Vatican City: The world is commemorating the hundredth birthday of St. John Paul II, who led the global Catholic Church for 26 years, today. The ministerial services will be held in the COVID context with no public participation. At 7 o’clock local time today, and at 10:30 am IST, Pope Francis will offer the sacrificial feast at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope John Paul’s Life
Pope John Paul was born on May 18, 1920, in Vadowice, Poland, the son of Emilia and Carole Votieva. The saint was the third of three children the couple had. His mother died in 1929, his elder brother Edmund died in 1932, and his father, a military officer, died in 1941. The saint received his first communion at the age of nine. At the age of eighteen years, he was persuaded.
After graduating from high school in 1938, he attended the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. When the Nazis closed the university in 1939, he worked in a mine and later at the Solvay Chemical Company (1940-1944) to avoid deportation to Germany. On the advice of the patriarch, Saint Stephen Stefanie Sapieha, feeling as if he had been called to the priesthood, continued his studies at the Clandestine Monastery in Krakow.
After the war, Karol continued his studies at the newly opened Seminary and the Theological School of the Jagiellonian University until his acceptance of the priesthood on November 1, 1946, in Krakow. In the meantime, Cardinal Sapienha was sent to Rome in 1948 to receive his doctorate in theology. He wrote his essay on the doctrine of faith, which can be understood from the works of St. John of the Cross.
As a student in Rome, Saint spent his holidays in France, Belgium, and Holland, asylum seekers. In 1948, Fr. Carole returned to Poland and was appointed co-vicar of the parish church of Novi, near Krakow. Later he served at St. Florian’s Church in the city. He served as the university chapel priest until 1951.
Later he became involved in philosophy and theology. In 1953, Max Scheller devoted his paper to the Jagellonian University on the possibilities of Christian morality, based on the code of ethics. He later became a professor of ethical theology at the Seminary in Krakow and a professor of theology at Lublin.
On July 4, 1958, Pope Pius XII granted Fr. Carol was appointed assistant bishop of Krakow. On 28 September 1958, Eugenius Basiak was ordained to the Archbishop of Wavell Diocese of Krakow. On January 13, 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him bishop of Krakow. Was promoted to Cardinal on June 26, 1967;
In the meantime, he participated in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and was instrumental in the creation of the Constitution. The saint was also present in the five Synods of the bishops that preceded his Papacy. On October 26, 1978, Cardinal Carol Wojtyla was elected Pope. On October 22 he was named John Paul II and began the missionary work of the Global Church.
Saint has authored 5 books: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (October 1994); Gift and Mystery, On the Fifteenth Anniversary of My Priestly Coordination (November 1996); Roman Tripitic, Mediations in Poetry (March 2003); They include Rise, Let Us Be On Your Way (March 2004), Memory and Identity (February 2005).
As head of the global church, he made about 147 nominations. He also selected 231 Cardinals for nine terms. He presided over six cardinal meetings of the Cardinals. Since 1978, about 15 bishops have been ordained by the bishops. The Holy See convened 6 regular meetings (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one special general meeting (1985) and 8 special meetings (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (2), 199).
With the help of the Holy Mother, he was saved from an assassination attempt on May 3, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. He apologized to the man who tried to kill him during a long hospital stay. Through these bold actions, the saint made his gift of blessings even more blessed. He worked hard to establish many new dioceses and to introduce ecclesiastical ordinances, ecclesiastical ordinances for Latin Catholics and Eastern churches. The year of the resurrection, the year of the Marian, the year of the Holy Qurbana and so on. Pope John Paul II also declared the year 2000 as Jubilee.
With the opening of World Youth Day, the Holy See has attracted many young men and women into the church. He addressed a total of 1 billion seventy-six thousand pilgrims in his public talk on Wednesday (about 1,160 speeches). Special addresses and speeches at religious ceremonies are not considered in the above account (over 80,000 pilgrims arrived in the year 2000 alone).
He has addressed millions of believers on missionary visits to Italy and around the world. He also met with countless government officials and people’s representatives from various countries. He has held nearly 38 official visits, 738 general meetings with various heads of state, and 246 general meetings with prime ministers.
On April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II said goodbye to the world at his official residence. The funeral was held on April 8, at St. Peter’s Square and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. On May 1, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI declared him blessed. On April 27, 2014, Pope Francis was elevated to the status of Pope John Paul II.
