Group of Americans makes pilgrimage to see double canonization

Yurek Majcherczyk, who runs a small travel company with his wife, saw a pilgrimage trip to Rome he organized for October of 2001 nearly fall apart after the September 11 attacks. His group of 50 travelers shrank to 12. Among those still on trip: Two women who had lost loved ones when the towers fell.

So he wrote a personal letter to Pope John Paul II, begging, he says, for him to receive this group. The Pope complied, receiving the travelers in a special private audience, and comforting the two mothers.

"I'm so grateful for him, for what he did for these people," Majcherczyk told CBS News by phone from Italy. "I will never forget this."

The personal audience from the pope was one of the many examples of why Majcherczyk said he feels connected to Pope John Paul II. And one of the many reasons he felt he had to make the trip to St. Peter's Square for this Sunday's historic double canonization of both Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.

"In my opinion, he is a saint already. This is just a formality."

Majcherczyk, 61, was born in Poland under communist rule. And like many Polish Americans, he credits Pope John Paul II, "the Polish Pope," with the downfall of communism in his native country.

"When he visited Poland in 1979, he said to all the Polish people, 'Don't be afraid,'" Majcherczyk said. "In my opinion, this was the beginning of the end of the communists."

The group accompanying Majcherczyk hails from around the country. Some have Polish roots, Majcherczyk said, but many in the group don't.

"For all these people, the Pope changed their lives somehow."

"He certainly reached people's hearts," Figueiredo said by phone from Vatican City.

"Both when he was first elected as Pope -- his youthfulness, his speech, the way he was able to get around, to attract people, young and old -- but then in his older age, he was a figure who offered great consolation to those who were suffering, to those who were sick, to those who were old, with a call to persevere."

Majcherczyk feels a strong spiritual connection to the Pope. He carried a picture of the Pope during his travels in South America, on dangerous white water kayaking expeditions, which he felt kept him and his group safe.

"It was incredible. We felt as if we were protected, like this picture was a shield to protect us."

The dual canonization has not been without controversy. Questions still linger surrounding Pope John Paul II's handling of the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the church during the end of his papacy -- questions Yurek said he felt he wasn't in a position to comment on.

Figueiredo said that the Church and the popes have been been clear: One instance of abuse is one too many. But he urged caution in rushing to judgement about how it reflects on Pope John Paul II. He said the scandals should be taken in the larger context of the good the church has done on a global level.

Outside of the scandal, neither of the two men being canonized were perfect, Figueiredo said. Which makes them such perfect candidates to be saints.

Figueiredo described the excitement and fervor that is already filling St. Peter's Square, and how it's now impossible to get a hotel room in Rome.

Majcherczyk will be there on Sunday with three flags: One American, one Polish, and one with the face of John Paul II. He's betting the latter will bring him the luck he needs for a front row seat.