Umieranie i śmierć Jana Pawła II a doświadczenie żałoby

Abstract

The death of John Paul II was a worldwide event. That was proven by the numerous gatherings that took place in many places around the world. The aim of those assemblies was to pray for the deceased Pope but also to meet the need of being together in this important moment. People felt that both close and significant person had passed. The experiences connected with the passing and the death of the Holy Father were collected in books of condolence. This article presents the research carried out on the basis of a condolence book called The Internet users in tribute to John Paul II published in 2005 by an Internet portal Onet.pl. The whole book consists of 1 040 843 statements. In our studies we focused only on 17 category words related to the death of the Pope, the mourning reactions and life-change claims. The research has shown that for the Internet users the loss of John Paul II was equal to losing a close relative or somebody you appreciate the most. Most of the respondents felt a great sadness and sorrow on hearing the grave news. Many of them mentioned the need of being in community and a need of prayer, reconciliation, unconditioned love and intensifying their faith. The experience of mourning and Pope’s teaching will serve as a trigger to change people’s attitudes and behaviour.