Thousands of people believe Pope John Paul the Second saved their spiritual lives. But one Missourian believes the Pope saved his physical life. Darrell Mease was scheduled to be executed on the day Pope John Paul the second arrived in Missouri for a 31-hour visit. Mease faced the death penalty because of the murders of three people in southwest Missouri. His execution was delayed until after the Pope had gone home. It never happened. A few electric seconds between the Pope and Governor Mel Carnahan made the difference. The Pope asked Carnahan to show mercy to Mease. A few days later, Carnahan commuted Mease’s sentence to life without parole. Mease believes the Pople was sent to Missouri by God at that specific time to save him. Mease says he is a born-again Christian. He dismisses talk that he is alive today because of publicity and circumstance. It was God’s will, he says, just as it will be God’s will that he will someday walk out of the prison at Potosi a free man.
