Pilgrims Visit Baptismal Site of Jesus
VATICAN CITY Pope John Paul II, after skipping an evening prayer ceremony to honor deceased popes on Saturday, urged the faithful to pray for the dead and consider death as merely a step towards eternal life, Sunday, November 02.
"This invites the faithful to look at the mystery of death not as the last word of human fate, but as a step toward eternal life," John Paul said to the crowd gathered at St. Peters Square for his Sunday appearance.
John Paul was marking All Soul's Day, a church holiday also known as the Day of the Dead, in which Catholics are called on to pray by the graves of loved ones.