John Paul II touched lives in N.M.

2005-07-03

Shortly after he was sworn in as a state senator in 1985, Albuquerque Republican Joe Carraro traveled to Phoenix as a guest of then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez to meet the pope.
The meeting was quite brief, Carraro recalled, just "shaking hands, hello, I'm a state senator from New Mexico."
But it left a mark on him.
"He's always been a really athletic guy and he looked that way," Carraro said of the pope. "He had strong hands. That's one of the things I remember, how strong he was. Whenever I see him now, I think of that image of him way back then, a very strong - and gentle - man. His eyes were soft and piercing. He could see into you.
"That was the only time I got to see him," Carraro said. "Up in Chimayo this past Good Friday, we were up there praying for the pope. That's why I walked it" - the pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayo - "this year, for him."
excerpts from The Albuquerque Tribune, Article by Tribune Staff