Tag Archives: John Paul II

Pope St. John Paul II: October 22

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 Today we remember Pope St. John Paul II. We expect all the popes to be holy and saintly, but they’re not, statistics say. There have been 266 popes, but only 95 are remembered as saints, blessed or servants of God. Furthermore, 52 of the popes who are saints are from the first 5 centuries of the church, most of them were martyrs. 

Only 2 popes have been canonized since the 16th century until the recent canonizations of Popes John XXIII, John Paul II and Paul VI.  Why were these popes canonized? Each was a holy man who played a major role in the Second Vatican Council, a major event in the Catholic Church, which took place from 1962-65 and still inspires its life today. 

What was Pope St. John Paul II’s role in that council? The first reading and responsorial psalm for his feast tell us:

Pope John Paul was a missionary who brought the message of Vatican II to the world:   “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings…” He had a prophet’s role, the first reading from Isaiah says. He fulfilled what Psalm 96 called for: “Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.” 

John Paul II was a global pope. Inspired by the Second Vatican Council’s call for a church engaged in the world, he made 104 apostolic journeys to all parts of the globe. It was a world increasingly interconnected, with nations and religions in daily contact with one another. He visited mosques and synagogues and Buddhist temples, as well as his own faithful.  He reached out to Protestants and separated Christian churches of the east. As the voice of the Catholic Church, he engaged the world, in the spirit of Vatican II.

John Paul II was a charismatic bishop who became pope as new communications  were creating a world wide audience and new political movements, like that in his native Poland, caught the attention of people everywhere. 

Within his own church, Pope John Paul canonized more saints, from different countries and backgrounds, than any pope before him had done. The Second Vatican Council taught that holiness could be found everywhere.  

The three popes, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II had different gifts, but all saw the Second Vatican Council as the path the church should follow. That’s the way they described the way ahead – a path, a way often unmarked, a winding road where the end is not clearly seen. Still, a path is God’s way, who leads the blind on their journey and strengthens the weak till they reach their home. 

BIOGRAPHY HERE. 

Contemplating the Face of Christ With Mary

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“Contemplating the Face of Christ With Mary”
Our Lady of the Rosary
A reflection on Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Apostolic Letter of St. Pope John Paul II
©️2024 Gloria M. Chang

The Rosary: A Christocentric Prayer

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn.”

The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.”

Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae of St. Pope John Paul II, 1

Our Lady of the Rosary with Saints, 18th century (Brooklyn Museum)

Saints who pray the Holy Rosary
Adore the face of Christ with Mary.


This content by Gloria M. Chang was originally published online at Shalom Snail: Journey to Wholeness.