St. John Paul II Research Paper

One of the most influential men on the planet hailed from the small city of Wadowice, Poland: St. John Paul II. He was born as Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920 to Karol Wojtyla, Sr. and and his mother, Emelia (Catholic.org). He was baptized roughly a month later. As a child and adolescent, Karol was involved in theatre until he began studies for the priesthood at an underground seminary, where he was ordained on All Saints Day in 1946 for the Archdiocese of Krakow.

Later on, he became one of the youngest bishops ever, for at the age of 38 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow. Later, he was appointed the Archbishop and later Cardinal of Krakow. As the Cardinal and later Pope, he proved himself an outspoken critic of Communism. One way he did this was through public expressions of faith we take for granted. He held Corpus Christi processions, outdoor Masses, and more (Collins 22-24). This continued even through his election to the papacy in October of 1978. While pope, John Paul, as he was now called, visited 129 of the world’s countries,

His faith influenced his spirituality, for he had a special affinity for the Blessed Virgin Mary and for our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In his book Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves, Jason Evert recounts that after his assassination attempt, John Paul primarily “thanked the Virgin Mary for saving his life” (Evert 152). Also, in each country he visited, his affinity with the Blessed Mother was shown, for he would always make an effort to visit a Marian shrine. One final example of John Paul’s spiritual affinity with the Blessed Mother was his practice of Total Consecration. Inspired by the writings of St. Louis de Montfort, John Paul wrote that it “is indispensable for anyone who means to give himself without reserve to Christ and the work of redemption” (Evert