Tag: The Vatican

‘Memorial to Saint John Paul II’, Warsaw, Poland/Denis Doukhan/Pixabay

Saint John Paul II (1920-2005)

‘Karol Józef Wojtyła’ was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland.  After his Ordination to the Priesthood and Theological Studies in Rome, he returned to his Homeland and resumed various Pastoral and Academic Duties.  He became first an Auxiliary Bishop and, in 1964, Archbishop of Kraków and took part in the Second Vatican Council.  On 16 October 1978, he was elected Pope and took the name ‘John Paul II’.  His exceptional Apostolic Zeal, particularly for families, young people and the sick, led him to numerous Pastoral Visits throughout the World.  Among the many fruits which he has left as a Heritage to the Church include his rich Magisterium and the Promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as well as the Code of Canon Law for both the Latin Church and the Eastern Churches.  In Rome on 2 April 2005, the Eve of the Second Sunday of Easter (or of Divine Mercy Sunday), he died peacefully. Pope Francis Canonised him on 27 April, the Second Sunday of Easter 2014.  (Adapted from ‘Universalis’)