METRO AREA – The image is clear in Anna Kaczmarek's mind.

She was standing amid the crowds at the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto. She and a friend were cut off from the rest of her parish group – just as Pope John Paul II was making his way to the front.

"I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to see his face," said Kaczmarek, a 17-year-old high school student from St. Paul of Tarsus Parish in Clinton Township.

Then, as the popemobile rolled by, it happened.

He appeared three feet in front of her.

"The heads just kind of moved," she said. "All of a sudden, I had a clear vision of him – he looked right at me."

Although not many youths from the Detroit area have physically gotten so close to the pope, a lot of them feel they'd grown just that close to him spiritually.

And they say it's because, spiritually, he related with them.

"Obviously, he was older – but obviously he was one of us, too," said Amy Schultz, a 22-year-old from St. Lawrence Parish who got to know the pope through World Youth Day 2000 in Rome. "He didn't speak down to you. He just spoke to you like you were a friend."

Indeed Pope John Paul went to great lengths to reach out to young Catholics during his pontificate. He instituted the bi-annual World Youth Day gathering in 1983, and each time gave a special address to young Catholics around the world.

And, like it did in many dioceses in many countries, his message reached Detroit clearly.

"The young people felt extremely supported by the pope," said Joyce Francois, archdiocese youth ministry director. "He spoke to them in such a way that they believe he loved them very much."

"He made them feel very special and honored. And they obviously were amazed by his holiness and presence."

There's no doubt World Youth Day gatherings had been the late pontiff's primary tool for reaching out to the Church's young members. The events, which move from various locations around the globe, drew millions of young pilgrims.

"Hopefully the World Youth Days will continue after (Pope John Paul)," said Fr. Tim Birney, administrator of Holy Cross Parish in Marine City, who's led pilgrimages to two World Youth Day celebrations. "But I do think he drew a special emotion out of the young people because they did respect him for who he was and what he did, and his tireless efforts on behalf of the Church worldwide."

Cheryl Moceri, St. Lawrence Parish's youth minister, also witnessed the enthusiasm young people showed for the pope.

"He really reached out to them and let them know they were valuable to the Church," Moceri said. "And all they needed was that personal invitiation."

Moceri recalls standing on a hot day in St. Peter's Square for World Youth Day 2000 at the Vatican. After the then 81-year-old pope finished addressing the crowd, she said, a group of young people started chanting "Viva el papa!"

"He was sitting there – and he just started laughing," Moceri said. "He said 'I'm an old man, I can't live forever.'"

But it wasn't as though his young audience wanted to accept it.

"I don't know how to explain the feeling," said Kaczmarek about her experience with the pope. "It was just complete and extreme peace.

"He just broke down all the barriers that we as human beings could ever put up."