In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from anall-boys high school inWadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after whichWorld War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent to aGerman forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to studyPolish at university. Encouraged by a conversation withAdam Stefan Sapieha, he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position ofArchbishop of Kraków and then acardinal, both positions held by his mentor. Wojtyła was elected pope on the third day of theOctober 1978 conclave, becoming one of the youngest popes in history. The conclave was called after the death ofJohn Paul I, who served only 33 days as pope. Wojtyła adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him.[10]
John Paul II attempted to improve the Catholic Church's relations withJudaism,Islam, and theEastern Orthodox Church in the spirit ofecumenism, holdingatheism as the greatest threat. He maintained the Church's previous positions on such matters as abortion,artificial contraception, theordination of women, and a celibate clergy, and although he supported the reforms of theSecond Vatican Council, he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation.[11][12] He put emphasis on family and identity, while questioning consumerism, hedonism and the pursuit of wealth. He was one of the most-travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during hispontificate. As part of his special emphasis on theuniversal call to holiness, John Paul IIbeatified 1,344 people,[13] andcanonised 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of theCollege of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests.[14] John Paul II died on 2 April 2005, and was succeeded byBenedict XVI.
John Paul II has been credited with fighting against dictatorships and with helping to endcommunist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe.[15] Under John Paul II, the Catholic Church greatly expanded its influence in Africa and Latin America and retained its influence in Europe and the rest of the world. On 19 December 2009, he was proclaimedvenerable by Benedict XVI, and on 1 May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday) he wasbeatified. On 27 April 2014,John Paul II was canonised byFrancis, alongsideJohn XXIII.[16]He has been criticised for allegedly, as archbishop underCommunist Poland, having been insufficiently harsh in acting against the sexual abuse of children by priests.[17] After his canonisation, he has been referred to by some Catholics asPope St. John Paul the Great, though that title is not official.[18]
The wedding portrait of John Paul II's parents, Emilia and Karol Wojtyła Sr.
Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town ofWadowice.[19][20] He was the youngest of three children born toKarol Wojtyła (1879–1941), anethnic Pole, andEmilia Kaczorowska (1884–1929), who was of distant Lithuanian heritage.[21] Emilia, who was a schoolteacher, died from a heart attack and kidney failure in 1929[22] when Wojtyła was eight years old.[23] His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually led to his death fromscarlet fever, a loss that affected Wojtyła deeply.[21][23]
Wojtyła wasbaptized a month after his birth, made hisFirst Communion at the age of 9, and wasconfirmed at the age of 18.[24] As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playingassociation football asgoalkeeper.[25] During his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with the large Jewish community ofWadowice.[26] School football games were often organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side.[21][25] In 2005, he recalled: "I remember that at least a third of my classmates at elementary school in Wadowice were Jews. At secondary school there were fewer. With some I was on very friendly terms. And what struck me about some of them was their Polish patriotism."[27] It was around this time that the young Karol had his first serious relationship with a girl. He became close to a girl called Ginka Beer, described as "a Jewish beauty, with stupendous eyes and jet black hair, slender, a superb actress."[28]
In mid-1938, Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved toKraków, where he enrolled at theJagiellonian University. While studying such topics asphilology and various languages, he worked as a volunteer librarian and though required to participate incompulsory military training in theAcademic Legion, he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright.[29] During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as many as 15 languages – Polish,Latin, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German,Luxembourgish, Dutch, Ukrainian,Serbo-Croatian,Czech,Slovak, andEsperanto,[30] nine of which he used extensively as pope.
In 1939, after invading Poland,Nazi Germany'soccupation forces closed the university.[19] Able-bodied males were required to work, so from 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously worked as a messenger for a restaurant, a manual labourer in a limestone quarry and for theSolvay chemical factory, to avoid deportation to Germany.[20][29] In February 1940, he metJan Tyranowski who introduced him to theCarmelite spirituality and the "Living Rosary" youth groups.[31] In that same year he had two major accidents, suffering a fractured skull after being struck by a tram and sustaining injuries which left him with one shoulder higher than the other and a permanent stoop after being hit by a lorry in the quarry.[32] His father, a formerAustro-Hungariannon-commissioned officer and later officer in thePolish Army, died of a heart attack in 1941,[33] leaving the young adult Wojtyła an orphan and the immediate family's only surviving member.[21][22][34] Reflecting on these times of his life, nearly 40 years later he said: "I was not at my mother's death, I was not at my brother's death, I was not at my father's death. At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved."[34]
After his father's death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood.[35] In October 1942, whileWorld War II continued, he knocked on the door of theBishop's Palace, and asked to study for the priesthood.[35] Soon after, he began courses in theclandestine underground seminary run by theArchbishop of Kraków, the future CardinalAdam Stefan Sapieha.[36] On 29 February 1944, Wojtyła was hit by a German truck. GermanWehrmachtofficers tended to him and sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there recovering from a severeconcussion and a shoulder injury. It seemed to him that this accident and his survival was a confirmation of his vocation. On 6 August 1944, a day known as "Black Sunday",[37] theGestapo rounded up young men in Kraków to curtailthe uprising there,[37] similar to the recentuprising in Warsaw.[38][39] Wojtyła escaped by hiding in the basement of his uncle's house at 10 Tyniecka Street, while the German troops searched above.[35][38][39] More than 8,000 men and boys were taken that day, while Wojtyła escaped to the Archbishop's residence,[35][37][38] where he remained until after the Germans had left.[21][35][38]
On the night of 17 January 1945, theGermans fled the city, and the students reclaimed the ruinedseminary. Wojtyła and another seminarian volunteered for the task of clearing away piles of frozen excrement from the toilets.[40] Wojtyła also helped a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer,[41] who had escaped from a Nazilabour camp inCzęstochowa.[41] Edith had collapsed on a railway platform, so Wojtyła carried her to a train and stayed with her throughout the journey to Kraków. She later credited Wojtyła with saving her life that day.[42][43][44]B'nai B'rith and other authorities have said that Wojtyła helped protect many otherPolish Jews from the Nazis. During theNazi occupation of Poland, a Jewish family sent their son, Stanley Berger, to be hidden by aGentile Polish family. Berger's biological Jewish parents were killed inthe Holocaust, and after the war Berger's new Christian parents asked Karol Wojtyła to baptise the boy. Wojtyła refused, saying that the child should be raised in the Jewish faith of his birth parents and nation, not as a Catholic.[45] He did everything he could to ensure that Berger leave Poland to be raised by his Jewish relatives in the United States.[46] In April 2005, shortly after John Paul II's death, the Israeli government created a commission to honour the legacy of John Paul II. One of the honorifics proposed by a head of Italy's Jewish community, Emmanuele Pacifici was the medal of theRighteous Among the Nations.[47] In Wojtyła's last book,Memory and Identity, he described the 12 years of the Nazi régime as "bestiality",[48] quoting from the Polish theologian and philosopherKonstanty Michalski.[49]
Priesthood
Wojtyła (centre) in 1949Wojtyła in 1958
After finishing his studies at the seminary in Kraków, Wojtyła wasordained as a priest onAll Saints' Day, 1 November 1946,[22] by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha.[20][50][51] Sapieha sent Wojtyła to Rome's Pontifical International AthenaeumAngelicum, the futurePontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, to study under the FrenchDominican friarReginald Garrigou-Lagrange beginning on 26 November 1946. He resided in theBelgian Pontifical College during this time, under rectorship ofMaximilien de Furstenberg.[52] Wojtyła earned alicence in July 1947, passed his doctoral exam on 14 June 1948, and successfully defended his doctoral thesis titledDoctrina de fide apud S. Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith in St.John of the Cross) in philosophy on 19 June 1948.[53] TheAngelicum preserves the original copy of Wojtyła's typewritten thesis.[54] Among other courses at theAngelicum, Wojtyła studied Hebrew with the Dutch Dominican Peter G. Duncker, author of theCompendium grammaticae linguae hebraicae biblicae.[55]
According to Wojtyła's fellow student, the future Austrian cardinalAlfons Stickler, in 1947 during his sojourn at theAngelicum, Wojtyła visitedPadre Pio, who heard his confession and told him that one day he would ascend to "the highest post in the Church".[56] Stickler added that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal.[57]
Wojtyła returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 for his firstpastoral assignment in the village ofNiegowić, 24 kilometres (15 miles) from Kraków, at the Church of the Assumption. He arrived at Niegowić at harvest time, where his first action was to kneel and kiss the ground.[58] He repeated this gesture, which he adopted fromJohn Vianney,[58] throughout his papacy.
In March 1949, Wojtyła was transferred to the parish ofSaint Florian in Kraków. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at theCatholic University of Lublin. While teaching, he gathered a group of about 20 young people, who began to call themselvesRodzinka, the "little family". They met for prayer, philosophical discussion, and to help the blind and the sick. The group eventually grew to approximately 200 participants, and their activities expanded to include annualskiing andkayaking trips.[59]
In 1953, Wojtyła's habilitation thesis was accepted by the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University. In 1954, he earned aDoctorate in Sacred Theology,[60] writing a dissertation titled "Reevaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system ofMax Scheler"[61] (Polish:Ocena możliwości zbudowania etyki chrześcijańskiej przy założeniach systemu Maksa Schelera).[62] Scheler was a German philosopher who founded a broadphilosophical movement that emphasised the study of conscious experience. ThePolish Communist authorities abolished the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University, thereby preventing him from receiving the degree until 1957.[51] Wojtyła developed a theological approach, calledphenomenological Thomism, that combined traditional CatholicThomism with the ideas ofpersonalism, a philosophical approach deriving from phenomenology, which was popular among Catholic intellectuals in Kraków during Wojtyła's intellectual development. He translated Scheler'sFormalism and the Ethics of Substantive Values.[63] In 1961, he coined "Thomistic Personalism" to describe Aquinas's philosophy.[64]
Wojtyła pictured during akayaking trip to the countryside with a group of students, c. 1960
During this period, Wojtyła wrote a series of articles in Kraków's Catholic newspaper,Tygodnik Powszechny (Universal Weekly), dealing with contemporary church issues.[65] He focused on creating originalliterary work during his first dozen years as a priest. War, life in thePolish People's Republic, and his pastoral responsibilities all fed his poetry and plays. Wojtyła published his work under two pseudonyms,Andrzej Jawień andStanisław Andrzej Gruda,[29][65] to distinguish his literary from his religious writings (issued under his own name), and also so that his literary works would be considered on their own merits.[29][65] In 1960, Wojtyła published the influential theological bookLove and Responsibility, a defence of traditional church teachings on marriage from a new philosophical standpoint.[29][66]
The aforementioned students regularly joined Wojtyła for hiking, skiing, bicycling, camping and kayaking, accompanied by prayer, outdoor Masses, and theological discussions. In Stalinist-era Poland, it was not permitted for priests to travel with groups of students. Wojtyła asked his younger companions to call him "Wujek" (Polish for "Uncle") to prevent outsiders from deducing he was a priest. The nickname gained popularity among his followers. In 1958, when Wojtyła was namedauxiliary bishop of Kraków, his acquaintances expressed concern that this would cause him to change. Wojtyła responded to his friends, "Wujek will remain Wujek", and he continued to live a simple life, shunning the trappings that came with his position as bishop. This beloved nickname stayed with Wojtyła for his entire life and continues to be affectionately used, particularly by the Polish people.[67][68]
In 1959, Wojtyła began an annual tradition of saying aMidnight Mass on Christmas Day in an open field atNowa Huta, the so-called model workers' town outside Kraków that was without a church building.[71] Baziak died in June 1962 and on 16 July, Wojtyła was selected asVicar Capitular(temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until anarchbishop could be appointed.[19][20]
Participation in Vatican II and subsequent events
From October 1962, Wojtyła took part in theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965),[19][51] where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, theDecree on Religious Freedom (in Latin,Dignitatis humanae) and thePastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes).[51] Wojtyła and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council forGaudium et spes. According to theJesuit historianJohn W. O'Malley, the draft textGaudium et spes that Wojtyła and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not accepted as the base text".[72] According toJohn F. Crosby, as pope, John Paul II used the words ofGaudium et spes later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself".[73]
According to a contemporary witness, Wojtyła was against the distribution of a letter around Kraków in 1970, stating that the Polish Episcopate was preparing for the 50th anniversary of thePolish–Soviet War.[77]
In 1973, Wojtyła met philosopherAnna-Teresa Tymieniecka, the wife ofHendrik S. Houthakker, professor of economics atStanford University andHarvard University, and member of PresidentRichard Nixon'sCouncil of Economic Advisers[78][79][80] Tymieniecka collaborated with Wojtyła on a number of projects including an English translation of Wojtyła's bookOsoba i czyn (Person and Act).Person and Act, one of John Paul II's foremost literary works, was initially written in Polish.[79] Tymieniecka produced the English-language version.[79] They corresponded over the years, and grew to be good friends.[79][81] When Wojtyła visited New England in the summer of 1976, Tymieniecka put him up as a guest in her family home.[79][81] Wojtyła enjoyed his holiday inPomfret, Vermont, kayaking and enjoying the outdoors, as he had done in his beloved Poland.[79][70]
First appearance of Pope John Paul II following his election on 16 October 1978
In August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Wojtyła voted inthe papal conclave, which electedJohn Paul I. John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering anotherconclave.[20][51][83]
Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected, and in earlyballots, Benelli came within nine votes of success.[84] However, both men faced sufficient opposition for neither to be likely to prevail.Giovanni Colombo, theArchbishop of Milan, was considered as a compromise candidate among the Italian cardinal-electors, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that, if elected, he would decline to accept the papacy.[85] CardinalFranz König,Archbishop of Vienna, suggested Wojtyła as another compromise candidate to his fellow electors.[84] Wojtyła won on the eighth ballot on the third day (16 October).
Among those cardinals who rallied behind Wojtyła were supporters of Giuseppe Siri,Stefan Wyszyński, most of the American cardinals (led byJohn Krol), and other moderate cardinals. He accepted his election with the words: "With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept".[86][87] The Pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took thepapal name ofJohn Paul II,[51][84] also in honour of the late Popes Paul VI and John XXIII, and the traditional white smoke informed the crowd gathered inSt. Peter's Square that a pope had been chosen. There had been rumours that the new pope wished to be known asPope Stanislaus in honour ofthe Polish saint of the name, but was convinced by the cardinals that it was not a Roman name.[83] When the new pontiff appeared on the balcony, he broke tradition by addressing the gathered crowd:[86]
"Dear brothers and sisters, we are saddened at the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I, and so the cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land—far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother. I am speaking to you in your—no, our Italian language. If I make a mistake, pleasecorrict [sic][e] me."[86][88][89][90]
Wojtyła became the 264th pope according to the chronologicallist of popes, and the first non-Italian in 455 years.[91] At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope sincePope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54.[51] Like his predecessor, John Paul II dispensed with the traditionalpapal coronation and instead received ecclesiasticalinvestiture with a simplifiedpapal inauguration on 22 October 1978. During hisinauguration, when the cardinals were to kneel before him to take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as the Polish prelate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński knelt down, stopped him from kissing the ring, and simply embraced him.[92]
John Paul's first papal trip to Poland in June 1979
During his pontificate, John Paul II made journeys to 129 countries,[93] travelling more than 1,100,000 kilometres (680,000 mi) while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among the largest ever assembled inhuman history, such as the ManilaWorld Youth Day 1995, which gathered up to four million people, the largest papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican.[94][95] John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979.[96] While some of his journeys (such as to the United States and theHoly Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope to visit theWhite House in October 1979, where he wasgreeted warmly by PresidentJimmy Carter. He was the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting in 1979 with Mexico[97] andIreland.[98] He was the first reigning pope totravel to the United Kingdom, in 1982, where he metQueen Elizabeth II, theSupreme Governor of the Church of England. While in Britain he also visitedCanterbury Cathedral and knelt in prayer withRobert Runcie, theArchbishop of Canterbury, at the spot whereThomas Becket had been killed,[99] as well as holding several large-scale open air Masses, including one atWembley Stadium, which was attended by some 80,000 people.[100]
He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke inCreole to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti", referring to the disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause.[101] In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt,[102] where he met with theCoptic pope,Pope Shenouda III,[102] and theGreek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.[102] He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, inDamascus, Syria, in 2001. He visited theUmayyad Mosque, a former Christian church whereJohn the Baptist is believed to be interred,[103] where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together.[103]
On 15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offeredMass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million inLuneta Park,[95]Manila, Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering inChristian history.[95] In March 2000, while visitingJerusalem, John Paul became the first pope in history to visit and pray at theWestern Wall.[104][105] In September 2001, amid post-11 September concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years ofArmenian Christianity.[106]
In June 1979, John Paul II travelled to Poland, where ecstatic crowds constantly surrounded him.[107] This first papal trip to Poland and the enthusiastic response to it contributed to the formation of theSolidarity movement in 1980, which later played a major role in theend of socialism in Poland.[75] Leaders of thePolish United Workers' Party intended to use the Pope's visit to show the people that although the Pope was Polish, it did not alter their capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They also hoped that if the Pope abided by the rules they set, the Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the Pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the Pope.[108]
The Pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was whatJoseph Nye calls 'soft power' — the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to the utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. 'Be not afraid,' he said. Millions shouted in response, 'We want God! We want God! We want God!' The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed tohold on as despots a decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism.[108]
"When Pope John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport he began the process by which Communism in Poland — and ultimately elsewhere in Europe — would come to an end."[109]
On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to the Solidarity organisation.[75] These visits reinforced this message and contributed to the collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989 and 1990 with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992).[89][93][107][110][111]
As an extension of his successful work with youth as a young priest, John Paul II pioneered the internationalWorld Youth Days. John Paul II presided over nine of them:Rome (1985 and 2000),Buenos Aires (1987),Santiago de Compostela (1989),Częstochowa (1991),Denver (1993),Manila (1995),Paris (1997), andToronto (2002). Total attendance at these signature events of the pontificate was in the tens of millions.[112]
Dedicated years
Keenly aware of the rhythms of time and the importance of anniversaries in the Catholic Church's life, John Paul II led nine "dedicated years" during the twenty-six and a half years of his pontificate: the Holy Year of the Redemption in 1983–84, theMarian Year in 1987–88, the Year of the Family in 1993–94, the three Trinitarian years of preparation for theGreat Jubilee of 2000, the Great Jubilee itself, the Year of the Rosary in 2002–03, and theYear of the Eucharist, which began on 17 October 2004, and concluded six months after the Pope's death.[112]
Music albums
John Paul II recorded music albums. In 1979, his albumPope John Paul II sings at the Festival of Sacrosong was recorded byInfinity Records.[113][114] In 1994 he released a music album titleThe Rosary.[115] In 1999, John Paul II released another music album titledAbba Pater.[116]
Great Jubilee of 2000
TheGreat Jubilee of 2000 was a call to the church to become more aware and to embrace her missionary task for the work ofevangelization:
From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelising mission with fresh enthusiasm.[117]
Some key elements of his strategy to "reposition the Catholic Church" were encyclicals such asEcclesia de Eucharistia,Reconciliatio et paenitentia andRedemptoris Mater. In hisAt the beginning of the new millennium (Novo Millennio Ineunte), he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." InThe Splendour of the Truth (Veritatis Splendor), he emphasised the dependence of man on God and His Law ("Without the Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth". He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself". InFides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason) John Paul promoted a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous pursuit of truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different sources (such as Thomism), he described the mutually supporting relationship betweenfaith and reason, and emphasised that theologians should focus on that relationship. John Paul II wrote extensively about workers and thesocial doctrine of the church, which he discussed in three encyclicals:Laborem exercens,Sollicitudo rei socialis, andCentesimus annus. Through his encyclicals and manyApostolic Letters and Exhortations, John Paul II talked about thedignity and the equality of women.[123] He argued for the importance of the family for the future of humanity.[75] He taught about sexuality in what is referred as the "Theology of the Body". Other encyclicals includeThe Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) andUt unum sint (That They May Be One). Though critics accused him of inflexibility in explicitly re-asserting Catholic moral teachings against abortion andeuthanasia that have been in place for well over a thousand years, he urged a more nuanced view ofcapital punishment.[75] In his second encyclical,Dives in misericordia, he stressed thatdivine mercy is the greatest feature of God, needed especially in modern times.
Promulgation of 1983 Code of Canon Law and 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church
By the publication of this Code, the canonical ordering of the whole Church is thus at length completed, following as it does...the "Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia" of 1988, which is added to both Codes as the primary instrument of the Roman Pontiff for 'the communion that binds together, as it were, the whole Church'[124]
In 1998, John Paul II issued themotu proprioAd tuendam fidem, which amended two canons (750 and 1371) of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and two canons (598 and 1436) of the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
On 25 January 1983, with theapostolic constitutionSacrae disciplinae leges John Paul II promulgated the current code of canon law for all members of the Catholic Church who belonged to theLatin Church. It entered into force the first Sunday of the followingAdvent,[125] which was 27 November 1983.[126] John Paul II described the new code as "the last document of Vatican II".[125]Edward N. Peters has referred to the 1983Code as the "Johanno-Pauline Code"[127] (Johannes Paulus isLatin for "John Paul"), parallelling the"Pio-Benedictine" 1917 code that it replaced.
John Paul II promulgated the apostolic constitutionPastor bonus on 28 June 1988. It instituted a number of reforms in the process of running theRoman Curia.Pastor bonus laid out in considerable detail the organisation of the Roman Curia, specifying precisely the names and composition of each dicastery, and enumerating the competencies of eachdicastery. It replaced the previous special law,Regimini Ecclesiæ universæ, which was promulgated by Paul VI in 1967.[131]
He declared the publication to be "a sure norm for teaching the faith … a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms". It was "meant to encourage and assist in the writing of new local catechisms [both applicable and faithful]" rather than replacing them.[134]
By the late 1970s, thedissolution of the Soviet Union had beenpredicted by some observers.[135][136] John Paul II has been credited with being instrumental in bringing down Communism in Central and Eastern Europe,[75][89][93][110][111][137] by being the spiritual inspiration behind its downfall and catalyst for "a peaceful revolution" in Poland.Lech Wałęsa, the founder ofSolidarity and the firstpost-CommunistPresident of Poland, credited John Paul II with giving Poles the courage to demand change.[75] According to Wałęsa, "Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of Communism. InWarsaw, in 1979, he simply said: 'Do not be afraid', and later prayed: 'Let your Spirit descend and change the image of the land ... this land'."[137] It has also been widely alleged that theVatican Bank covertly funded Solidarity.[138][139]
In 1984, theforeign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration saw opened diplomatic relations with the Vaticanfor the first time since 1870. In sharp contrast to the long history of strong domestic opposition, this time there was very little opposition from Congress, the courts, and Protestant groups.[140] Relations between Reagan and John Paul II were close, especially because of their sharedanti-communism and keen interest in forcing the Soviets out of Poland.[141] John Paul II and Reagan had earlier confided in the Vatican (in 1982) "their conviction that God had spared their lives" from assassination "for the divine purpose of defeating the communist empire."[142] Reagan's correspondence with the Pope reveals "a continuous scurrying to shore up Vatican support for U.S. policies. Perhaps most surprisingly, the papers show that, as late as 1984, the Pope did not believe the Communist Polish government could be changed."[143]
"No one can prove conclusively that he was a primary cause of the end of communism. However, the major figures on all sides—not just Lech Wałęsa, the Polish Solidarity leader, but also Solidarity's arch-opponent, GeneralWojciech Jaruzelski; not just the former American presidentGeorge Bush Senior but also the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev—now agree that he was. I would argue the historical case in three steps: without the Polish Pope, no Solidarity revolution in Poland in 1980; without Solidarity, no dramatic change in Soviet policy towards eastern Europe under Gorbachev; without that change, no velvet revolutions in 1989."[144]
In December 1989, John Paul II met with the Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev at the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the other. Gorbachev once said: "The collapse of theIron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II."[89][110] On John Paul II's death, Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us."[111][137]
On 4 June 2004, U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush presented thePresidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honour, to John Paul II during a ceremony at theApostolic Palace. The president read the citation that accompanied the medal, which recognised "this son of Poland" whose "principled stand for peace and freedom has inspired millions and helped to topple communism and tyranny".[145] After receiving the award, John Paul II said, "May the desire for freedom, peace, a more humane world symbolised by this medal inspire men and women of goodwill in every time and place."[146]
Communist attempt to compromise John Paul II
Graffiti showing John Paul II with quote "Do not be afraid" inRijeka, Croatia
In 1983, Poland's Communist government unsuccessfully tried to humiliate John Paul II by falsely saying he had fathered an illegitimate child. Section D ofSłużba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), the security service, had an action named "Triangolo" to carry out criminal operations against theCatholic Church in Poland; the operation encompassed all Polish hostile actions against the Pope.[147][better source needed] Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, one of the murderers of beatifiedJerzy Popiełuszko, was the leader of section D. They drugged Irena Kinaszewska, the secretary of the Kraków-based weekly Catholic magazineTygodnik Powszechny where Wojtyła had worked, and unsuccessfully attempted to make her admit to having had sexual relations with him.[148]
The SB then attempted to compromise Kraków priest Andrzej Bardecki, an editor ofTygodnik Powszechny and one of the closest friends of Cardinal Wojtyła before he became pope, by planting false memoirs in his dwelling; Piotrowski was exposed and the forgeries were found and destroyed before the SB could say to have discovered them.[148]
Latin American and Caribbean dictatorships
John Paul II was variously praised[149] and criticized[150] for actions which were perceived as both inspiring resistance[151] but also potentially abetting[152] dictatorships inChile,Haiti, andParaguay.
Relations with other Christian denominations and religions
"... it would be helpful to recall ... the animist religions which stress ancestor worship. It seems that those who practise them are particularly close to Christianity, and among them, the Church's missionaries also find it easier to speak a common language. Is there, perhaps, in this veneration of ancestors a kind of preparation for the Christian faith in the Communion of Saints, in which all believers—whether living or dead—form a single community, a single body? ... There is nothing strange, then, that the African and Asian animists would become believers in Christ more easily than followers of the great religions of the Far East."[158]
In 1985, the Pope visited the African country ofTogo, where 60 per cent of the population espouses animist beliefs. To honour the Pope, animist religious leaders met him at a Catholic Marian shrine in the forest, much to the pontiff's delight. John Paul II proceeded to call for the need for religious tolerance, praised nature, and emphasised common elements between animism and Christianity, saying:
"Nature, exuberant and splendid in this area of forests and lakes, impregnates spirits and hearts with its mystery and orients them spontaneously toward the mystery of He who is the author of life. It is this religious sentiment that animates you and one can say that animates all of your compatriots."[159]
Tenzin Gyatso, the14th Dalai Lama, visited John Paul II eight times. The two men held many similar views and understood similar plights, both coming from nations affected by Communism and both serving as heads of major religious bodies.[161][162] As Archbishop of Kraków, long before the 14th Dalai Lama was a world-famous figure, Wojtyła held special Masses to pray for the Tibetan people's non-violent struggle for freedom fromMaoist China.[163] In 1987, he welcomed participants of theEast-West Spiritual Exchanges, an initiative by theMonastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIMMID) and the Institute for Zen Studies in which Buddhist and Christian monks or nuns take turns residing for one month in each other's monasteries.[164][165] During his 1995 visit toSri Lanka, a country where a majority of the population adheres toTheravada Buddhism, John Paul II expressed his admiration for Buddhism. He said:
"In particular I express my highest regard for the followers of Buddhism, the majority religion in Sri Lanka, with its ... four great values of … loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity; with its ten transcendental virtues and the joys of theSangha expressed so beautifully in the Theragathas. I ardently hope that my visit will serve to strengthen the goodwill between us, and that it will reassure everyone of the Catholic Church's desire for interreligious dialogue and cooperation in building a more just and fraternal world. To everyone I extend the hand of friendship, recalling the splendid words of theDhammapada: 'Better than a thousand useless words is one single word that gives peace' ... ."[166]
Islam
John Paul II was the first Pope to enter and pray in a mosque, visiting the tomb of John the Baptist atUmayyad Mosque, Damascus.
John Paul II made considerable efforts to improve relations between Catholicism and Islam.[167]
He officially supported the project of theMosque of Rome and participated in the inauguration in 1995.
On 14 May 1999, at a meeting with Muslim leaders in Syria, he was gifted and then promptly kissed aQur'an, an act that was controversial with some Catholics.[168][169]
On 6 May 2001, he became the first Catholic pope to enter and pray in a mosque, namely theUmayyad Mosque inDamascus, Syria. Respectfully removing his shoes, he entered the formerByzantine-era Christian church dedicated toJohn the Baptist, who is also revered as aprophet of Islam. He gave a speech including the statement: "For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness."[103]
John Paul II oversaw the publication of theCatechism of the Catholic Church, which makes a special provision for Muslims; therein, it is written, "together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."[174]
Jainism
In 1995, John Paul II held a meeting with 21Jains, organised by thePontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He praisedMohandas Gandhi for his "unshakeable faith in God", assured the Jains that the Catholic Church will continue to engage in dialogue with their religion and spoke of the common need to aid the poor. The Jain leaders were impressed with the Pope's "transparency and simplicity", and the meeting received much attention in theGujarat state in western India, home to many Jains.[175]
As he enteredSt. Peter's Square to address an audience on 13 May 1981,[176] John Paul II was shot andcritically wounded byMehmet Ali Ağca,[19][93][177] an expert Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant fascist groupGrey Wolves.[178] The assassin used aBrowning 9 mm semi-automatic pistol,[179] shooting the Pope in the abdomen and perforating hiscolon andsmall intestine multiple times.[89] John Paul II was rushed into the Vatican complex and then to theGemelli Hospital. On the way to the hospital, he lost consciousness. Even though the two bullets missed hissuperior mesenteric artery andabdominal aorta, he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood. He underwent five hours of surgery to treat his wounds.[180] Surgeons performed acolostomy, temporarily rerouting the upper part of thelarge intestine to let the damaged lower part heal.[180] When he briefly regained consciousness before being operated on, he instructed the doctors not to remove hisBrown Scapular during the operation.[181] One of the few people allowed in to see him at the Gemelli Clinic was one of his closest friends, philosopherAnna-Teresa Tymieniecka, who arrived on Saturday 16 May and kept him company while he recovered from emergency surgery.[80] The Pope later stated that theBlessed Virgin Mary helped keep him alive throughout his ordeal.[93][177][182] He said:
"Could I forget that the event in St. Peter's Square took place on the day and at the hour when the first appearance of the Mother of Christ to the poor little peasants has been remembered for over sixty years atFátima, Portugal? For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet."[183]
Ağca was caught and restrained by a nun and other bystanders until police arrived. He was sentenced tolife imprisonment. Two days after Christmas in 1983, John Paul II visited Ağca in prison. John Paul II and Ağca spoke privately for about twenty minutes.[93][177] John Paul II said, "What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust."[184]
Numerous theories were advanced to explain the assassination attempt, some of them controversial. One such theory, advanced byMichael Ledeen and heavily pushed by the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agency at the time of the assassination but never substantiated by evidence, was that the Soviet Union was behind the attempt on John Paul II's life in retaliation for the Pope's support of Solidarity, the Catholic, pro-democratic Polish workers' movement.[178][185] This theory was supported by the 2006Mitrokhin Commission, set up bySilvio Berlusconi and headed byForza Italia senatorPaolo Guzzanti, which alleged that CommunistBulgarian security departments were used to prevent the Soviet Union's role from being uncovered, and concluded thatSoviet military intelligence (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije), not theKGB, were responsible.[185] RussianForeign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation "absurd".[185] The Pope declared during a May 2002 visit to Bulgaria that the country's Soviet-bloc-era leadership had nothing to do with theassassination attempt.[178][185] However, his secretary, CardinalStanisław Dziwisz, alleged in his bookA Life with Karol, that the Pope was convinced privately that the former Soviet Union was behind the attack.[186] It was later discovered that many of John Paul II's aides had foreign-government attachments;[187] Bulgaria and Russia disputed the Italian commission's conclusions, pointing out that the Pope had publicly denied the Bulgarian connection.[185]
A second assassination attempt was made on 12 May 1982, just a day before the anniversary of the first attempt on his life, inFátima, Portugal, when a man tried to stab John Paul II with abayonet.[188][189][190] He was stopped by security guards. Stanisław Dziwisz later said that John Paul II had been injured during the attempt but managed to hide a non-life-threatening wound.[188][189][190] The assailant, atraditionalist Catholic Spanish priest namedJuan María Fernández y Krohn,[188] had been ordained as a priest by ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre of theSociety of St. Pius X and was opposed to the changes made by theSecond Vatican Council, saying that the Pope was an agent of Communist Moscow and of the MarxistEastern Bloc.[191] Fernández y Krohn subsequently left the priesthood and served three years of a six-year sentence.[189][190][191] The ex-priest was treated formental illness and then expelled from Portugal to become a solicitor in Belgium.[191]
TheAl-Qaeda-fundedBojinka plot planned to kill John Paul II during a visit to the Philippines during World Youth Day 1995 celebrations. On 15 January 1995 asuicide bomber was planning to dress as a priest and detonate a bomb when the Pope passed in hismotorcade on his way to theSan Carlos Seminary inMakati. The assassination was supposed to divert attention from the next phase of the operation. However, a chemical fire inadvertently started by the cell alerted police to their whereabouts, and all were arrested a week before the Pope's visit, and confessed to the plot.[192]
In 2009Jack Koehler, a journalist and former army intelligence officer, publishedSpies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church.[193] Mining mostly East German and Polish secret police archives, Koehler claimed the assassination attempts were "KGB-backed".[194]
John Paul II apologised to many groups that had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church through the years.[75][195] Before becoming pope he had been a prominent editor and supporter of initiatives such as theLetter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops from 1965. As pope, he officially made public apologies for over 100 wrongdoings, including:[196][197][198][199]
The legal process on the Italian scientist and philosopherGalileo Galilei, himself a devout Catholic, around 1633 (31 October 1992).[200][201]
The injustices committed against women, the violation ofwomen's rights and the historical denigration of women (10 July 1995, in a letter to "every woman").
TheGreat Jubilee of the year 2000 included a day of Prayer for Forgiveness of the Sins of the Church on 12 March 2000.
On 20 November 2001, from a laptop in the Vatican, John Paul II sent his first e-mail apologising for theCatholic sex abuse cases, the church-backedStolen Generations of Aboriginal children in Australia, and to China for the behaviour of Catholic missionaries incolonial times.[202]
When he became pope in 1978 at the age of 58, John Paul II was an avid sportsman. He remained extremely healthy and active especially in his first years of papacy, jogging in theVatican gardens, weight training, swimming, and hiking in the mountains. He was fond of football,skiing andswimming. The media contrasted the new pope's athleticism and trim figure to the poor health ofJohn Paul I andPaul VI, the portliness ofJohn XXIII and the constant claims of ailments ofPius XII. The only modern pope with a fitness regimen had beenPope Pius XI (1922–1939), who was an avid mountaineer, conquering summits likeMonte Rosa,Mont Blanc (the highest of the Alps) andMatterhorn.[203][204] Media occasionally referred to John Paul II's fitness regimen: for example, anIrish Independent article in the 1980s labelled him thekeep-fit pope, and an Italian newspaper called himl'atleta di Dio ("God's athlete") in 2005.[205]
However, after over 26 years as pope, two assassination attempts, one of which injured him severely, and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health declined. In 2001 he was diagnosed as suffering fromParkinson's disease.[206] International observers had suspected this for some time, but it was only publicly acknowledged by the Vatican in 2003. Despite difficulty speaking more than a few sentences at a time, troublehearing, and severeosteoarthrosis, he continued to tour the world although rarely walking in public.
John Paul II was hospitalised with breathing problems caused by a bout ofinfluenza on 1 February 2005.[207] He left the hospital on 10 February, but was subsequently hospitalised again with breathing problems two weeks later and underwent atracheotomy.[208]
On 31 March 2005, following aurinary tract infection,[209] he developedseptic shock, a form of infection with a high fever and lowblood pressure, but was not hospitalised. Instead, he was monitored by a team of consultants at his private residence. This was taken as an indication by the Pope, and those close to him, that he was nearing death; it would have been in accordance with his wishes to die in the Vatican.[209] Later that day, Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been given theAnointing of the Sick by his friend and secretary Stanisław Dziwisz. The day before his death, one of his closest personal friends,Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, visited him at his bedside.[78][210] During the final days of the Pope's life, the lights were kept burning through the night where he lay in the Papal apartment on the top floor of theApostolic Palace. Tens of thousands of people assembled and held vigil in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for two days. Upon hearing of this, the dying pope was said to have stated: "I have searched for you, and now you have come to me, and I thank you."[211]
On Saturday, 2 April 2005, at approximately 15:30CEST, John Paul II spoke his final words inPolish,"Pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca" ("Allow me to depart to the house of the Father"), to his aides, and fell into a coma about four hours later.[211][212] The Mass of the vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter commemorating thecanonisation ofFaustina Kowalska on 30 April 2000, had just been celebrated at his bedside, presided over by Dziwisz and two Polish associates. Present at the bedside was CardinalLubomyr Husar from Ukraine, who served as a priest with John Paul in Poland, along with Polish nuns of the Congregation of theSisters, Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, who ran thepapal household. John Paul II died in his private apartment at 21:37 CEST (19:37UTC) of heart failure from profoundhypotension and completecirculatory collapse from septic shock.[212][213][214] His death was verified when an electrocardiogram that ran for 20 minutes showed aflatline.[215]
He had no close family by the time of his death; his feelings are reflected in his words written in 2000 at the end of his Last Will and Testament.[216] Dziwisz later said he had not burned the pontiff's personal notes despite the request being part of the will.[217]
The death of the pontiff set in motion rituals and traditions dating back to medieval times. The Rite of Visitation took place from 4 April 2005 to 7 April 2005 at St. Peter's Basilica. John Paul II's testament, published on 7 April 2005,[218] revealed that he contemplated being buried in his native Poland but left the final decision to theCollege of Cardinals, which in passing, preferred burial beneath St. Peter's Basilica, honouring the pontiff's request to be placed "in bare earth".
TheRequiem Mass held on 8 April 2005 was said to have set world records both for attendance and number ofheads of state present at a funeral.[200][219][220][221](See:List of Dignitaries.) It was the single largest gathering of heads of state up to that time, surpassing the funerals ofWinston Churchill (1965) andJosip Broz Tito (1980). Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers, and more than 14 leaders of other religions attended.[219] An estimated four million mourners gathered in and around Vatican City.[200][220][221][222] Between 250,000 and 300,000 watched the event from within the Vatican's walls.[221] In a historical rarity,Protestant andEastern Orthodox leaders, as well as representatives and heads from Judaism,Islam,Druze[223] andBuddhism, offered their own memorials and prayers as a way of sympathising with the grief of Catholics.
TheDean of the College of Cardinals, CardinalJoseph Ratzinger, conducted the ceremony. John Paul II was interred in thegrottoes under the basilica, theTomb of the Popes. He was lowered into a tomb created in the same alcove previously occupied by the remains ofJohn XXIII. The alcove had been empty since John XXIII's remains had been moved into the main body of the basilica after his beatification. The remains of John Paul II were moved to the Chapel of St. Sebastian within the main basilica upon his own beatification in 2011.[224]
Old tomb of John Paul II in theVatican Grottoes before his beatification
Upon the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and laymen[89][200][225] began referring to the late pontiff as "John Paul the Great" –in theory only the fourth pope to be so acclaimed.[89][225][226][227]Cardinal Angelo Sodano specifically referred to John Paul as "the Great" in his published writtenhomily for the Pope's funeralMass of Repose.[228][229] The South African Catholic newspaperThe Southern Cross has referred to him in print as "John Paul II the Great".[230] Some Catholic educational institutions in the US have additionally changed their names to incorporate "the Great", includingJohn Paul the Great Catholic University and schools called some variant ofJohn Paul the Great High School.
The tomb of John Paul II in theVatican Chapel of Saint Sebastian withinSt. Peter's Basilica where it has been since 2011
Scholars ofcanon law say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage,[200][231][232] as was the case with celebrated secular leaders (for example, Alexander III of Macedon became popularly known asAlexander the Great). The three popes who today commonly are known as "Great" areLeo I, who reigned from 440–461 and persuadedAttila the Hun to withdraw from Rome;Gregory I, 590–604, after whom theGregorian chant is named; andPope Nicholas I, 858–867, who consolidated the Catholic Church in the Western world in theMiddle Ages.[225]
John Paul's successor, Benedict XVI, did not use the term directly in public speeches, but made oblique references to "the great Pope John Paul II" in his first address from theloggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the 20thWorld Youth Day 2005 in Germany when he said in Polish: "As the great Pope John Paul II would say: Keep the flame of faith alive in your lives and your people";[233] and in May 2006 during a visit to Poland where he repeatedly made references to "the great John Paul" and "my great predecessor".[234]
Inspired by calls of"Santo Subito!" ("[Make him a] Saint Immediately!") from the crowds gathered during the funeral Mass that he celebrated,[242][243][244][245] Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor, bypassing the normal restriction that five years must pass after a person's death before beginning the beatification process.[243][244][246][247] In an audience with Pope Benedict XVI,Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, who was responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who died within that diocese, cited "exceptional circumstances", which suggested that the waiting period could be waived.[20][200][248] This decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast ofOur Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square.[249]
In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possiblemiracle associated with John Paul II.Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun and member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards, confined to her bed by Parkinson's disease,[244][250] was reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II".[138][200][242][244][251][252] As of May 2008[update], Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, then 46,[242][244] was working again at amaternity hospital run by herreligious institute.[247][250][253][254]
"I was sick and now I am cured," she told reporter Gerry Shaw. "I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not."[250][253]
On 28 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass before an estimated 900,000 people in John Paul II's native Poland. During hishomily, he encouraged prayers for the early canonisation of John Paul II and stated that he hoped canonisation would happen "in the near future".[250][255]
In January 2007, CardinalStanisław Dziwisz announced that the interview phase of the beatification process, in Italy and Poland, was nearing completion.[200][250][256] In February 2007,second class relics of John Paul II—pieces of white papalcassocks he used to wear—were freely distributed with prayer cards for the cause, a typical pious practice after a saintly Catholic's death.[257][258] On 8 March 2007, theVicariate of Rome announced that the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for beatification was at an end. Following a ceremony on 2 April 2007—the second anniversary of the Pontiff's death—the cause proceeded to the scrutiny of the committee of lay, clerical, and episcopal members of the Vatican'sCongregation for the Causes of Saints, to conduct a separate investigation.[243][250][256] On the fourth anniversary of John Paul II's death, 2 April 2009, Cardinal Dziwisz, told reporters of a presumed miracle that had recently occurred at the former pope's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.[253][259][260] A nine-year-old Polish boy fromGdańsk, who was suffering from kidney cancer and was completely unable to walk, had been visiting the tomb with his parents. On leaving St. Peter's Basilica, the boy told them, "I want to walk," and began walking normally.[259][260][261] On 16 November 2009, a panel of reviewers at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that John Paul II had lived a life of heroic virtue.[262][263] On 19 December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI signed the first of two decrees needed for beatification and proclaimed John Paul II "Venerable", asserting that he had lived a heroic, virtuous life.[262][263] The second vote and the second signed decree certified the authenticity of the first miracle, the curing of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, from Parkinson's disease. Once the second decree is signed, theposition (the report on the cause, with documentation about his life and writings and with information on the cause) is complete.[263] He can then be beatified.[262][263] Some speculated that he would be beatified sometime during (or soon after) the month of the 32nd anniversary of his 1978 election, in October 2010. As Monsignor Oder said, this course would have been possible if the second decree were signed in time by Benedict XVI, stating that a posthumous miracle directly attributable to his intercession had occurred, completing the positio.
Candles around monument to John Paul II inZaspa, Gdańsk, at the time of his death
The Vatican announced on 14 January 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed the miracle involving Sister Marie Simon-Pierre and that John Paul II was to be beatified on 1 May, the Feast of Divine Mercy.[264] 1 May is commemorated in former Communist countries, such as Poland, and some Western European countries asMay Day, and John Paul II was well known for his contributions to Communism's relatively peaceful demise.[89][110] In March 2011 the Polish mint issued a gold 1,000Polish złoty coin (equivalent to US$350), with the Pope's image to commemorate his beatification.[265]
On 29 April 2011, John Paul II's coffin was disinterred from the grotto beneath St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his beatification, as tens of thousands of people arrived in Rome for one of the biggest events since his funeral.[266][267] John Paul II's remains, which were not exposed, were placed in front of the Basilica's main altar, where believers could pay their respect before and after the beatification Mass in St. Peter's Square on 1 May 2011. On 3 May 2011 his remains were interred in the marble altar in Pier Paolo Cristofari Chapel ofSt. Sebastian, wherePope Innocent XI was buried. This more prominent location, next to the Chapel of the Pietà, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and statues of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII was intended to allow more pilgrims to view his memorial. John Paul II's body is located near the bodies ofPope Pius X andPope John XXIII, whose bodies were reinterred in the Basilica after their own beatifications and together are three of the five popes beatified in the last century. The two popes who were not exhumed and reinterred after becoming a blessed in the last century werePope Paul VI andPope John Paul I, who both remain entombed in the papal grottos.[268][269]
In July 2012, a Colombian man, Marco Fidel Rojas, the former mayor ofHuila, Colombia, testified that he was "miraculously cured" ofParkinson's disease after a trip to Rome where he met John Paul II and prayed with him. Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita, a renownedneurologist in Colombia, certified Fidel's healing. The documentation was then sent to the Vatican office for sainthood causes.[270]
To be eligible for canonisation (being declared a saint) by the Catholic Church, two miracles must be attributed to a candidate.
The first miracle attributed to John Paul was the above mentioned healing of a nun's Parkinson's disease, which was recognised during the beatification process. According to an article on the Catholic News Service (CNS) dated 23 April 2013, a Vatican commission of doctors concluded that a healing had no natural (medical) explanation, which is the first requirement for a claimed miracle to be officially documented.[273][274][275]
The second miracle was deemed to have taken place shortly after the late pope's beatification on 1 May 2011; it was reported to be the healing of Costa Rican woman Floribeth Mora of an otherwise terminalbrain aneurysm.[276] A Vatican panel of expert theologians examined the evidence, determined that it was directly attributable to the intercession of John Paul II, and recognised it as miraculous.[274][275] The next stage was for Cardinals who compose the membership of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to give their opinion toPope Francis to decide whether to sign and promulgate the decree and set a date for canonisation.[274][275][277]
On 4 July 2013, Pope Francis confirmed his approval of John Paul II's canonisation, formally recognising the second miracle attributed to his intercession. He was canonised together with John XXIII.[16][278] The date of the canonisation was on 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday.[279][280]
The canonisation Mass for Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, was celebrated by Pope Francis (with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), on 27 April 2014 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican (John Paul II had died onvigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005). About 150 cardinals and 700 bishops concelebrated the Mass, and at least 500,000 people attended the Mass, with an estimated 300,000 others watching from video screens placed around Rome.[281]
John Paul II's remains, considered to be holyrelics, were exhumed from their place in the basilica's grotto,[282] and a new tomb was established at the altar of St. Sebastian.[283] His feast is celebrated annually on October 22, the day of his papal inauguration, as the anniversary of his death usually falls duringLent and often duringHoly Week.
Beatification of the Pope's parents
On 10 October 2019, theArchdiocese of Kraków and thePolish Episcopal Conference approvednihil obstat the opening of the beatification cause of the parents of its patron saint John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła Sr. and Emilia Kaczorowska. It gained approval from theHoly See to open the diocesan phase of the cause on 7 May 2020.[284]
John Paul II was criticised by representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse for failing to respond quickly enough to the Catholic sex abuse crisis.[285] After decades of inaction, the scandal came to a head whenSinéad O'Connor infamouslytore up a photo of John Paul II on a 3 October 1992 episode ofSaturday Night Live while performing ana cappella rendition ofBob Marley's "War".[286]
In response to mounting criticism over the next decade, John Paul II stated in 2002 that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young".[287] The Catholic Church instituted reforms to prevent future abuse by requiringbackground checks for church employees[288] and, because a significant majority of victims were boys, disallowing ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".[289][290] They now require dioceses faced with an allegation to alert the authorities, conduct an investigation and remove the accused from duty.[288][291] In 2008, the church asserted that the scandal was a very serious problem and estimated that it was "probably caused by 'no more than 1 per cent'", or 5,000, of the over 500,000 Catholic priests worldwide.[292][293]
In April 2002, John Paul II, despite being frail from Parkinson's disease, summoned all the American cardinals to the Vatican to discuss possible solutions to the issue of sexual abuse in the American Church. He asked them to "diligently investigate accusations". John Paul II suggested that American bishops be more open and transparent in dealing with such scandals and emphasised the role of seminary training to prevent sexual deviance among future priests. In whatThe New York Times called "unusually direct language", John Paul condemned the arrogance of priests that led to the scandals:
"Priests and candidates for the priesthood often live at a level both materially and educationally superior to that of their families and the members of their own age group. It is therefore very easy for them to succumb to the temptation of thinking of themselves as better than others. When this happens, the ideal of priestly service and self-giving dedication can fade, leaving the priest dissatisfied and disheartened."[294]
The Pope read a statement intended for the American cardinals, calling the sex abuse "an appalling sin" and said the priesthood had no room for such men.[295]
In 2002, ArchbishopJuliusz Paetz, the Catholic Archbishop ofPoznań, was accused of molesting seminarians.[296] John Paul II accepted his resignation, and placed sanctions on him, prohibiting Paetz from exercising his ministry as bishop.[297] It was reported that these restrictions were lifted, though Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi strenuously denied this saying "his rehabilitation was without foundation".
In 2003, John Paul II reiterated that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young".[287] In April 2003, a three-day conference was held, titled "Abuse of Children and Young People by Catholic Priests and Religious", where eight non-Catholic psychiatric experts were invited to speak to near all Vaticandicasteries' representatives. The panel of experts overwhelmingly opposed implementation of policies of "zero-tolerance" such as was proposed by theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops. One expert called such policies a "case of overkill" since they do not permit flexibility to allow for differences among individual cases.[298]
John Paul II was a firm supporter of theLegion of Christ, and in 1998 discontinued investigations intosexual misconduct by its leader Marcial Maciel, who in 2005 resigned his leadership and was later requested by the Vatican to withdraw from his ministry. However, Maciel's trial began in 2004 during the pontificate of John Paul II, but the Pope died before it ended and the conclusions were known.[300] In an interview withL'Osservatore Romano,Pope Francis said: "I am grateful to Pope Benedict, who dared to say this publicly (when more facts began to come to light after Degollado's death in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 launched another investigation and on 1 May 2010 announced a declaration about the crimes of the founder of the Legionaries), and to Pope John Paul II, who dared to give the green light to the Legionaries' case".[301]
On 10 November 2020, the Vatican published a report which found that John Paul II learned of allegations of sexual impropriety against former cardinalTheodore McCarrick, who at the time was serving as Archbishop of Newark, through a 1999 letter from CardinalJohn O'Connor warning him that appointing McCarrick to be Archbishop of Washington D.C., a position which had recently been opened, would be a mistake. John Paul II ordered an investigation, which stalled when three of the four bishops tasked with investigating claims allegedly brought back "inaccurate or incomplete information". John Paul II planned on not giving McCarrick the appointment anyway, but relented and gave him the appointment after McCarrick wrote a letter of denial. He created McCarrick a cardinal in 2001. McCarrick would eventually be laicized after allegations surfaced that he abused minors.[302][303]George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul II, defended the Pope's actions as follows: "Theodore McCarrick fooled a lot of people ... and he deceived John Paul II in a way that is laid out in almost biblical fashion in [the Vatican's] report".[304]
In a 2019 interview with Mexican television,Pope Francis defended John Paul II's legacy on protecting minors against clerical sexual abuse. He said that John Paul II was "often misled", as in the case ofHans Hermann Groër. Francis said that with respect to the case ofMarcial Maciel:
"Ratzinger was courageous, and so was John Paul II. ... With respect to John Paul II, we have to understand certain attitudes because he came from a closed world, from behind theIron Curtain, where communism was still in force. There was a defensive mentality. We have to understand this well, and no one can doubt the saintliness of this great man and his good will. He was great, he was great."[305][306]
On March 6, 2023, an investigative report by the Polish television stationTVN24 concluded that "there [is now] no doubt" that John Paul II "knew aboutsexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland". The Dutch journalistEkke Overbeek released a book on John Paul II with similar claims the following week. In response to the claims, Pope Francis stated: "You have to put things in the context of the era[...] At that time everything was covered up. [...] It was only when theBoston scandal broke that the church began to look at the problem." ThePolish Episcopal Conference stated that "'further archival research' would be needed to arrive at a just evaluation of the decisions and actions" of Wojtyła.[307] Furthermore, other journalists have criticised the report, including the sources and their interpretation. One of the sources used in the report was controversial archbishop and opponent of the pontiffRembert Weakland.[308][309] Another point of contention is the use of materials from thecommunist secret police in the report.[310]
John Paul II was widely criticised for a variety of his views. He was a target of criticism from progressives for his opposition to theordination of women, opposition to the use ofcontraception,[19][311] for his increased centralization of power, and for curtailing some post-Second Vatican Council practices which he deemed as going beyond what the Second Vatican Council documents authorized.[312]: 3 Traditionalist Catholics frequently criticized him for his support for the Second Vatican Council and its reform of theliturgy.
In 1984 John Paul II appointed Joaquín Navarro-Valls, a member of Opus Dei, as Director of theVatican Press Office. An Opus Dei spokesman said that "the influence of Opus Dei in the Vatican has been exaggerated".[316] Of the nearly 200 cardinals in the Catholic Church, only two are known to be members of Opus Dei.[317]
Pope John Paul II was said to engage inSelf-flagellation, a practice of whipping oneself which is often used within Opus Dei.[318][319][320]
John Paul II was alleged to have links withBanco Ambrosiano, an Italian bank that collapsed in 1982.[138] At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman,Roberto Calvi, and his membership in the illegalMasonic LodgePropaganda Due (aka P2). TheVatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder, and the death ofJohn Paul I in 1978 is rumoured to be linked to the Ambrosiano scandal.[139]
Calvi, often referred to as "God's Banker", was also involved with the Vatican Bank, and was close to BishopPaul Marcinkus, the bank's chairman. Ambrosiano also provided funds for political parties in Italy, and for both theSomoza dictatorship in Nicaragua and itsSandinista opposition. It has been widely alleged that the Vatican Bank provided money forSolidarity in Poland.[138][139]
Calvi used his complex network of overseas banks and companies to move money out of Italy, to inflate share prices, and to arrange massive unsecured loans. In 1978, theBank of Italy produced a report on Ambrosiano that predicted future disaster.[139] On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi had written a letter of warning to John Paul II, stating that such a forthcoming event would "provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage".[321] On 18 June 1982 Calvi's body was found hanging from scaffolding beneathBlackfriars Bridge in the financial district of London. Calvi's clothing was stuffed with bricks, and contained cash valued at US$14,000, in three different currencies.[322]
Problems with traditionalists
John Paul II was criticised by sometraditionalist Catholics, in addition to those demanding modernisation. Points of contention with traditionalists included demanding a return to theTridentine Mass,[323] as well as the repudiation of reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council, such as the use of the vernacular language in the formerly Latin-languageRoman Rite,ecumenism, and the principle ofreligious liberty.[324] In 1988, the controversial traditionalist ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre, founder of theSociety of Saint Pius X (1970), wasexcommunicated under John Paul II because of the unapproved ordination of four bishops, which Cardinal Ratzinger called a "schismatic act".[325]
TheWorld Day of Prayer for Peace,[326] with a meeting in Assisi, Italy, in 1986, in which the pope prayed only with the Christians,[327] was criticised for giving the impression thatsyncretism andindifferentism were openly embraced by the PapalMagisterium. When a second Day of Prayer for Peace in the World was held in 2002,[328] it was condemned as confusing the laity and compromising to false religions. Likewise criticised was his kissing of the Qur'an in Damascus, Syria, on one of his travels on 6 May 2001.[329][unreliable source?] His call for religious freedom was not always supported; bishops likeAntônio de Castro Mayer promotedreligious tolerance but at the same time rejected the Vatican II principle of religious liberty as being liberalist and already condemned byPope Pius IX in hisSyllabus errorum (1864) and at theFirst Vatican Council.[330]
John Paul II continued the tradition of advocating for theculture of life. In solidarity withPope Paul VI'sHumanae vitae, he rejected artificial birth control, even in the use of condoms to prevent the spread ofAIDS.[311] Critics have said that large families are caused by lack of contraception and exacerbateThird World poverty and problems, such as street children in South America. John Paul II argued that the proper way to prevent the spread of AIDS was not condoms but rather "correct practice of sexuality, which presupposes chastity and fidelity".[311]
Social programmes
There was strong criticism of the Pope for the controversy surrounding the alleged use of charitable social programmes as a means of converting people in the Third World to Catholicism.[331][332] The Pope created an uproar in theIndian subcontinent when he suggested that a great harvest of faith would be witnessed on the subcontinent in the third Christian millennium.[333]
A number of quotes about theapparitions of Međugorje, inBosnia and Herzegovina, have been attributed to John Paul II.[346] In 1998, when a certain German gathered various statements that were supposedly made by the Pope and Cardinal Ratzinger, and then forwarded them to the Vatican in the form of a memorandum, Ratzinger responded in writing on 22 July 1998: "The only thing I can say regarding statements onMeđugorje ascribed to the Holy Father and myself is that they are [frei erfunden] complete invention".[347] Similar claims were also rebuked by the Vatican's Secretariate of State.[348]
Beatification controversy
Some Catholic theologians disagreed with the call for the beatification of John Paul II. Eleven dissident theologians, includingJesuit professor José María Castillo and Italian theologianGiovanni Franzoni, said that his stance against contraception and the ordination of women as well as the church scandals during his pontificate presented "facts which according to their consciences and convictions should be an obstacle to beatification".[349] Some traditionalist Catholics opposed his beatification and canonisation for his views on liturgy and participation in prayer with enemies of the church, heretics and non-Christians.[350]
After the 2020 report about the handling of the sexual misconduct complaints againstTheodore McCarrick, some called for John Paul II's sainthood to be revoked.[351]
Wojtyła was aCracovia football team supporter, and the club retired number 1 in his honour.[352] Having played the game himself as a goalkeeper, Wojtyla was a fan of English football teamLiverpool F.C., where his compatriotJerzy Dudek played in the same position.[353]
In 1973, while still the archbishop of Kraków, Wojtyła befriended a Polish-born, later American philosopher,Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. The thirty-two-year friendship (and occasional academic collaboration) lasted until his death.[78][79][80] She served as his host when he visited New England in 1976, and photos show them together on skiing and camping trips.[80] Letters that he wrote to her were part of a collection of documents sold by Tymieniecka's estate in 2008 to theNational Library of Poland.[80] According to theBBC the library had initially kept the letters from public view, partly because of John Paul's path to sainthood, but a library official announced in February 2016 the letters would be made public.[80][354] In February 2016, the BBC documentary programPanorama reported that John Paul II had apparently had a close relationship with the Polish-born philosopher.[80][81] The pair exchanged personal letters over 30 years, and Stourton believes that Tymieniecka had confessed her love for Wojtyła.[78][355] The Vatican described the documentary as "more smoke than fire", and Tymieniecka denied being involved with John Paul II.[356][357]
WritersCarl Bernstein, the veteran investigative journalist of theWatergate scandal, and Vatican expertMarco Politi, were the first journalists to talk to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka in the 1990s about her importance in John Paul's life. They interviewed her and dedicated 20 pages to her in their 1996 bookHis Holiness.[78][210][358] Bernstein and Politi even asked her if she had ever developed any romantic relationship with John Paul II, "however one-sided it might have been". She responded, "No, I never fell in love with the cardinal. How could I fall in love with a middle-aged clergyman? Besides, I'm a married woman."[78][210]
^John Paul II is also the only pope since 1523 to have no documented Italian ancestry, as his successorsBenedict XVI,Francis, andLeo XIV all have Italian ancestors, though none have been Italian citizens.[7][8][9]
^In his speech, John Paul deliberately chose to mispronounce the Italian word for 'correct'.
^Climo, Jacob; Cattell, Maria G., eds. (2002).Social memory and history: anthropological perspectives. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. p. 280.ISBN978-0-7591-0177-7.
^ab"Profile of Edith Zierier (1946)".Voices of the Holocaust. 2000 Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Institute of Technology. Archived fromthe original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved1 January 2009.
^"His Holiness John Paul II, Biography, Pre-Pontificate". Retrieved6 October 2012. Even though his doctoral work was unanimously approved in June 1948, he was denied the degree because he could not afford to print the text of his dissertation in accordance with theAngelicum rules. In December 1948 a revised text of his dissertation was approved by the theological faculty ofJagiellonian University in Kraków, and Wojtyła was finally awarded his doctoral degree.
^Wojtyla, Karol. "Thomistic Personalism." InPerson and Community. Translated by Theresa Sandok, OSM. Pages 165–175. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. Originally published 1961 in Polish
^Crosby, John F. (2000). "John Paul II's Vision of Sexuality and Marriage: The Mystery of "Fair Love"". In Gneuhs, Geoffrey (ed.).The Legacy of Pope John Paul II: His Contribution to Catholic Thought. Crossroad. p. 54.ISBN978-0-8245-1831-8.
^Graczyk, Roman (2011).Cena przetrwania: SB wobec Tygodnika Powszechnego (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Czerwone i Czarne. p. 204.ISBN978-83-7700-015-1.
^Moreira Neves, Lucas Cardinal. "EVANGELII NUNTIANDI: PAUL VI'S PASTORAL TESTAMENT TO THE CHURCH". Eternal Word Television Network.
^ab"A "Foreign" Pope".Time magazine. 30 October 1978. p. 1. Retrieved1 January 2009.(subscription required)
^abcd"A Foreign Pope".Time magazine. 30 October 1978. p. 4. Archived fromthe original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved1 January 2009.(subscription required)
^abAngelo M. Codevilla, "Political Warfare: A Set of Means for Achieving Political Ends", in Waller, ed.,Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare (IWP Press, 2008.)
^abWeigel, George. The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II – The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy. The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
^Ap. Const.Sacri Canones. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Canon Law Society of America, 2001), page xxv. Cf.Pastor Bonus n. 2
^Andrew M. Essig, and Jennifer L. Moore. "US-Holy See Diplomacy: The Establishment of Formal Relations, 1984."Catholic Historical Review (2009) 95#4, pp. 741-764741-764.online
^Gayte, Marie (2011). "The Vatican and the Reagan Administration: A Cold War Alliance?"Catholic Historical Review.97 (4): 713–736.JSTOR23053064.
^Paul Kengor,A Pope and A President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century, p. 8, ISI Books (2017),ISBN9781610171434
^Douglas Bond, Christopher Kruegler, Roger S. Powers, and William B. Vogele,Protest, Power, and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage, p. 227, Routledge (1997),ISBN978-0-8153-0913-0
^abcLee, Martin A. (14 May 2001). "The 1981 Assassination Attempt of Pope John Paul II, The Grey Wolves, and Turkish & U.S. Government Intelligence Agencies". San Francisco Bay Guardian. pp. 23, 25.
^Robinson, B. A. (7 March 2000)."Apologies by Pope John Paul II". Ontario Consultants. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved14 January 2013.
^"Pope sends first e-mail apology".BBC News. 23 November 2001. Retrieved30 January 2012.from a laptop in the Vatican's frescoed Clementine Hall the 81-year-old pontiff transmitted the message, his first 'virtual' apology.
^O'Reilly, David (4 April 2005). "Papal Legacy: Will History use the name John Paul the Great?".Detroit Free Press. Knight Ridder Newspapers.Pope John Paul the Great was a name suggested by many for Karol Józef Wojtyła. Through all its long history, the Catholic Church has conferred the posthumous title of "Great" on just two popes: Leo I and Gregory I, both of whom reigned in the first thousand years of Christianity
^Murphy, Brian (5 April 2005). "Faithful hold key to 'the Great' honour for John Paul". Associated Press.
^"Text: Benedict XVI's first speech".BBC News. 19 April 2005. Retrieved1 January 2009.Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the resurrected Lord, we go on with his help. He is going to help us and Mary will be on our side. Thank you.
^The article by Cindy Wooden cited news reports from Italian news media agencies, and included remarks by the Pope's longtime aide,Kraków's CardinalStanislaw Dziwisz, and Vatican spokesman Jesuit FatherFederico Lombardi, S.J.
^McDonnell, Patrick J.; Kington, Tom (27 April 2014)."Canonization of predecessors provides another boost for Pope Francis".Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA.An estimated 800,000 people descended on Rome for the dual canonisation, a Vatican spokesman said. That included the half a million around the Vatican and another 300,000 watching the event on giant TV screens set up throughout the city of Rome.
^e.g. Marcel Lefebvre,An Open Letter to Confused Catholics (Herefordshire: Gracewing Publishing, 1986).ISBN9780852440476.
^A discussion of the crucial work of Ratzinger (later pope) to attempt reconciliation between Lefebvre and the Holy See,vide John Thavis,The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church (London: Penguin, 2014), 147–49.ISBN9780143124535
Liturgical texts for the optional Memorial of St. John Paul II, Pope: Celebration of the Eucharist (English,Latin); Liturgy of the Hours (English,Latin) fromThe Holy See website.
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