The Peaceful Audacity of St. John Paul II

In an interview with Vatican Radio this past weekend, Cardinal Roberto Tucci gave a first hand account of the events in communist Poland during Saint John Paul II’s first visit there as Pope. Listen here.

This 1979 pilgrimage to Victory Square is featured in our exhibit, for it was an important moment in the late Holy Father’s stand against the Soviet Union. With his peaceful audacity, St. John Paul II played a key role in the fall of communism. He brought hope to those living behind the “Iron Curtain,” and that hope was eventually fulfilled.

St. John Paul II, Pray for Us!

Guide Us On All Paths

O God, You are our Creator.

You are good and Your mercy knows no bounds.


To You arises the praise of every creature.


O God, You have given us an inner law by which we must live.


To do Your will is our task.


To follow Your ways is to know peace of heart.


To You we offer our homage.

Guide us on all the paths we travel upon this earth.


Free us from all the evil tendencies which lead our hearts away from Your will.


Never allow us to stray from You.


O God, judge of all humankind, help us to be included among 

Your chosen ones on the last day.


O God, Author of peace and justice, give us true joy and authentic love, 

and a lasting solidarity among peoples.


Give us Your everlasting gifts. Amen! 

-Saint John Paul II

Traveling With Saint John Paul II

On October 22, the feast of Saint John Paul II, we celebrated by opening our new permanent exhibit.

Titled A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II, the exhibit invites pilgrims to explore nine galleries tracing the life, teachings, and legacy of the late Holy Father. The reflective journey consists of unique artifacts, audio-visual components, and engaging interactive displays.

Our interactive displays consist of the World Travels touchscreen seen above and the World Youth Day table seen below.

The World Travels touchscreen highlights the many trips and pilgrimages St. John Paul II made throughout his papacy. Through a six-screen timeline, visitors can learn details about the late Holy Father’s travels. They can see snapshots from his visits and read quotes from speeches he delivered across the globe. Pilgrims can also use a search tool in order to find out whether the great Saint made a trip to their own country.

Living All Saints Day

The Church lives in a great perspective. This perspective accompanies her always, molds her continually, and directs her towards eternity. The liturgy of the day highlights the eschatological reality, a reality which springs from the whole plan of salvation and at the same time from man's history, a reality which gives the very existence of the Church and her mission their ultimate meaning. 

That is why we live so intensely the solemnity of All Saints, as well as, tomorrow, the Commemoration of all the dead. These two days enclose, in a particular way, faith in "eternal life" (the last words of the apostolic "Creed").

And although these two days put before the eyes of our soul the inevitability of death, they give, at the same time, a testimony of life. Man who, according to the laws of nature, is "condemned to death," man who lives in the perspective of the annihilation of his body, exists at the same time in the perspective of future life, and is called to joy. 

-Saint John Paul II, Solemnity of All Saints, 1978

St. John Paul II, who canonized more Saints than all of the popes in the last 500 years combined, please pray for us, that we may one day join you in the communion of Saints. 

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.

Papal Intentions For November

During the month of November, Pope Francis asks us to pray that, “all who suffer loneliness may experience the closeness of God and the support of others.” He also asks us to pray that, “young seminarians and religious may have wise and well-formed mentors.”

Let us pray with the Holy Father this November, for all of the lonely and for all mentors of seminarians and religious.

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.