Pope Saint John Paul the Great

 Most of my readers (all 4 of you) will already know a great deal about the life and teaching of Pope Saint John Paul II. He was born in Poland in 1920 and given the name Karol (nicknamed Lolek). His mother died when he was eight and his only brother died when he was 11. Ten years later, his father died, and he was left alone in the world. 

Karol endured the Nazi occupation and attended seminary secretly. He was ordained to the priesthood on November 1, 1946, at the age of 26. He was ordained as a bishop at the age of 38 and just seven years later was selected as the Archbishop of Krakow. During this time, he was under almost constant scrutiny by the communist regime who thought him to be a very dangerous adversary. At the age of 47, he became the youngest member of the college of Cardinals. In 1978, when Pope John Paul I died after only 33 days in office, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected to be the 264th Pope of the Catholic Church. He took the name John Paul II. He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and had the third longest papacy at over 26 years. 

All of the above and more you can read about in any number of books and websites devoted to this much-beloved Pope. But I recently read a story that may not be as widely known. This comes from the book Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert. On May 12, 1981, Pope John Paul II examined the facilities of the Vatican medical center and met with its staff members. A physician asked the Pope if he would bless their new ambulance. The Holy Father blessed the ambulance with holy water and said, "I also bless the first person who will use this ambulance." The following afternoon, during his weekly Wednesday audience, the Pope was shot in an assassination attempt. One bullet fractured two bones in his index finger and passed through his abdomen while another bullet grazed his right arm. The Pope was quickly transferred to an ambulance for transport to the hospital. It was the very ambulance that he had blessed the day before, making him the recipient of his own blessing.

Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, and was canonized just 9 years later. His feast day is October 22. Attached are pictures of the tile marking the exact spot in St. Peter's Square where the assassination attempt took place and his burial place in St. Peter's Basilica.