CROWDS of worshippers attended mass on Sunday morning to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II.

Father Willie Strain greeted his congregation at St Augustine’s Church, Amersham Hill, High Wycombe, and in a moving sermon spoke of the Pope’s “human touch” and how he delivered his message from the heart.

Father Strain said: “Definitely more people came because of coverage on television. I think people felt a need to come and rem-ember him.” Luis Dias, of Amersham Hill, is a doctor who met the Pope in his native country of Goa back in 1989.

He said: “I was a newly qualified doctor and I was part of the Red Cross looking after people at the mass in an open air church in the holy city of Old Goa. He only had time to shake hands with us, but it was quite an experience.” Jane Crompton, who has been an organist at St Augustine’s for 36 years, has fond memories of when she led the South Bucks Choir who sang for the Pope when he app-eared at Wembley stadium in 1982.

She said: “He was always smiling and came across as a gentle man.” Father Bernard Davenport, of Our Lady’s Grace, Amersham Road, Chesham Bois said his fondest recollections of the Pope were during a private prayer meeting in Rome.

He said: “I was in Rome about 12 years ago and I met up with a group of priests.

“We asked if we could celebrate prayers with his Holiness in his private chapel, which we all did.

“Afterwards he gave us each a set of ros-ary beads as a memento and I asked if I could have another set of beads to give to my housekeeper’s disabled daughter, and he was delighted to give me another set.” Father Davenport described his Holiness as Christ’s representative on Earth, and one of the greatest religious leaders of this age.

Our Lady’s Grace is holding special prayers for the Pope, for the repose of his soul at a 7.30pm mass on Friday.