John Paul II – the Pope who changed Poland

Three years after the beatification ceremony that took place on 1 May 2011 in Rome, the Polish Pope will be made a saint. From that day on, the whole Roman Catholic Church will officially be permitted to venerate John Paul II.

The Polish Pontiff’s beatification process has been one of the shortest in history. Already a month after John Paul’s death, in May 2005, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the beatification process could begin immediately.

In July 2013, Pope Francis issued a decree recognising the miracle which the Catholic Church believes has happened through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II. The miracle was the medically inexplicable recovery of Floribeth Mora Diaz. The Costa Rican woman suffering from an inoperable brain aneurysm claims that she was miraculously cured after praying to John Paul II during his beatification.

After the consistory in September, Pope Francis announced that John Paul II and the other Pope, Italian John XXIII, will be canonised on 27 April 2014. John XXIII, called “the Smiling Pope” or “the Good Pope,” was head of the Catholic Church between 1958 and 1963. The Church believes it was through John XXIII’s intercession after his death that a nun was cured of cancer.

Thousands of Poles are expected to attend the canonisation ceremony of the two popes. They will travel to Rome both in parish pilgrim groups and individually.

Because of this event, Karolina Kowalska from portal Poland.gov.pl interviewed Paweł Skibiński, Ph.D. and the director of Warsaw’s Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński. We recommend:

Part 1. Polish Pope to be declared a saint.

Part 2. John Paul II – the Pope who changed Poland.

Source: Poland.gov.pl