Four years ago today Pope John Paul II died.
The anniversary is being remembered throughout Poland with Holy Masses,
special concerts and vigils, as well as questions on how much of his
presence still remains…
Report by Elzbieta Krajewska.
It
was a pontificate which changed Poland and contributed to change the
world. On his first visit to his home country in 1979, in his homily in
what was then called Freedom Square in Warsaw, John Paul II exhorted the Holy Spirit to alter the face of the earth… Then, there was no predicting of the impact.
But
Karol Wojtyła, the Pope from a distant country, wasn’t only a Polish
phenomenon. His pontificate had a universal dimension. He was busy
travelling, reaching Catholics worldwide as well as representatives of
all religions and cultures. Metropolitan of Kraków, Cardinal Stanisław
Dziwisz, one of the Pope’s closest friends, says he was a global uniting
force.
The Pontiff who spoke out on difficult social
issues such as poverty, unemployment, violence also talked of the
importance of family and love, warning against egoistic strivings for
personal happiness. Young people listened to him and not
only when he spoke of a cream cake he remembered from his youth.
Commentators now say how much the pontificate of John Paul II
has become a point of reference for the contemporary Catholic church.
And, in spite of everything, it’s a resource still with a vision to the
future.
When at 9.37 in the evening of April 2, 2005 Archbishop Leonardo Santi announced that John Paul II had “gone to the house of his Father” the people in Poland paid homage with a festival of lights. The people gathered under the papal window in the Vatican began to clap and call Santo Subito for his prompt beatification. Officially,
the beatification process began in June, 2005 and in spite of hopes for
it to close earlier, it is expected to be completed five years after
John Paul II's death.
Today,
all of Poland is commemorating the Polish Pope: with bonfires on the
peaks of the mountains he loved, with holy masses, vigils,
concerts, less typically with a swimming marathon – and a fund
collection for the victims of Parkinsons disease. Four years after his death, letters adressed to John Paul II still arrive at his former home in Kraków.
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