St.
John Paul II, born on 18 May 1920, in Wadowice,
Poland, was born, Karol Józef Wojtyła. He was the third longest
serving pope and the first non-Italian for 455 years who held office from 1978
to his death in 2005.
He was
beatified on 1 May 2011; canonized 27 April 2014; and has his feast day on 22
October, a date chosen to remember the anniversary of the liturgical
inauguration of his Papacy in 1978.
As part
of his effort to promote greater understanding between nations and
between religions, he
undertook numerous trips abroad, traveling far greater distances than had all
other popes combined,
and he extended his influence beyond the church by campaigning
against political oppression and criticizing the materialism of the West. He
also issued several unprecedented apologies to groups that historically had
been wronged by Catholics, most notably Jews and Muslims. His unabashed Polish
nationalism and his emphasis on nonviolent political activism aided the Solidarity
movement in communist Poland in the 1980s and ultimately contributed to the
peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. More generally, John
Paul used his influence among Catholics and throughout the world to advance the
recognition of human dignity and to deter the use of violence. His centralized style of church
governance, however, dismayed some members of the clergy, who found it autocratic and stifling. He
failed to reverse an overall decline in the numbers of priests and nuns,
and his traditional interpretations of church teachings on personal and
sexual morality alienated
some segments of the laity.
No comments:
Post a Comment