Today's Saint 22 October 2019 Saint John Paul II, Pope

Today, Tuesday 22 October 2019, the Church remembers the "great" figure of St. John Paul II

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Pope John Paul II was the 264th pope of the Catholic Church and bishop of Rome, 6th ruler of the Vatican City State. He was elected pope on October 16, 1978. Pope Francis proclaimed him a saint.

The life

Karol Jozef Wojtyła was born in Wadowice (Poland) May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons of Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska, who died in 1929. His elder brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned officer in the army, in 1941.

At the age of nine he received his First Communion and at eighteen he received the sacrament of Confirmation. After completing his studies at the Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in the Jagellonica University of Krakow in 1938.

When the Nazi occupation forces closed the University in 1939, the young Karol worked (1940-1944) in a quarry and, later, in the Solvay chemical factory in order to earn a living and avoid deportation to Germany.

Become a priest

Starting from 1942, feeling called to the priesthood, attended the formation courses of the clandestine major seminary in Krakow, directed by the Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. At the same time, he is one of the promoters of "Rhapsodic Theater", also illegal.

After the war, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, newly opened, and in the Faculty of Theology of the Jagellonica University, up to his priestly ordination in Krakow on 1 November 1946. Subsequently, he was sent by Cardinal Sapieha to Rome, where he received his doctorate in theology (1948), with a thesis on the theme of faith in the works of Saint John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised pastoral ministry among Polish emigrants in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In 1948 he returned to Poland and was coadjutor first in the parish of Niegowić, near Krakow, and then in that of St. Florian, in the city. He was the university chaplain until 1951, when he resumed his philosophical and theological studies. In 1953 he presented a thesis at the Catholic University of Lublin on the possibility of founding a Christian ethic starting from the ethical system of Max Scheler. Later, he became a professor of moral theology and ethics at the major seminary in Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology of Lublin.

Appointed bishop

On 4 July 1958, the Pope Pius XII appointed him titular Bishop of Ombi and Auxiliary of Krakow. He received episcopal ordination on 28 September 1958 in the Wawel Cathedral (Krakow), from the hands of Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak.

On January 13, 1964 it was appointed Archbishop of Krakow by Paul VI who created him Cardinal on June 26, 1967.

He participated in the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) with an important contribution in the elaboration of the constitution Gaudium et spes. Cardinal Wojtyła also took part in the 5 assemblies of the Synod of Bishops prior to his pontificate.

Elected Pope: John Paul II

It is elected Pope on 16 October 1978 and October 22 following the solemn beginning of His ministry as Pastor Universal of the Church.

The attack

May 13, 1981 in St. Peter's Square, was the victim of an attack where she was hit by a bullet, fired from the gun of Ali Ağca.

The injured pontiff undergoes a difficult surgical operation. He is saved and he attributes the salvation to the intervention of the Madonna, who appeared in Fatima, in fact, a 13th of May. The following year, when he recovered, he went to Portugal to thank her and set her up the bullet case in the crown that surrounds the head of the Virgin.

The story has a following. Questioning himself on the meaning of what happened to him and on some coincidences and knowing the contents of the last of the secrets confided by the Madonna to the shepherd children of Fatima and not yet revealed, he sees himself in the features of the bishop dressed in white shot dead, described in secret, and connects everything to what happened to you on May 13th.

The WYD

For young people it starts in 1985 World Youth Days. And it is present in as many as nineteen of them in various parts of the world, with the words: That certainty of John Paul II: 'it was Our Lady of Fatima who saved me from the bullet! The participation of millions of enthusiastic young people fascinated by the word of God that he announces without discounts.

The greatness of his pontificate

From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II he made 146 pastoral visits to Italy and, as Bishop of Rome, visited 317 of the current 332 Roman parishes. Apostolic journeys in the world – an expression of the constant pastoral concern of the Successor of Peter for all the Churches – were 104.

Among his main documents 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions and 45 apostolic letters. Pope John Paul II also has 5 books: "Cross the threshold of hope”(October 1994); "Gift and mystery: on the fiftieth anniversary of my priesthood”(November 1996); "Roman triptych", meditations in the form of poetry (March 2003); "Get up, let's go!" (May 2004) e "Memory and Identity" (February 2005).

It elects 482 new saints

Pope John Paul II celebrated 147 beatification ceremonies – in which he proclaimed 1338 blessed – and 51 canonizations, for a total of 482 saints. He held 9 consistories, in which he created 231 (+ 1 in pectore) Cardinals. He also presided over 6 plenary meetings of the College of Cardinals.

From 1978 he convened 15 assemblies of the Synod of Bishops: 6 ordinary general (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990; 1994 and 2001), 1 extraordinary general assembly (1985) and 8 special assemblies (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (2) and 1999).

He met millions of people

No Pope has met many people like John Paul II: at Wednesday's General Audiences (over 1160) more than 17 million and 600 thousand pilgrims participated, not counting all the other special audiences and religious ceremonies (more than 8 million pilgrims only during the Great Jubilee of the year 2000), as well as the millions of faithful met during pastoral visits in Italy and around the world; there were also numerous government personalities received at the hearing: it is sufficient to recall the 38 official visits and the other 738 hearings or meetings with Heads of State, as well as the 246 hearings and meetings with Prime Ministers.

Death and worship

He died in Rome, in his lodging in the Vatican City, at 9.37 pm on Saturday 2 April 2005. The solemn funeral in St. Peter's Square and burial in the Vatican Grottoes follow April 8th. In front of his coffin, exhibited in St. Peter's, more than three million pilgrims pass by.

Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed him blessed in May 2011. He was canonized on 27 April 2014, together with John XXIII, by Pope Francis.

READ: That certainty of John Paul II: "it was Our Lady of Fatima who saved me from the bullet!"

READ: The terrible attack against John Paul II. Let's relive those terrible moments