WYD 2016 Where Blessed John Paul II Felt At Home

At the largest closing mass for World Youth Day since 1995, Pope Francis announced that the next World Youth Day would be held in Krakow in 2016.

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, welcomed Pope Francis’s decision with joy.

In this, he has responded to the desires of so many young people who have long wished to celebrate their faith in the country and the city of Karol Wojtyła, who set off for the Eternal City from Kraków in October 1978, and who, as John Paul II, Bishop of Rome, instituted World Youth Days.

Among the many pastoral initiatives of John Paul II, World Youth Days has undoubtedly been among the most successful, far-reaching and fruitful. The Blessed Pope, since the beginning, saw in young people the “morning watchmen (Isaiah 21:11-12), keeping vigil at the dawn of the Third Millennium” (Tor Vergata, 19 August 2000).

Blessed John Paul II often said that he felt very much at home in Krakow, where he served as Archbishop from 1964-1978. How appropriate is it, then, that his beloved young people will gather there soon after his canonization?

Blessed John Paul II, please pray for all of those who are returning from Rio, that the fruits of World Youth Day may settle rightly in their hearts. Please also pray for those who are already preparing for World Youth Day in Krakow, that they may be guided by your witness and your love for young people.

Prayer Of Mercy For WYD

This morning, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, presented the official prayer and logo for the 31st World Youth Day! The logo, which includes the flame of Divine Mercy, can be seen here. 

World Youth Day 2016 is to be held in Krakow, a city that still remembers the legacy of Polish Saint John Paul II quite well. The official prayer asks for the intercession of the late Holy Father, who is now the patron saint of World Youth Days.

Let us say this prayer, entrusting all people, especially the young, to the warmth of the Lord’s Divine Mercy.

God, merciful Father,

in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love

and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,

We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman.

We entrust to you in a special way

young people of every language, people and nation:

guide and protect them as they walk the complex paths of the world today

and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits

from their experience of the Krakow World Youth Day.

Heavenly Father,

grant that we may bear witness to your mercy.

Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt,

hope to those who are discouraged,

love to those who feel indifferent,

forgiveness to those who have done wrong

and joy to those who are unhappy.

Allow the spark of merciful love

that you have enkindled within us

become a fire that can transform hearts

and renew the face of the earth.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us.

St. John Paul II, pray for us.

Pope Francis Decides On World Youth Day Themes

Pope Francis has announced themes for the next three World Youth Days, marking the spiritual preparation that will lead to WYD Krakow in 2016.

The themes are based on the Beatitudes, which comes as no surprise after the Holy Father's words at WYD Rio:

In Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis asked the young people “with all my heart” to read the Beatitudes again and to make them the action plan for their lives: “Look, read the Beatitudes: that will do you good!”

So the theme for the 29^th World Youth Day, 2014 is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3).

The theme for the 30^th World Youth Day, 2015 is: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mt 5:8).

Finally, the theme for the 31^st World Youth Day in Krakow is: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Mt 5:7).

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us, and especially for your beloved young people, that they may live the Beatitudes with joy.

A Second World Youth Day For Poland

Saint John Paul II greets young people at the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver
(CNS photo / Joe Rimkus Jr.) 

The young faithful of Poland celebrated with joy when Pope Francis announced that the 31^st World Youth Day would be held in Krakow. During the late summer months of 2016, thousands of young people will gather in Saint John Paul II’s beloved country in order to celebrate the Love that they all share.

Did you know that this will be the second time that World Youth Day is celebrated in Poland? The 6^th World Youth Day was hosted in Czestochowa, Poland back in 1991.

Led by the theme, “You have received a spirit of sonship” (Rom 8:15), Saint John Paul II said Mass for thousands of youth there on the solemnity of the Assumption. He noted the presence of those from eastern Europe, “a great gift of the Holy Spirit” after the fall of Communism (Weigel, Witness to Hope, 650-651). The patron saint of World Youth Days challenged those and others to work towards building a civilization of love.

In his message for the 6th World Youth Day, St. John Paul II said:

‘Young people, do not be afraid to be holy!’ Fly high, be among those whose goals are worthy of sons and daughters of God. Glorify God in your lives!

Let us join the sainted pontiff in praying for all of those young people preparing for the 31^st World Youth Day in Krakow, that they may glorify God with each day of their lives.

On His Knees

Karol Wojtyła, who we now call Blessed John Paul II, became a cardinal in 1967 at the young age of forty-seven. This short except from George Weigel’s biography of Blessed John Paul II, Witness to Hope, describes how devoted Cardinal Wojtyła was when he served as archbishop of Krakow, Poland.

Wojtyła was running a very large organization as archbishop of Krakow, but this was an organization with a difference. This was the Church, and he would govern it like the Church, not like some other kind of institution.

He lived this approach to leadership and problem solving every day. Each morning, after Mass and breakfast, the archbishop disappeared into his chapel, and it was known that he was not to be disturbed. There, alone, a few yards from the spot where Cardinal Sapieha had ordained him a priest, he spent two hours writing at a small desk, facing the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle on the altar. It is said that there are theologians who do theology at their desks and theologians who do theology on their knees; the same might be said about bishops and their governance of dioceses. Karol Wojtyła was a bishop who governed his diocese (and did his philosophy and theology) “on his knees”—or at a desk in the sacramental presence of his Lord (188).

And with joy, he carried this serious holiness all the way to the papacy. Blessed John Paul II, please pray for our cardinals and bishops, that they may be like you and lead with the light of the Lord.  

Our First and Most Precious Freedom

Shouldn’t a widow be allowed to hold a Christian burial for her veteran husband? Shouldn’t a man be able to choose a health care plan that doesn’t violate his religious beliefs? And shouldn’t timeless religious memorials be allowed to stand?

One would think. But in a country founded on religious liberty, the government now says “no” in every single one of those situations.

This is why our U.S. Bishops have called upon American Catholics to use our voices, our votes, and our prayers to fight for our first and most cherished freedom.

Two weeks ago, 43 Catholic institutions filed 12 separate lawsuits challenging the federal government’s healthcare rule. The Archdiocese of Washington is one of those institutions, and the Archbishop of Washington, His Eminence, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, gave a clear and powerful explanation of why they are suing:

[The] mandate, issued in February by the Department of Health and Human Services… requires religious organizations to provide health-care coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, even if their faith teaches that those drugs and procedures are wrong. That is what has prompted the Archdiocese of Washington to go to court to protect our First Amendment right to practice our religion without government interference.

Bringing God to the Godless

God never abandons His people. We celebrate this today, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. It is Christmas, the day of the Incarnation, the day the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Cf. John 1:14). Let us rejoice and be glad in this Revelation, this loving gift from Our Father in Heaven. And let us respond by making the Word made flesh known to the world.

Blessed John Paul II, the founder and model of the New Evangelization, did this in many ways. He proclaimed the Truth throughout his pontificate, witnessing to Christ’s love and spreading It throughout the world. His mission to bring God to the Godless was not something that began during his papacy, though. This is something that he did throughout his whole life!

Take for example, a Christmas story from his time as auxiliary bishop of Krakow:

[John Paul II] had tenaciously and skillfully defended the rights of the workers of Nowa Huta to have a church in their new city, celebrating Christmas Midnight Mass in a freezing, open Nowa Huta field during the years in which the Polish communist regime refused a building permit. Then, on October 13, 1967, the authorities finally budged, and permission was given for construction (George Weigel, The End and the Beginning, 54).

The Communist regime in Poland attempted to keep the working town of Nowa Huta without religion and without God. Blessed John Paul II responded by bringing God’s Son to the people there, celebrating Christmas Mass with them year after year. Eventually the authorities budged, allowing the “Ark Church” to be built for the people of the town.

The Assistant Pastor

Baptizing an infant (Adam Bujak)

On this day in 1948, Father Wojtyła arrived at his first parish in Niegowić, Poland. Here the future Pope found himself fifteen miles east of Krakow, at the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady.

Upon reaching the parish boundaries, Saint John Paul II knelt and kissed the ground, which is something that he learned from the story of St. John Vianney. Wojtyła continued to perform this gesture as he encountered new places throughout his life.

The parishioners he served were poor farmers, and Fr. Wojtyła himself had no electricity or running water. He lived with few and well-worn belongings, which garnered respect from the community he served. Parishioners provided some material things for him, but he was known to give even those things away to others in need. 

As assistant pastor, the great saint was asked to provide religious education to young children. He often celebrated Mass, and like John Vianney, he saw himself as a "prisoner of the confessional." According to papal historian George Weigel, St. John Paul II understood the confessional to be the place "where priests encountered their people in the depths of their humanity, helping the person on the other side of the confessional screen to enter more deeply into the Christian drama of his or her own unique life. If priests stopped doing this, they’d become office managers or bureaucrats" (Witness to Hope, 92).