LONDONDERRY — With the old and new popes in the news, I thought I'd share a photo that I shot while I was a news photographer in 1979, when Pope John Paul II was touring the United States for the first time. This was a weird moment that could only have happened in New York City.
I was assigned to cover the two days he would spend in New York City. Credentialed media were given access to specific events and press pens around the city, and buses shuttled us along the pontiff's route. I had great access along the motorcade route, outside Saint Patrick's Cathedral, in Madison Square Garden for a Youth event, and at an outdoor Mass at Yankee Stadium.
Every place the pope went, people would scream, “Viva papa,” and his holiness would respond by raising his arm in blessing. That gesture made a great picture, and photographers quickly learned to anticipate the move.
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At one point, I was stationed in a press pen along the side of the United Nations building. It was a dead spot, and only a few photographers were there.
The pope was scheduled to walk from the back of the building, turn a corner and stroll toward us, then turn left and enter back into the United Nations building. There was a chance for an OK picture, but it wasn't a prime shooting spot.
When the pope rounded the corner, he was surrounded by bishops and cardinals and was showing fatigue, with both arms drooped at his side.
One of the very-New-York photographers couldn't leave well enough alone and screamed, “Eh, papa! Give us a viva!”
The bishops and cardinals were clearly mortified by the disrespect and looked shocked, until the pope smiled and raised his right hand in a classic “viva,” then shot us a thumbs-up with his left hand. He paused for a brief instant and then returned into the UN, having given us more picture than we were hoping for.
Pope John Paul II was probably the first pope to understand modern media and the importance of imaging. I liked him.