ROME — Pope Francis heaped high praise on his predecessor Saint John Paul II in a videomessage to Krakow youth Saturday, calling the Polish pope “an extraordinary gift of God to the Church.”
The message coincided with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II and the first non-Italian pope in centuries.
“It is a beautiful occasion to address you, young people of Krakow, thinking about how much he loved young people, and remembering my stay among you for World Youth Day 2016,” Francis said in his message.
“Saint John Paul II was an extraordinary gift from God to the Church and to Poland, his native land,” Francis continued. “His earthly pilgrimage, which began on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice and ended 15 years ago in Rome, was marked by a passion for life and a fascination with the mystery of God, the world, and the human person.”
Pope Francis said he remembers John Paul as a great champion of God’s mercy, revealed especially in his 1980 encyclical letter Dives in Misericordia, his canonization of Saint Faustina Kowalska, and the establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday.
“In the light of God’s merciful love, he grasped the specificity and beauty of the vocation of women and men, understood the needs of children, youth and adults, while considering cultural and social conditions,” Francis said. “Everyone could experience it.”
Francis also highlighted his predecessor’s “love and care for the family” as a distinctive note of his papacy, while declaring that “his teaching is a sure point of reference to find concrete solutions to the difficulties and challenges that families must face in our day.”
Karol Wojtyła is an example of how personal and family problems do not preclude holiness and happiness. As a boy, he “suffered the loss of his mother, his brother, and his father,” Francis noted. “As a student, he experienced the atrocities of Nazism, which robbed him of so many friends. After the war, as a priest and bishop, he had to face atheistic communism.”
Difficulties, John Paul showed the world, “are a test of maturity and faith, a test that can only be overcome trusting in the power of the dead and risen Christ,” Francis said.
In his message, Francis told the young people of Poland he hopes “that the celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Saint John Paul II inspire in you the desire to walk boldly with Jesus, who is the Lord of risk, the Lord of the eternal ‘more.’”
The Lord “wants to perform one of the greatest miracles that we can experience,” Francis said, “to make your hands, my hands, our hands become signs of reconciliation, of communion, of creation” to continue building the world today.”