Pope St. John Paul II: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Updated: Oct 3
Feast day: October 22 (optional memorial)
Patron of: World Youth Day and families (by popular devotion).
About Pope St. John Paul II
Karol Wojtyła was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. By the age of twenty he had lost his mother, his only brother, and his father. During the Nazi occupation he worked in a quarry and a chemical plant, acted in an underground theater, and studied for the priesthood in a secret seminary. Ordained in 1946, he became a professor, a much-loved chaplain to students and young couples, and in 1964 archbishop of Kraków.
In 1978 he was elected pope, the first non-Italian in over four centuries. His first words to the world were "Be not afraid!" In a pontificate of more than twenty-six years he visited some 129 countries, supported the peaceful struggle for freedom in Poland and Eastern Europe, began the World Youth Days, promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, developed the Theology of the Body, added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary, and established Divine Mercy Sunday. He forgave the man who shot him in 1981 and bore Parkinson's disease with visible faith until his death in 2005. He was canonized in 2014.
Prayers to Pope St. John Paul II on Daily Catholic Prayers
Learn more: John Paul II (Vatican.va)
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