THE death of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II is being mourned quietly, but with great sadness by his 8,000 Catholic flock in Hereford-shire.
Churches have been filled, prayers said and thousands of candles lit to help the man they revered and thought of as their father and shepherd on his last journey.
Across the world, people have gathered in vast numbers in emotional outbursts of sorrow and in this country the Pope's death last Saturday caused the postponement of a Royal Wedding and a delay in naming the date for a General Election.
In Herefordshire, Catholics have treated the momentous occasion like a bereavement in their own family, quietly and with dignity.
Every parish has chosen its own way of mourning and congregations have been urged by the clergy to listen to the Pope's last words - "do not be sad''.
But they were, and remain so. "He was old and frail but I was not prepared for the sadness and feeling of loss I have experienced at his passing,'' said a worshipper at St Francis Xavier Church in Hereford.
Prayers at his death and as a thanksgiving for his life have been mixed with those of relief that the Pope had, at last, been released from pain.
Not only Catholics have been moved by his death. At Belmont Abbey, where the Papal flag is lowered, the Abbot, Father Paul Stonham, has been surprised at the messages of condolence he has received from people from many religions.
Among them was one from the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, who described the Pope as a world leader with a commitment to peace, lifelong faithfulness in speaking up for the oppressed and a holiness of life, all of which had been inspirational. He was a truly great and holy man.
The Abbot, who had rung the passing bell when the Pope's death was announced, considered the Holy Father the most remarkable man in the world and said he was privileged to meet him at his summer home at Castel Gondolfo outside Rome last September.
It was clear the Pope was in great pain and was unable to speak the address he had written for Abbots who had come from all over the world. But he had shown amazing physical and inner strength to carry on with his work, said Father Paul.
Many people from Herefordshire went to a diocesan Requium Mass at St David's Cathedral in Cardiff on Monday evening, joining with a congregation of several thousands who spilled out in to Charles Street.
But most Catholics in the county, where 2,000 of the 8,000 faithful attend mass each Sunday, have been honouring the Pope in their own churches.
At Our Lady's Church in Belmont Road, parish priest Father Martin Donnelly arranged for masses to be said in Polish, as well as English.
The church has a large number of Polish worshippers, many of them men, or their descendants, who came to Herefordshire during the last war.
It was Pope John Paul who blessed part of the foundation stone at Our Lady's Church in the presence of 20,000 people in St Peter's Square in Rome in November 1994.
The funeral for Pope John Paul takes place in the Vatican, in Rome tomorrow (Friday).
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