He Would Bless The World

In an interview published earlier this week, Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, Ukraine shared a little known fact about Saint John Paul II. 

As the late Holy Father’s personal secretary, Archbishop Mokrzycki was very familiar with the former Pope’s daily routine. He said:

By the end of each day, around 10:30 p.m., he would go to the chapel, he would pray for a short period of time, he would go back to his bedroom and come up to the window…. He would dim the lights or turn them off, he would open up the interior window, and then he would bless the world. 


…He would bless the pilgrims walking by St. Peter’s square, the Eternal City of Rome, and the whole world.

Oh beloved St. John Paul II, please continue to bless us with the love of the Father from your place in His Heavenly Kingdom.

I Have Searched For You, Now You Come To Me

More than 1,000 pilgrims joined us for the feast of Saint John Paul II last Wednesday! The day’s celebrations included multiple Masses and community prayers, veneration of our first class relic of St. John Paul, and the opening of our new permanent exhibit, A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II.

Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, celebrated the second festal Mass. In his homily he said:

This great Holy Father was so close to the family of the Knights of Columbus. How much he loved us; how well he knew us; how constantly he encouraged us! Now in the Providence of God and thanks to the vision of our Worthy Supreme Knight, we are able to transform this building from a center to a shrine, a place of grace and holiness, truth and love, …not only, as it were, to repay St. John Paul II for his kindness to us but much more so, to proclaim the message of his life and pontificate within the Church and before the world.

Pilgrims who visited the Saint John Paul II National Shrine last week heard this message as they walked through our exhibit on the life and legacy of the late Holy Father. They also learned more about John Paul II from Most Rev. Mieczysław Mokrzycki, former personal secretary to the great saint.