’s Jessie Hodgson recalls struggling to catch a glimpse of the Pope on November 27, 1986.
“I came down to see him and the crowd was so great I couldn’t see anything,” she said.
“So, I went down the corner of Millers Road and Mason Street … I was the only person there and a car passed and the popemobile had to stay because the traffic lights went red.
“And he blessed me. I thought, ‘I’m the only one here, he’s blessing no one else’.
“His skin was translucent, and even though the windows of the car were between me and him, I felt as though I was in a great presence. You could feel it.”
Details: email stleothegreatparish@gmail.com or call 9391 7111.
