John Paul II: The Great Mercy Pope

Forward to John Paul II: The Great Mercy Pope by Father George Kosicki
Rev. Ronald P. Pytel

In his book, John Paul II: the Great Mercy Pope, Father George Kosicki explores the message of God’s mercy in the writings and speeches of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. While this book is about the present day Peter and his message to the world, it is really about the journey of a man of faith, prayer and illumination, which comes from contemplation, who, in his own life and the life of his native land of Poland, came to believe in and proclaim the mercy of God to the whole world. He has proclaimed God’s mercy in word and deed. Because of his universal appeal and because of the message of his pontificate, the message of God’s mercy which is God’s greatest attribute, John Paul II may one day be known as John Paul the Great.

While the pontificate of John Paul II gives him the world stage as his arena to proclaim the message of mercy, it is a message that reaches back to his youth. As a young college student in Krakow, he witnessed man’s inhumanity to man during World War II in occupied Poland. He saw many people rounded up and sent to concentration camps and slave labor. In his home town of Wadowice, he had many friends of the Jewish faith who would perish in the holocaust. Death and danger surrounded the young Wojtyla. He experienced the need for God’s mercy and humanity’s need to be merciful to one another.

It was during this horrible period in human history that the young Karol Wojtyla decided to enter Cardinal Sapieha’s clandestine seminary in Krakow. This decision further jeopardized his life, for he could be executed if caught. It was also during this time that another seminarian, Andrew Deskur, now a retired Cardinal at the Vatican, introduced Karol to the message of the Divine Mercy, as revealed to the mystic nun, now Saint Maria Faustina. Sister Faustina’s convent was in the suburbs of Krakow in an area called Lagiewniki. This mystic nun, a suffering soul, who died at the age of 33 in 1938, wrote a diary entitled “Divine Mercy in My Soul”, in which she recorded the revelations given to her by Jesus about the greatness of God’s mercy. The message of God’s mercy, as recorded by Sister Faustina, would be a beacon of light and hope for the people of Poland during this dark time in their history.

In his future years as a young priest and later as Bishop and Archbishop of Krakow, now under the oppression of a communist regime, Karol Wojtyla would reflect and meditate upon the message of God’s mercy. He would often visit the convent in Lagiewniki where Sister Faustina was buried for private times of prayer and to lead the Sisters in reflective retreats.

Due to an erroneous translation of Sister Faustina’s diary, a Vatican ban was imposed upon “the spread of images and writings that propose the devotion of the Divine Mercy in the form proposed by the same Sister Faustina.” In 1965 however, because of popular desire, Archbishop Wojtyla conferred with Cardinal Ottaviani to have Sister Faustina raised to the honor of the altar. Cardinal Ottaviani urged the Archbishop to begin an investigation while there were still living witnesses to the sanctity of Sister Faustina. Archbishop Wojtyla immediately delegated Bishop Julian Groblicki to begin the informative process into the heroic virtues of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska. On September 20, 1967, the Archbishop of Krakow, now Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, officially closed the first informative stage in the process for the beatification of the Servant of God, Sister Faustina Kowalska. The results of the informative process showed that earlier action taken by Rome regarding the message of Divine Mercy as proposed by Sister Faustina was taken on insufficient evidence. On January 31, 1968, the process of beatification of Sister Faustina was formally inaugurated. On April 15, 1978, the prohibitions by the Vatican were lifted. Six months later, on October 16, 1978, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla was elected as Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II felt that the keynote of his pontificate was to spread the message of God’s infinite mercy. Father Kosicki very ably explores that message in both the writings and talks of our Holy Father. It is a message of hope for the new millennium. John Paul II not only proclaims this message, he lives it, and he calls the Church to live it. He lived the virtue of mercy when he forgave his would-be assassin, Ali Agca, in his prison cell on December 27, 1983; he continues to live the virtue of mercy in his care for the poor, the ill, and the down-trodden; and now he lives the virtue of mercy in his own personal suffering, which he offers for the salvation of souls.

On December 21, 1992, John Paul II had the privilege of publishing the Church’s acceptance of the miracle through the intercession of Sister Faustina which paved the way for her beatification on April 18, 1993, the first Sunday after Easter, the Sunday on which, as had been revealed to Sister Faustina by our Lord, the Feast of His Mercy (Mercy Sunday) was to be celebrated.

On October 5, 1995, the feast day of Blessed Faustina, I experienced a total healing of my severely damaged heart after praying for her intercession. During the investigative process regarding my healing, I had the privilege of meeting Pope John Paul II on two different occasions. I can personally say that he is a man of deep prayer who emanates sanctity and deep compassion. On December 20, 1999, Pope John Paul II accepted my healing as the miracle for the canonization of Blessed Faustina. On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized St. Maria Faustina Kowalska as the first saint of the new millennium. He also proclaimed Mercy Sunday as a universal feast for the Church. He held up St. Faustina and her message of and devotion to The Divine Mercy as a model for the Church. At a dinner following the canonization ceremony, Pope John Paul II told Dr. Valentine Fuster, a pre-eminent cardiologist who studied my case for months and who served on the team of medical consultants for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, “this is the happiest day of my life”.

It was through a simple Polish nun, called to be the Apostle and Secretary of The Divine Mercy, that the world has been called to pray for mercy, be merciful and have complete trust in the Lord. It was a message first for Poland, and then for the whole world.

It is because of many years of prayer and contemplation on God’s great mercy, that the first Polish Pope has been able to proclaim the same message in word and deed. As a former drama student and now as Pope, Karol Wojtyla became, in many ways, the greatest actor on the world stage at the end of the twentieth century. His greatest contribution to humanity, however, is the fulfillment of our Lord’s wishes to St. Faustina, namely, that the message of the Divine Mercy be spread around the world. St. Faustina began this mission. Pope John Paul II has continued it. He led the Church into the new millennium, which he sees as a new Pentecost, with two messages of wisdom: “Fear not!” and “Trust in the Lord”. That is why John Paul II may one day be known as John Paul the Great: the Mercy Pope.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is merciful.

Rev. Ronald P. Pytel

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