Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
Karol Jozef Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978
election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a
small city fifty kilometres from Krakow, on 18 May 1920. He was the
youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia
Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a
doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer
died in 1941. A sister, Olga, had died before he was born.
He was baptised on June 20, 1920 in the
parish church of Wadowice by Fr. Franciszek Zak, made his First Holy
Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from
Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's
Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.
The Nazi occupation forces closed the
university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry
(1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his
living and to avoid being deported to Germany.
In 1942, aware of his call to the
priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow,
run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Krakow. At the
same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic
Theatre," also clandestine.
After the Second World War, he
continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, once it had
re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian
University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha
in Krakow on November 1, 1946.
Shortly afterwards, Cardinal Sapieha
sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French
Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology
in 1948 with a thesis on the subject of faith in the works of St.
John of the Cross (Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce). At
that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry
among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.
In 1948 he returned to Poland and was
vicar of various parishes in Krakow as well as chaplain to university
students. This period lasted until 1951 when he again took up his
studies in philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on
"evaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on
the ethical system of Max Scheler" at Lublin Catholic
University. Later he became professor of moral theology and social
ethics in the major seminary of Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology
of Lublin.
On July 4, 1958, he was appointed
titular bishop of Ombi and auxiliary of Krakow by Pope Pius XII, and
was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, by
Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak.
On January 13, 1964, he was appointed
archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June
26, 1967 with the title of S. Cesareo in Palatio of the order of
deacons, later elevated pro illa vice to the order of priests.
Besides taking part in Vatican Council
II (1962-1965) where he made an important contribution to drafting
the Constitution Gaudium et spes, Cardinal Wojtyla participated in
all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.
The Cardinals elected him Pope at the
Conclave of 16 October 1978, and he took the name of John Paul II. On
22 October, the Lord's Day, he solemnly inaugurated his Petrine
ministry as the 263rd successor to the Apostle. His pontificate, one
of the longest in the history of the Church, lasted nearly 27 years.
Driven by his pastoral solicitude for
all Churches and by a sense of openness and charity to the entire
human race, John Paul II exercised the Petrine ministry with a
tireless missionary spirit, dedicating it all his energy. He made 104
pastoral visits outside Italy and 146 within Italy. As bishop of Rome
he visited 317 of the city's 333 parishes.
He had more meetings than any of his
predecessors with the people of God and the leaders of nations. More
than 17,600,000 pilgrims participated in the General Audiences held
on Wednesdays (more than 1160), not counting other special audiences
and religious ceremonies (more than 8 million pilgrims during the
Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone), and the millions of faithful
he met during pastoral visits in Italy and throughout the world. We
must also remember the numerous government personalities he
encountered during 38 official visits, 738 audiences and meetings
held with Heads of State, and 246 audiences and meetings with Prime
Ministers.
His love for young people brought him
to establish the World Youth Days. The 19 WYDs celebrated during his
pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over
the world. At the same time his care for the family was expressed in
the World Meetings of Families, which he initiated in 1994.
John Paul II successfully encouraged
dialogue with the Jews and with the representatives of other
religions, whom he several times invited to prayer meetings for
peace, especially in Assisi.
Under his guidance the Church prepared
herself for the third millennium and celebrated the Great Jubilee of
the year 2000 in accordance with the instructions given in the
Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio adveniente. The Church then faced
the new epoch, receiving his instructions in the Apostolic Letter
Novo Millennio ineunte, in which he indicated to the faithful their
future path.
With the Year of the Redemption, the
Marian Year and the Year of the Eucharist, he promoted the spiritual
renewal of the Church.
He gave an extraordinary impetus to
Canonizations and Beatifications, focusing on countless examples of
holiness as an incentive for the people of our time. He celebrated
147 beatification ceremonies during which he proclaimed 1,338
Blesseds; and 51 canonizations for a total of 482 saints. He made
Therese of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church.
He considerably expanded the College of
Cardinals, creating 231 Cardinals (plus one in pectore) in 9
consistories. He also called six full meetings of the College of
Cardinals.
He organized 15 Assemblies of the Synod
of Bishops - six Ordinary General Assemblies (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990,
1994 and 2001), one Extraordinary General Assembly (1985) and eight
Special Assemblies (1980,1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (2) and 1999).
His most important Documents include 14
Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions,
45 Apostolic Letters.
He promulgated the Catechism of the
Catholic Church in the light of Tradition as authoritatively
interpreted by the Second Vatican Council. He also reformed the
Eastern and Western Codes of Canon Law, created new Institutions and
reorganized the Roman Curia.
As a private Doctor he also published
five books of his own: "Crossing the Threshold of Hope"
(October 1994), "Gift and Mystery, on the fiftieth anniversary
of my ordination as priest" (November 1996), "Roman
Triptych" poetic meditations (March 2003), "Arise, Let us
Be Going" (May 2004) and "Memory and Identity"
(February 2005).
In the light of Christ risen from the
dead, on 2 April a.D. 2005, at 9.37 p.m., while Saturday was drawing
to a close and the Lord's Day was already beginning, the Octave of
Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church's beloved Pastor, John
Paul II, departed this world for the Father.
From that evening until April 8, date
of the funeral of the late Pontiff, more than three million pilgrims
came to Rome to pay homage to the mortal remains of the Pope. Some of
them queued up to twenty-four hours to enter St. Peter's Basilica.
On April 28, the Holy Father Benedict
XVI announced that the normal five-year waiting period before
beginning the cause of beatification and canonization would be waived
for John Paul II. The cause was officially opened by Cardinal Camillo
Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, on June 28 2005.
He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI
on 1 May 2011, who, in his homily, remembered him thus:
“Today our eyes behold, in the full
spiritual light of the risen Christ, the beloved and revered figure
of John Paul II. Today his name is added to the host of those whom he
proclaimed saints and blesseds during the almost twenty-seven years
of his pontificate, thereby forcefully emphasizing the universal
vocation to the heights of the Christian life, to holiness, taught by
the conciliar Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium”.
“In his Testament, the new Blessed
wrote: 'When, on 16 October 1978, the Conclave of Cardinals chose
John Paul II, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, said
to me: "The task of the new Pope will be to lead the Church into
the Third Millennium"'. And the Pope added: 'I would like once
again to express my gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift
of the Second Vatican Council, to which, together with the whole
Church - and especially with the whole episcopate - I feel indebted.
I am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to
draw from the treasures that this Council of the twentieth century
has lavished upon us. As a Bishop who took part in the Council from
the first to the last day, I desire to entrust this great patrimony
to all who are and will be called in the future to put it into
practice. For my part, I thank the Eternal Shepherd, who has enabled
me to serve this very great cause in the course of all the years of
my Pontificate'. And what is this 'cause'? It is the same one that
John Paul II presented during his first solemn Mass in Saint Peter's
Square in the unforgettable words: 'Do not be afraid! Open, open wide
the doors to Christ!' What the newly-elected Pope asked of everyone,
he was himself the first to do: society, culture, political and
economic systems he opened up to Christ, turning back with the
strength of a titan - a strength which came to him from God - a tide
which appeared irreversible. By his witness of faith, love and
apostolic courage, accompanied by great human charisma, this
exemplary son of Poland helped believers throughout the world not to
be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the Church, to speak
of the Gospel. In a word: he helped us not to fear the truth, because
truth is the guarantee of liberty. To put it even more succinctly: he
gave us the strength to believe in Christ, because Christ is
Redemptor hominis, the Redeemer of man. This was the theme of his
first encyclical, and the thread which runs though all the others”.
“When Karol Wojtyla ascended to the
throne of Peter, he brought with him a deep understanding of the
difference between Marxism and Christianity, based on their
respective visions of man. This was his message: man is the way of
the Church, and Christ is the way of man. With this message, which is
the great legacy of the Second Vatican Council and of its 'helmsman',
the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, John Paul II led the People of God
across the threshold of the Third Millennium, which thanks to Christ
he was able to call 'the threshold of hope'. Throughout the long
journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity
once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history
while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for
Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered
before Marxism and the ideology of progress. He restored to
Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in
history in an 'Advent' spirit, in a personal and communitarian
existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the
fulfilment of all our longings for justice and peace”.
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