The canonization of John Paul II, only nine years after his death, is an unprecedented event, which can only be explained by the greatness of his life and the holiness that was so evident in him. 

Of his pontificate, the astonishing number of his travels, the issue of the people he met or the writings that came from his hand have often been highlighted. All this causes an understandable admiration because it meant an astonishing novelty and a way of acting characterized by the young spirit of one who, at the time of his election, was only 58 years old. But age does not explain everything: John Paul II was able to carry out his ministry with total dedication because of the overwhelming drive of a person possessed by a passion for man, for his happiness, for his destiny. In turn, this passion for man was but the correlate of a gigantic faith and charity that led him to see Christ as the ultimate truth and meaning of each person's existence and as the culmination of history.

Beyond the numbers, however, lies the mystery of Karol Wojtyla, whose character was forged in suffering and difficulty. His personalistic vision of reality and certainly also his artistic sensibility, which manifested itself in his love of theater and poetry, prepared him to go from the general to the particular, from the crowd to the individual, from glory to the cross.

His extraordinary Eucharistic life and his tender and firm devotion to the Virgin Mary constituted the solid framework of a life that he saw as that of priest and victim, sacerdos et Hostia. As Bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, John Paul II opened the eyes of individuals and peoples and urged the Church and the world not to be afraid because it is Jesus Christ who leads and to whom history is directed.

Published in ALMUDI