Again and again in remembrances throughout the world, Pope John Paul II has been called "the world's religious leader" for his numerous efforts to reach out and build bridges between interfaith communities.

In Los Angeles the universal love for the pope was evident among the hundreds of faithful who gathered for an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on April 5.

Looking upon pews filled with members of the city's large and active interfaith communities Father Alexei Smith told that assembly how touched he was by the number of people from interfaith communities who have rushed to extend their sympathies on the death of John Paul.

"At a one interfaith event I lost count of the number of people who rushed to greet me to extend their sympathy," said Father Smith, Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "Later an auditorium full of Muslims stood with me in a moment of silence for Pope John Paul II. People from all over come to me and simply and unhesitantly say, 'He was our pope.'"

The most well-traveled pope in modern times, John Paul often used his travels to open doors of dialogue with non-Christian religions. His travels took him to Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques. He led prayer services at Nazi death camps and lobbied for full religious freedom in countries under Islamic law. And during his September 1987 visit to Los Angeles, he met with leaders of other faiths in Little Tokyo.

His belief that prayer could bring believers together to improve the world resulted in the 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy. This gathering drew leaders of Jews, Buddhists, Shintoists, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Unitarians, traditional African and Native American religions and many others. Under the roof of the Basilica of St. Francis, they all prayed, with Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders, for world peace.

"The fact that so many people, both Catholic and non-Christian, regarded him as "our pope" speaks boldly to how he impacted our interfaith partners," noted Father Smith.

Explaining how he was able to bring groups together where others failed, Dr. Maher Hathout, a leader of Los Angeles' Muslim community, said John Paul was able to "end the exclusive attitude of the Catholic Church."

"He reached out to the community by showing respect and recognition. He was more than willing to take it to the people and make a stand and not just make statements," said Hathout. "He made the two communities know and trust each other --- trust replaced the historical mistrust. Because of this they discovered the goodness in both communities and in their beliefs."

Hathout recounted his audience before the pope 18 years ago during the "Nostra Aetate" meeting of interfaith leaders in Little Tokyo.

"I was very impressed with how warm and humble he was in person," remembered Hathout. "But I was most impressed when he quoted my own words in his talk, because he was reassuring me that this message was being pushed forward by his voice and that these values are in good keeping."

During last week's Cathedral prayer service, many of the speakers remembered time spent with the pope as the most memorable in their lives.

Sikh leader Bibi Inderjit Kaur Khalsa brought photos of her three private audience meetings with the pope. "He was the most personable, kind and sweet person," Khalsa said. "Each time I was so thrilled to be in the room with him. It was the most beautiful experience of my life."

Rabbi Harold Schulweis traveled to Egypt with a Muslim Imam and Protestant minister, working to bring peace to the area, shortly before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic trip to Israel in 1977. He recalled that the pope blessed the success of the trip and his "blessings were deeply felt."

Rabbi Schulweis, leader of the Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, noted that "divinity cannot and must not be segregated" and the pope embodied this through his words actions and deeds.

"He spoke to his clergy and told them to no longer refer to the Jewish part of the bible as the Old Testament but as the Hebrew Scriptures because old represents obsolescence and decrepitude," said Rabbi Schulweis. "This was a small matter, but ever since Catholic priests refer to 'the Hebrew Scriptures,' and this is very uplifting to hear."

He also attributes the many Catholics who visit synagogues as interested parties to the openness of John Paul.

Many in the Jewish community attribute John Paul's openness to interfaith dialogue in part to his childhood relations with Jews in his native Poland.

Born Karol Wojtyla in the small Polish town of Wadowice, he had Jewish friends and neighbors and was an eyewitness to both the Holocaust and communism.

When he was elected pope in 1978, John Paul II made improving Jewish-Catholic relations an important part of his papacy. He condemned anti-Semitism, oversaw the establishment of diplomatic relations with the State of Israel and approved a landmark document on the Holocaust that apologized for Christians' failures to oppose the persecution of Jews.

His deep connection with those of Jewish faith was apparent even in his will where one of the two people specifically thanked was "the rabbi of Rome," Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, who hosted John Paul II during his visit to the city's central synagogue in 1986, the first papal visit to a Jewish temple.

"There is no comparison between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description," said Rabbi Schulweis. "You can read it in a book and not understand. He understood because he played, ate and sang with them. He lived with them."