Pope John Paul II connected with Catholics and Christians for a multitude of reasons. He not only shared Christ’s message with the world, but also truly lived God’s will personally. Through his loving example he inspired millions to grow closer to God. His heroic path, holiness, joyful nature and peaceful suffering helped make him a Shepherd of Christians around the world.

There is no way to sum up his life and legacy in one blog post; instead, I recommend these sites with their own tributes to the Blessed John Paul to discover what he meant for all Catholics, as well as for each of us personally.

SQPN created a special webpage to share Father Roderick and Steve Nelson’s experiences through blog, photos, and videos in Rome for the Beatification. In addition, they opened the forum to posted video tributes about Pope John Paul II sent in by the SQPN community.

Visit the USCCB website filled with great resources honoring Blessed John Paul II, including his biography, his many writings, videos and so much more.

CatholicMom.com founder, Lisa Hendey received one of the coveted 150 invitations to the Vatican Blogger Meeting this past Monday immediately following the Beatification. She is writing online, tweeting and posting on FaceBook her personal reaction to the Beatification and ongoing events at the Vatican this week.

CatholicVote.org offers their own new site celebrating the life and legacy of Pope John Paul II, with many articles detailing his inspiration and love for all people to live out Christ’s message.

EWTN’s news director, Raymond Arroyo, posted numerous photos and videos taken before, during and after the beatification capturing his experience.

Elizabeth Scalia, known as The Anchoress, shared her experiences at the Vatican by live-blogging at the Catholic portal on Patheos.com