Pope St. John Paul II

Feast Day October 22nd

Patron Saint of World Youth Day, families, young Catholics

Pope Saint John Paul II was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920, and was the third of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. He was nine years old when he received his First Communion and eighteen when he received the Sacrament of Confirmation. After completing high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in the Jagellonian University of Krakow in 1938.When the occupying Nazi forces closed the University in 1939, Karol worked (1940-1944) in a quarry and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn a living and to avoid deportation to Germany.

Feeling called to the priesthood, he began his studies in 1942 in the clandestine major seminary of Krakow, directed by the Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha. During that time, he was one of the organizers of the “Rhapsodic Theatre”, which was also clandestine.

After the war, Karol continued his studies in the major seminary, newly reopened, and in the school of theology at the Jagellonian University, until his priestly ordination in Krakow on 1 November 1946. He became the bishop of Ombi in 1958 and the archbishop of Krakow in 1964. Father Wojtyła was then sent by Cardinal Sapieha to Rome, where he attained a doctorate in theology (1948). He wrote his dissertation on faith as understood in the works of Saint John of the Cross. While a student in Rome, he spent his vacations exercising pastoral ministry among Polish emigrants in France, Belgium and Holland.

One of the Catholic Church’s leading thinkers, he participated in the Second Vatican Council. He also took part in the five assemblies of the Synod of Bishops prior to the start of his Pontificate. In 1978 he became the first non-Italian pope in 400 years. He was an active advocate for human rights and the rights of the unborn. Saint John Paul II died in Italy in 2005, after a pontificate of nearly 27 years. Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in May of 2011 and Pope Francis canonized him on April 27, 2014.

Pope Saint John Paul II established the World Youth Days, which bring together millions of young people from around the globe. He founded the World Meeting of Families in Rome in 1994, and he was also the founder of the Theology of the Body, an integrated vision of the human person and human sexuality—body, soul and spirit. Pope John Paul II made 146 pastoral visits in Italy and, as the Bishop of Rome, he visited 317 Roman parishes. His international apostolic journeys numbered 104 and were expressions of the constant pastoral solicitude of the Successor of Peter for all the Churches. Pope John Paul II also celebrated 147 beatifications, during which he proclaimed 1,338 blesseds, and 51 canonizations, for a total of 482 saints. On 3 May 1981, an attempt was made on Pope John Paul II’s life in Saint Peter’s Square. Saved by the maternal hand of the Mother of God, following a lengthy stay in the hospital, he forgave the attempted assassin and, aware of having received a great gift, intensified his pastoral commitments with heroic generosity.

Saint Pope John Paul II was known for his ability and willingness to reach people around the world as one of the most traveled world leaders, visiting 129 countries during his papacy. He visited Philadelphia in 1979, where he said mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Sources:

_{http://www.vatican.va/special/canonizzazione-27042014/documents/biografia_gpii_canonizzazione_en.html
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=6996
https://www.ewtn.com/JohnPaul2/writings/prayers/guidance.htm
https://www.ewtn.com/JohnPaul2/writings/prayers/hope.htm
https://www.ewtn.com/JohnPaul2/writings/prayers/children.htm
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=3397
https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/intercessionJP2.htm}