One of the most revealing moments during the Pope's visit to Ireland occurred away from the crowds in the back room of a Dublin convent.It was late, and the journalists who had accompanied the Pope throughout his 19hr day littered the floor like spent soldiers.
Yet when the Pope walked in, visibly weary, the stocky figure slightly more stooped than usual, the white skull cap even more daringly askew, the equally tired correspondents broke into loud applause.
They even began to sing.
Unashamedly, the traditionally cynical chorused "For he's a jolly good fellow," clapped and gave the Supreme Pontiff three temporal cheers.
He was clearly moved. Quietly, he thanked the gathering, chatted, shared a few jokes, and then gave his blessing. But the fellowship in the backroom was not quite ended.
John Paul paused, lifted those arms again, and said: "Sleep well, sleep well."
The journalists understood. Some had not put their heads on a pillow for 62 hours during the gruelling three-day tour.
"Sleep well" – it was Papal acknowledgement of shared deprivation.
The Pope's Irish pilgrimage, which ended yesterday, can only be assessed when the full impact has become known.
The Pope's passionate call for an end to terrorism must be seen in a wider context. His appeal goes wide to those troubled and hidden allies of the gunmen, relatives and friends, who up to now have been giving their grudging but essential support and find themselves caught in a great dilemma.
So often have such Catholics listened to their church, even concurred with its search for an end to hostilities, yet failed in the end to act. Now they have only a last chance.
The Pope wants to see all extremists stripped of any support so that they stand deserted and morally naked.
There is no doubt that these words of the Pope would have had even greater respect and impact had they been spoken in the North.
They were not invalidated, but they were certainly weakened. John Paul II could hardly have failed to be anything other than a resounding success in Catholic Ireland.
God still has many friends on the "Island of Saints."
But the magnitude of his reception surpassed all expectation. Each day every road seemed jammed with pilgrims on their way to embrace him.
He caught the longing of a land for peace and, maybe, salvation, and dared to show the way. It was done with transparent simplicity and honesty, and the way people heard him gladly.
"Sleep well," he said.
The weary ones understood.
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