Video: Thank You JPII

Four years ago today Pope John Paul II came into his eternal reward.

From all of Christ's Church - thank you. He was the first pope I knew.

update - a little story taken from a new book on the pope's daily life:

John Paul II also liked sweets, but was mindful of his weight, which led to the Polish nuns who cooked for him not offering up desserts. Sometimes, Mokrzcki said, he would smile and draw circles on the tablecloth with his finger.

''The nuns had to bring a cookie,'' Mokrzycki said.

Rumor: John Paul II to be beatified on April 2, 2010?

CNA (website seems to be having problems today):

Pope John Paul II could be beatified on April 2, 2010, according to a report in the Polish newspaper Dziennik, which claims the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has already made the decision.

At the beginning of this month, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow said the beatification process of Pope John Paul II was about to be concluded and that Benedict XVI himself wanted to close the process “as soon as possible” because that “is what the world is asking for.”

The beatification process of John Paul II began on June 28, 2005, two months after the death of the Pontiff thanks to a dispensation granted by Pope Benedict. The dispensation waived the normal five-year waiting period after a person dies that the Church requires before a cause for canonization can be opened.

April 2nd, of course, would be the fifth anniversary of the late Holy Father's passing.

Tom McFeely reports on the rumors in the Italian press, which are corroborative.

Here is the website for the Cause of John Paul II, Servant of God.

Mark the calednar and buy your plane tickets!

Revealed: Pope John Paul II was stabbed in 1982

A revelation in a new documentary film which includes interviews with the late Pontiff's secretary Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz:

The late Pope John Paul was wounded by a knife-wielding priest in 1982, a year after he was shot in St Peter's Square, but the injury was kept secret, his former top aide says in a documentary film.

On May 12, 1982, the pope was visiting the shrine city of Fatima in Portugal to give thanks for surviving a first assassination attempt a year earlier on May 13, 1981, when he was shot in St Peter's Square by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.

A crazed ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the ground by police and arrested. The fact that the knife actually reached the pope and cut him was not known until now.

"I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded. When we got back to the room (in the Fatima sanctuary complex) there was blood," Dziwisz says in the documentary.

The pope carried on with the trip without disclosing his wound.

Krohn was arrested and served several years in a Portuguese prison before being expelled from the country. (Reuters)

This story is a good reminder that we should pray for the safety of Pope Benedict, and be thankful for the many times dangers to their person have been narrowly averted in the past.

Pope John Paul II expressed horror at "inhuman terrorist attacks"

CNS from 9/11/2001:

Pope John Paul II said he was horrified at the "inhuman terrorist attacks" in the United States and offered prayers for the victims and all Americans in "this dark and tragic moment."

The pope, who followed news of the Sept. 11 attacks from his summer residence outside Rome, sent an unusually speedy telegram to President Bush several hours after the attacks began.

"Shocked by the unspeakable horror of today's inhuman terrorist attacks against innocent people in different parts of the United States, I hurry to express to you and your fellow citizens my profound sorrow and my closeness in prayer for the nation at this dark and tragic moment," the papal telegram said.

"Commending the victims to almighty God's eternal mercy, I implore his strength upon all involved in rescue efforts and in caring for the survivors. I beg God to sustain you and the American people in this hour of suffering and trial," he said.

Wow: "Pope's tree flourishes while others wither"

Take with a grain of salt, or a mustard seed of faith:

In the Jubilee Year of 2000, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land stopping at one point to bless an olive tree on the Mount of the Beatitudes. A forester with the Jewish National Fund reports that this tree is the only one producing olives this year.

"It is a miracle," Yossi Karni from the JNF, which maintains the plot, told local media.
During a visit to northern Israel, in March of 2000, the late Pontiff blessed an olive tree that was planted on the Mount of Beatitudes, which was previously called Mt. Eremos. According to tradition, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount on this mountain, which is located near the Sea of Galilee.

Israel is currently facing what Uri Shani, Israel’s Water Authority director, called “the worst crisis in 80 years.” “Israel's major sources of drinking water, including the Sea of Galilee and the mountain aquifer, are below their ‘red lines,’ meaning they are not recommended to draw water,” he said at a news conference last month.

Karni explained that all the trees on the plot were treated equally, but the ones that did not receive the blessing have not given fruit this year.

"They get treated the same, watered the same," he said, adding that some trees had even started to wither, which he could not explain.

When he was asked what he would do with the olives, Karni told Israel's Channel 10 he might market their "holy oil." (CNA)

Looks like this tree is taking a lesson from a certain biblical fig tree.

Pope Benedict attributes "supernatural qualities" to Pope John Paul II

The reporting from United Press International on Catholic topics sometimes feels like a mix between a comic book, the instruction manual to a computer game, and a celebrity tabloid.

I'm exaggerating a bit, of course, but see what you think:

"Speculation regarding the sainthood of the Pope John Paul II escalated Wednesday as Pope Benedict XVI attributed the late pontiff with "supernatural qualities."

I somehow doubt that the level of speculation has "escalated" the last 24 hours. It is good to hear, though, that John Paul II had "supernatural qualities." I hope one of them was X-ray vision.

Another quote:

Beatification is a phase on the way to full sainthood. Full sainthood requires evidence of a variety of theological qualifications, including evidence of miracles.

Yes, it's true: John Paul II is quickly on his way to reaching Full Sainthood. All saint-trainees begin at Level 1 Sainthood. St. Theresa of Avila was a Level 4 Saint. John Paul II is rumored to be at least a Level 5 Full Saint. Jesus was an unheard of Level 10 Full Divinity.

Okay, I think I've about run this joke into the ground. Besides, ANSA provided the reporting anyway.

Photos: Pope Benedict celebrates anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in St. Peter's square [in red!] to celebrate a Mass in memorial of the third anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death:

[Photo sources: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi (VATICAN CITY); (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri)]

Santo Subito!

update: TNLM has a fine post on this Mass with plentiful pictures from the video stream.

Vatican: "Report on John Paul II Sainthood Ready"

Talk about simultaneously one of the easiest and most difficult jobs to have - officially documenting the heroic virtues of Pope John Paul II for his canonization cause, which just took another significant step:

The church official spearheading the cause to make Pope John Paul II a saint said Monday he has finished a roughly 2,000-page draft of a report supporting the late pontiff's canonization.

Two days before the Vatican marks the third anniversary of John Paul's death, Monsignor Slawomir Oder told Vatican Radio that he has turned over the report to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The report summarizes and analyzes all the documentation about John Paul's life and virtues that had been gathered since his 2005 death, including testimony from witnesses and his own writings.

[More from the Associated Press.]

And I'm sure that 2,000 pages leaves plenty to explore in the footnotes!

update: DoubledayReligion has released a video of John Allen answering some related questions:

*link removed*

update: sorry to say, the video previously posted here turned out to be a fake. good catch, readers.

Video: Pope John Paul II visits CUA in 1979

CUA has released a ten minute video remembrance of Pope John Paul II's visit to Catholic University in 1979, with plenty of file footage and interviews with the people who were there:


Original file here.

From the CUA press release: "In the coming weeks, CUA will post additional videos of current students speaking about the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI on April 17, 2008."