BANGOR – As news of the death of Pope John Paul II reverberated around the world, some echoes were heard locally Monday morning as about 100 children from All Saints Catholic School met to talk about their feelings and to ask questions about the process of electing a new pontiff.

“I think it’s very sad because he’s been our pope for so long and he was a great person,” Rosemary Lausier, 11, said before the assembly.

The Bangor girl sat with her classmates on the floor of the gym at the St. John’s campus of the school on State Street. The fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade pupils, wearing their dress-code-appropriate khaki pants and modest shirts, listened attentively as the Rev. Richard McLaughlin, pastor of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, spoke of the pope’s significance.

“A lot of people came to know him,” McLaughlin said of the pope. “People who were Catholic, people who were not Catholic. People who were Jewish, people who were Muslim.”

He summarized John Paul’s role as a young man in Poland’s struggle against the Nazis during World War II.

“He was a person who believed very strongly in proclaiming the truth,” McLaughlin said.

The assembly was called so that teachers and school officials could help pupils mourn the pope and help educate them about the complicated papal election process, school principal Marcia Diamond said after the event.

“Like so many of the events these days, they’re seeing a lot of publicity on the TV,” she said. “Our job is to put it into perspective.”

The pupils were mostly quiet during the assembly, asking only a few questions and listening as McLaughlin shared Vatican history and his impressions of the pope.

A group of eighth-graders bubbled over afterward, however, with their thoughts and feelings about what they termed a “shocking” event.

“I think that it’s affected everyone,” said Melissa Neale, 13, of Bangor. “It’s made a lot of people became more thoughtful. … It’s affected the whole world.”

Sami Thibodeau, 14, of Bangor said that the pope’s death has been mourned in her house.

“My mom is upset about it,” she said. “I think it’s weird how one minute he’s, like, sick, and then the next minute he’s, like, dead.”

Heaven Rogerson, 14, of Bangor shared her hopes that the next pope would be a good one. “I hope he’ll kind of follow in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II,” she said.

The girls said they would anxiously await papal election news from the Vatican.

“We don’t know how the next pope is going to be,” said Alyssa Dee, 14, of Bangor.

“Or how the world will react,” Melissa said.

They said they had faith that the College of Cardinals would choose a good leader to be the next pope.

“I think the cardinals will make a wise decision who they will elect,” Sami said.

“Even though we are all a little nervous,” Alyssa chimed in.

After the assembly, it was clear that the office of the pope is still relevant, especially to this group of youngsters.

Rebecca Pelletier, 11, said that she hopes one day to visit the Vatican.

“I saw on TV a report on the pope that he liked children a lot,” the Bangor fifth-grader said. “I’m hoping to meet a pope who likes children.”