A nine-year-old Jewish boy stood outside a church to wait for his Catholic friend. A lady emerged from the church and, seeing the Jewish boy, asked him what he was doing there. “I am waiting for someone,” he replied. “Go away, don’t stay here,” she told him.

At that moment, the Catholic boy also arrived and wanted to know what was happening. “I told him to go away,” the lady said. “Why?” asked the Catholic boy. “Aren’t we all children of the same God?”

That Catholic boy was Karol Wojtyla.

His Jewish friend, a man named Kluger, recalled this incident when he was interviewed on a TV station earlier this week and added that, even at such a tender age, the boy who grew up to become Pope John Paul II was already showing the signs of leadership, acceptance and love that distinguished his 27-year role as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope John Paul II has returned home to the Father he served in his 84 years on Earth, and today the world – and not only Catholics – will pay their last respects to the man who was able to pull down walls and build bridges.

He was instrumental in the building of the new Europe as we know it today. The fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the iron curtain which separated Russia and its allies from Western Europe and the greater unity that exists in Europe now – you name it, the Pope had a hand in it.

He was the first Pontiff to enter a synagogue. It happened in 1986 and, although the two religions remain apart, that sign was a step that needed to be made to bring Jewish and Catholics closer. He also visited a mosque, again a sign that his intentions were to bring different religions together.

When he was about to visit England, a survey showed that 61 per cent of the population did not want him to go there. After the visit, two-thirds were glad that he did.

He may have been a strict conservative, and more open-minded people criticised him for the stand he took on matters regarding women priests, homosexuality and the role of women in the world of work.

But it must also be said that the Pope took the Word of the Gospel to every corner of the world, making it his mission to be as close to the faithful as possible. He visited countries that are not predominantly Catholic, and his only regret is that it was not possible for him to visit Russia.

Our memories of him must not only be of the frail man who battled against illness in the latter part of his life – although the way he endured his pain with so much serenity should also be an example to us all.

Even without a voice, and with Parkinson’s disease and arthritis making it all the more difficult for him to keep up with his duties, the Pope never gave up. His determination to be there, his courage to persist and his willingness to live made him the special man he was.

We must, however, also remember him in his prime, when he quickly gained the respect and love of the faithful, when he travelled to areas never before visited by a pope, when he did all he could to work towards a peaceful world in which everybody would like to live.

Last Saturday, the Pope passed away. It will be hard to forget him and all he did. But his message to all of us remains strong.

We must all strive harder and give our own contribution to make the world a better place in which to live.