Pope John Paul II and ICT

"This world is not capable of making man happy."
- Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005

Much has been, and will continue to be, written about the great sanctity and holiness of Pope John Paul II's life and papacy. I'm quite sure that none of those writings will answer the question, "Did the Holy Father ever use a computer?"

The answer is yes! My sister, Anali Mapa-Drilon was right beside him when he used a Macintosh. The year was 1996. The place was the Vatican. The event was the unveiling of the first-ever CD* on the papacy of Pope John Paul II. Below, in her own words, is my sister's description of how it happened. Her memories were triggered when she saw, on CNN, the Pope's private chapel in the Vatican.

"We walked through that chapel to get to his study. Together with Cardinal Sin and Fr. Aris, we walked through what seemed like miles of corridors, layers of guards, dozens of closed doors. When we got to the study, I kissed his hand, then presented to him the picture where he was kissing Cheri (our youngest sister).



We then walked over to the Macintosh, accompanied by many other cardinals and priests. This was the first-ever CD on his papacy, so it was a big thing at the Vatican. He had such huge hands, almost as big as a baseball glove. I remember that my hands were like an infant's beside his.



It was over all too soon. Before we left, he gave us his blessing, and he told us to "Keep doing good things". I remember right after we left the study, I cried and cried, I was so touched by what had happened." See this story on MSNBC!

*NOTE: The CD was entitled "Mabuhay ang Papa". It was a multimedia compilation of the Holy Father's 1995 commemoration of the World Youth Day in Manila. It was the first commercial CD produced in the Philippines, and was created using Macromind Director.

Pahabol: The photos below were taken in May, 1980 at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. My mother and father had saved enough to take our family on a world tour, including a 2-week stay in Italy to attend the Genfest of the Focolare Movement. While in Rome, we attended the Holy Father's birthday celebration. We were blessed to find ourselves right beside the path which the Popemobile would take. When he stopped in front of us, his escorts first lifted my sister Anali, then my sister Mitzi up to him for a blessing. Finally they lifted up my sister Cheri.



To the cheers of the crowd, the Holy Father took Cheri into his arms, kissed her on both cheeks, and whispered something into her ear. Upon returning to the hotel, we asked Cheri, who was all of 2 years old at the time, what the Pontiff had told her. "Be a good girl", she echoed. My sister must have taken the advice to heart; she is pursuing a religious vocation, and is close to completing her studies at the Focolare formation center in Fribourg, Switzerland.