The Sainthood of Two Popes

Today marked an important day in Catholicism, as not one but two former popes officially became saints.

I can speak only fairly knowledgeably about one of these popes, admittedly.

During my trip to Poland last year, there were reminders of one of them, Pope John Paul II, Karol Józef Wojtyła, all over the place. He is more than just a source of pride to the Polish people. He seems to have reached near divine status there. He was attending Jagiellonian University when the Nazis took over Poland, and the school closed. It was during the war that Karol made the decision to devote his life to religion, which soon caused friction with the communist government that took over after the Nazis were thrown out, and the Soviets set up a puppet government. He was one of the main leaders to resist the communists and advocate for greater freedom, particularly in the religious field. He kept climbing the ladder to higher and higher status, eventually being appointed archbishop of Krakow in 1964, then being made a cardinal in 1967, taking part in Vatican Council II.

Ultimately, he was elected as Pope on October 16, 1978, taking the name John Paul II. His was one of the longest papacies in recent history, having assumed the papacy as a relatively young man, lasting the greater part of three decades. He aggressively fought communism at every turn, and was Pope when eastern Europe broke the shackles of long communist sway in the fall of 1989, including his home country of Poland.

Also, he established World Youth Days, and encouraged dialogue with other religions. At times, he raised some eyebrows, particularly with some of the things that he officially apologized for, which included the trial of Galileo, the conquest of America by Spain, in the name of the Church, as well as the Church's role in slavery, the complacency of many Catholics during the Holocaust, and for burnings at the stake and the religious conflict in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation.

Much of the information that I used to write this particular blog entry came from a flier that I picked up during a recent trip (over this past weekend) to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred heart in Newark, New Jersey, published by Liturgical Publications Inc., honoring the official sainthood status of Saint John Paul II and Saint John XXIII today, April 27, 2014.


I also got much of my information from Wikepedia, including the list of his official apologies:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologies_by_Pope_John_Paul_II