Rick Santorum:

Karen and I have been blessed to have the opportunity to meet the Pope on five separate occasions, three of which we were privileged to receive mass from him in his personal chapel. On one occasion, six years ago, Karen and I, and our children met the Pope in his personal chapel. As we received mass, we were struck by the fervor in which Pope John Paul II prayed. As he knelt at the altar, he deeply and intensely involved himself in prayer.
On that same visit, we learned first hand how the Pope was so very much like Christ. Each time the Pope stepped down to kneel before the altar, his face brightened and he would smile at one of our children. He looked and smiled at each of our children throughout the course of the mass, and hugged and kissed each one of them after mass. Pope John Paul II was a man deeply devoted to children and faithfully exemplified Matthew 19:14 when Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me.” On that day, his noticeable love and passion for others touched our lives and the lives of our children. We love the Pope and will miss him dearly.
Pope John Paul II’s compassion for children extended not only to our family but to all corners of the world. As a great communicator for freedom and human dignity, he urged the world to break free from the culture of death that surrounds us and to uphold a culture of life.