Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla in the South of Poland. His father was a retired army officer who raised him after the death of his mother, who died when Karol was still quite young. As a youth he excelled in both studies and sports. When he entered seminary, the Nazi occupation of Poland had driven these schools underground which made his studies both challenging and perilous. Throughout his studies he also worked in a limestone quarry and factory, jobs that satisfied a pleasure he derived from working with his hands. 

During the Russian occupation of Poland, Karol was sent to Rome and studied at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, also known as The Angelicum. To this day that school's most famous alumni is honored with his picture in the coffee bar next to the library. Like most students there, it is hard to tell whether he spent more time with his nose pressed in a book, or in heated discussions around one of the small, crowded tables adjacent to the coffee bar. The Angelicum is known as the most warm and pastoral of the Pontifical Universities in Rome, so this Pope, with his great love of all people from all walks of life, had found a true home away from home until his ordination to priesthood in 1946. 

Like his predecessor, Pope Pius XII, Pope John Paul II was a marvel in languages. He spoke five languages fluently and many others conversationally. Every year, his Christmas and Easter Greetings were delivered flawlessly in fifty-six languages. His linguistic ability helped satisfy his apparently profound desire to listen to everyone, no matter from where they came. A simple example of this is that he was the first Pope who regularly had his meals with his staff, and not alone. 

Pope John Paul II assumed his Pontificate in 1978 when he was elected as the 264th successor to Saint Peter. He was the first non-Italian to be elected Pope since 1523. 

Before a Pope is entombed beneath Saint Peter's, one of the Cardinals attending the private ceremony will read the accomplishments of his papacy. This Pope must be known first and foremost for his great love and concern for the poor and disadvantaged. This is most comprehensively expressed in his Encyclical, "A Hundred Years After", referring to the "Rerum Novarum" Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. This Encyclical of Pope John Paul II is one of his finest. It truly strove to explore Modern Catholic Social Thinking and, more, to move and inspire everyone to lives of giving in the truest Spirit of Jesus Christ. 

One remarkable instance of his profound compassion involved Mother Therese of Calcutta. Even though the land used to establish Vatican City - roughly the size of a golf course and crammed with offices and apartments, a newspaper, a library, museums and chapels - is just enough to carry out the administrative needs of the Catholic Church, when Mother Therese asked for a place within the Vatican walls to carry out corporal works of mercy, this Pope responded vigorously. She was given a corner location with an entrance from an adjoining Roman street, and Pope John Paul II personally worked to help the Sisters to plan and build a hospice with seventy-two beds for homeless women, to which is attached a kitchen that feeds hundreds more every day. 

In the end, the historians, and that reader at his tomb, will note most assuredly that Pope John Paul II was the great catalyst for change in Europe at the end of second millennium. At the same time, the generation that was born and educated through college and graduate school Within the term of his Papacy will remember best his humanity and sincerity as the Servant of Servants.

If you wish to make a donation in Honor of His Holy Father, we suggest the most appropriate and appreciated way to do this is by making a donation to Peter's Pence.