c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Pope John Paul II traveled the world, reaching out to people of different faiths. Now, he is the first pontiff to have his death mourned on the Internet by the millions he touched.

All over the world, people of many faiths have been lighting candles for Pope John Paul II. Many are sharing these candlelit vigils on the Internet.

“Maybe they feel like they're sending that prayer out into a very vast space,'' said Sister Jean Alice McGoff, a Carmelite nun in a small cloistered community in Indianapolis that has been accepting online prayers for the pope sent with virtual candles. “It's like you send your prayer into this big, huge world community.''

It's an appropriate gesture for the pope who opened the Vatican's first Web site in 1995 and whose death announcement came in the form of an e-mail.

Visitors to the Carmelite nuns' site (http://www.praythenews.com) click on pictures of orange, yellow and red unlit candles. The virtual candles light up and visitors leave a prayer to go with the candle. The nuns print out the messages and pray with them, according to McGoff, and the outpouring for the pope has been astonishing.

“When 9/11 came, we had so many prayers, but with the death of John Paul we've had so many more,'' McGoff said.

One of the most popular of these “virtual candle'' sites is run jointly by Beliefnet.com and gratefulness.org. Planning for the site was in the works months before the pope died.

“I knew there would be an outpouring of grief and I wanted to provide people with a creative way to express what the pope had meant to them,'' said Beliefnet senior religion editor Laura Sheahen, who approached gratefulness.org when the pope's health began to deteriorate. “The community aspect of mourning a person's death is what's at issue here.''

Linking from Beliefnet, visitors are sent to gratefulness.org, where they are asked to calm themselves before preparing their prayer for the pope. They then choose from a series of tall unlit candles set against a red background and sitting amid virtual candles already lit. After the prayer is written, visitors are reminded to meditate on the candle and then invited to view the prayers of others.

Over time, the virtual candles _ like so many real candles flickering in churches and in shrines _ gradually burn down.

“In some ways, it's surprising how much of an emotional impact people feel when they light a candle,'' said Daniel Uvanovic, webmaster and co-founder of gratefulness.org with Brother David Steindl-Rast. “The beautiful thing about the Internet is the global aspect of it.''

The candles remain lit for only 48 hours, and on Tuesday (April 5) 10,800 candles were burning at the site, compared with a typical number of only 200, Uvanovic said.

The burning candles represent 148 countries, including 120 candles from Poland and nearly 6,800 from the United States. Candles can be viewed by country and many of the prayers, including most of Germany's 113 and Romania's 76, are written in the sender's native tongue.

“Lighting the candle makes me feel better,'' one visitor from Maryville, Tenn., wrote on the site's visitor book. “Almost like I were in Rome with Pope John Paul II.''

The online postings reflect the widespread impact of the pope's death. “There has been an extraordinary outpouring of emotion that is more available to everybody with the click of a mouse … and it's incredible to see,'' said Bill Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It's no surprise that so many turned to the Internet to mourn such a significant religious leader, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Nearly two-thirds of Internet users have used the Internet for religious or spiritual purposes, according to the 2004 study “Faith Online.''

This growing phenomenon of sharing prayers and faith with others over the Internet is an exciting development because it connects people across faiths and allows them to explore and learn, according to the managing editor of Spirituality.com, a Boston-based Web site affiliated with the Church of Christ, Scientist.

“People are acting in a global way,'' Rosalie Dunbar said. “It's a tremendous opportunity for local churchgoers to interact with people outside of their own communities.''

Many visitors to the candle-lighting sites express gratitude and relief at the chance to share prayers with the world.

A visitor to the gratefulness.org site, identified as “IML'' from New York, wrote Tuesday: “Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express a feeling that is in my heart.“

KRE/PH END GAMACHE