Religion - JPII

Poland was invaded

Friday, Sept 1st 1939

Pope John Paul the Second

Karol Wojtyla

Where was he born

Wadowice, May 18th 1920

When did he die

2005

His family

• dad was a military officer

  • father was a tutor for him in literature and history

• mom died when he was 9 yo because of heart disease

• Edmund, older brother was a heart doctor who died of scarlet fever

What did he study in college

Polish literature

• Had an interest in natural drama of life

How did Poland preserve their culture even through 100 years of invasion

Church and culture are intertwined in Poland

Jews and Wadowice

½ of the population in Wadowice is Jewish

capture + concentration camps

• invasion ended Karol’s university education

• 2 million Poles were sent to camps

  • over 5k priest and nuns

Trykotsky

• introduced Karol to John of the cross and the Carmelites

  • abandoning oneself to the will of God was a great inspiration for Karol

Polish Resistance and Karol

• he participated through cultural resistance, underground education, and theater

• created the Rhapsodic Theater, which worked to save Polish memory

  • he believed in the power of the words

August 1944

• Hitler orders the city to be destroyed, Gestapo arrest young men

• Warsaw uprising, resistance fails

May 1945

war in Europe ended, Poland is free for a short time

When did Karol Wojtyla become ordained as a priest in the archdiocese of Krakow

Nov 1st, 1946

1953

Cardinal is imprisoned for refusing to be subservient to communist

• Church + Communist don’t mix

1954

Karol teaches at a Catholic university in philosophy department

When was Wojtyla ordained as a bishop

1958, at 38 years old

1962

Pope calls for Vatican II, an ecumenical council

• Wojtyla attends and gains attention

• had conversations about

When was Wojtyla appointed as Archbishop of Krakow

1963

1978

• New Pope, John Paul I, dies 33 days later due to a heart attack

• Cardinal Wojtyla becomes elected as pope (Oct 16 1978)

  • First ever Slavic pope

  • Speaks to the public and tells them “Be not afraid”

May 13 1981

JP II arrives in St. Peter’s square and is shot but survives

1989

Communist regime collapses, w/ Iron curtain and Berlin wall falling

1991

Soviet union no longer exists

• JP II returns to Poland, warning of materialism and capitalism

March 1983

Nicaragua insists clergy must not be partisan and division and violence is not acceptable

2000

At St. Peter’s, Pope asks for forgiveness over all the sins catholics have performed