John Paul II Square in Wadowice

Address:
Plac Jana Pawla II, Wadowice 34-100, Poland

Pope John Paul II served as Pope and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005. He was elected by the second Papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, died after thirty-three days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted his predecessor's name in tribute to him. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. He upheld the Church's teachings on such matters as artificial contraception and the ordination of women, but also supported the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reforms. He was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 people and canonised 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated a large number of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests. A key goal of John Paul's papacy was to transform and reposition the Catholic Church. His wish was to place his Church at the heart of a new religious alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a great religious armada.John Paul II was the second longest-serving pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX, who served for nearly 32 years from 1846 to 1878. Born in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Pope Adrian VI, who served from 1522 to 1523. John Paul II's cause for canonisation commenced in 2005 one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed Venerable by his successor Pope Benedict XVI and was beatified on 1 May 2011 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributed one miracle to his intercession, the healing of a French nun from Parkinson's disease. A second miracle attributed to John Paul II's intercession was approved on 2 July 2013, and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later . John Paul II was canonised on 27 April 2014 , together with Pope John XXIII. On 11 September 2014, Pope Francis added these two optional memorials to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints, in response to worldwide requests. It is traditional to celebrate saints' feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, but that of John Paul II is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration. Posthumously, he has been referred to by some Catholics as John Paul the Great, although the title has no official recognition.
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John Paul II Square in Wadowice Videos

POLAND: WADOWICE: POPE JOHN PAUL II VISIT CONTINUES

Polish/Nat

There is one stop the pope will not be making on his 10-day tour of Poland - his home town of Wadowice.

In many parts of Poland the younger generation is becoming disillusioned with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and especially the hard line taken by the pontiff.

But in Wadowice, Pope John Paul the Second is still considered a local hero.

On the surface, the small town of Wadowice -- an hour's drive from Krakow -- has changed little since Karol Wojtyla left in 1938 at age 18.

Farmers on the edge of this town still use rough-hewn traditional tools to farm sugar beet.

But later this week many of them will put down their tools and travel the 60 kilometres (40 miles) to Krakow to see one particular boy's return.

The boy who became pope.

SOUNDBITE: (Polish)
We are all believers, we all practice our faith and it's not difficult for us to be proud of the Pope.
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop - farmer

It is hard to miss the impression the pope made in Wadowice's Market Square.

Here banners and plaques honour the 77-year-old Polish pope.

Karol Wojtyla was born in a small rented apartment at number Two Rynek Square, just off Wadowice's main market piazza and right across the street from Wadowice's Church of our Lady.

It was in the church that Karol Wojtyla began his first official role as a Roman Catholic, when at age 11 he became an altar boy.

The pope's first home is now a museum, lined with photos and mementoes from his past.

Although today he appears old and frail, it is clear that he was vigorous and active most of his life.

In his youth the pontiff was an avid skier, kayaker and hiker.

He even continued to ski after becoming pope -- a first for the church.

Besides sports, another favourite activity of the pope was to tread the boards as an actor.

When he was 14, Karol Wojtyla, then known as Lolek, discovered the theatre, and played leading roles in school plays.

He often played opposite his friend Halina Kwiatkowska.

SOUNDBITE: (Polish)
We played together in many plays based on the literature that we were studying in school, and it always happened that we played the lead roles together. I was his partner, for example, in Antigone, I played Antigone and he played Hamon. In all of these roles we created the quality was quite good, I can judge because I am now an actress. Karol Wojtyla was a very faithful boy, but sporting, handsome and he liked joking.
SUPER CAPTION: Halina Kwiatkowska, Actress

While some of the younger generation of Poles have strayed recently from the moral teachings of their pope, his home town still attracts bus loads of youthful fans.

SOUNDBITE: (Polish)
I like him he is very nice, he is making peace in the world.
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop

Once in Wadowice, the children head straight for the church to pray before the altar where a young Karol Wojtyla once prayed.

They seem unusually devout for children of their age.

SOUNDBITE: (Polish)
He is the Pope. He is making the name of Poland famous all over the world. It is a pity that I have never met him. I hope I will meet him some day.
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop

Growing up in a small, predominantly Roman Catholic town nestled in the foothills of the Beskidy Mountains, clearly shaped how the future pope would view the world.

Even when he moved far away to the Vatican he remained the deeply spiritual, yet vigorous person that the people of Wadowice knew and loved.

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Wadowice hometown of John Paul II

The tour gives you a chance to follow the footsteps of the man who was to become one of the greatest Popes and human beings in history.

June 4, 1979 Pope John Paul in Poland Video ABC News

Poland: Pilgrims ecstatic on eve of Pope John Paul II's sainthood

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M/S Pilgrims walking in and out of Bazylika Wadowice
W/S Bazylika Wadowice
C/U Banner of Pope John Paul II
M/S Pilgrims standing outside Bazylika Wadowice
SOT Izabella Warchal, Student from Wadowice (English): We are going to the church every Sunday so it's, I don't know, it's the most important day tomorrow, really. The most important day for us.
M/S Flowers beneath statue of John Paul II
C/U Candle bearing John Paul II's face
SOT Robert Pinagapany, Retiree from Mauritius (English): It is a fantastic feeling, I really can't put it into words. Since this morning I feel out of this world. As if it's not real, it's surreal.
W/S People walking along John Paul Square
M/S Statue of John Paul II
M/S Big screen showing old images of Pope John Paul II and his family
W/S John Paul II square
C/U Polish flag and the Vatican flag
W/S Banner on road leading into Wadowice reading Canonization of John Paul II: 27 April 2014

SCRIPT

Poland: Pilgrims ecstatic on eve of Pope John Paul II's sainthood

Catholic pilgrims from across the world flocked to the hometown of late Pope John Paul II, on the eve of the late Pope's canonisation, Saturday. Close to the childhood home of John Paul II, people laid down wreaths, lit candles and attended mass in the Basilica Wadowice ahead of the all-night vigil later this evening to honour the pontiff.

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, will be declared a saint at the Vatican Sunday less than a decade since his death in 2005. Up to one million Catholics are expected to attend the ceremony of his canonisation, falling on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday, a religious holiday he established.

Pope John Paul II was beatified in 2011, receiving official recognition from the Catholic church of a deceased person's entrance into heaven.

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Announcement Of Habemus Papam (We Have A Pope), Wadowice - Poland, Inauguration Ceremony

(31 Dec 1978) St Peter's Square
Crowd in St Peter's Square
LS Balcony and announcement of Habemus Papam (We have a Pope)
Crowd
New Pope, Pope John Paul II, appears on balcony
Pope John Paul II as Cardinal Wojtyla
GV Wadowice, Poland
Wadowice parish church
Birth register
Pope John Paul II's childhood home
GV Krakow, Poland
Krakow cathedral
Krakow university
Street scene in Krakow
Rome
Motorcade to hospital
Pope John Paul II being mobbed in hospital lobby
PAN inauguration ceremony
Pope John Paul II approaches altar
Crowd applaud
Pope John Paul II greets other members of the clergy

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Poland 5 Wadowice, Youth of Pope JP II

Steve Ray pilgrimages

WRAP Benedict on John Paul II's potential sainthood, visits Krakow, Wadowice

AP Television
Wadowice
1. Wide of cheering crowd in Wadowice market square
2. Various of crowds with flags
3. Pope Benedict XVI arriving in car
4. Security on roof of church
5. Close up of wall hanging of the late Pope John Paul II
6. Pope walking onto stage and waving to crowd
7. Wide shot of altar
8. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Pope Benedict XVI, Leader of the Roman Catholic Church:
I wished to stop precisely here in the place where his (the late Pope John Paul II's) faith began and matured to pray together with all of you that he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars (ie be beatified).
9. Pope Benedict holding up painting of John Paul II
10. Wide of church and crowd
TVP Pool - No Access Poland
Wadowice
11. Pope entering basilica
TVP Pool - No Access Poland
Wadowice
12. Pope kneeling in front of font where John Paul II was baptised
13. Pope arriving at house on Koscielna Street where John Paul spent his boyhood, now a museum devoted to John Paul
14. Pope looking around museum
15. Baptismal certificate of John Paul II
16. Picture of John Paul II as a boy
AP Television
Lagiewniki
17. Wide of interior of church
18. Pope arriving and greeting audience
19. Wide shot of audience applauding
20. Various of Pope at altar, greeting audience
21. Cutaway of media
22. SOUNDBITE: (Polish) Pope Benedict XVI, Leader of the Roman Catholic Church:
I would so willingly embrace each one of you. But since this is impossible, I draw you spiritually to my heart and I impart my blessing.
23. Painting of John Paul II
24. Pope leaving, blessing crowd
TVN - No Access Poland
Blonia park, Krakow
25. Wide of stage in park
26. Pope arriving in pope mobile
27. Stage
28. Pope getting out of pope mobile
29. Pan of crowd waving flags
30. Pope arriving on stage, greeting crowd
31. Wide of crowd waving flags
32. Pope on stage, pull out to wide
STORYLINE:
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, paid a visit to Wadowice in Poland on Saturday, the birthplace of his predecessor.
Addressing cheering crowds, he announced his hope that John Paul II would achieve sainthood in the near future.
I wished to stop precisely here in the place where his (the late Pope John Paul II's) faith began and matured to pray together with all of you that he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars (ie be beatified), Pope Benedict XVI said, speaking in Polish, which he began to learn last year.
Honouring John Paul is a major theme of Benedict's four-day trip to Poland, where the cause of John Paul's sainthood is extremely popular.
Some were even hoping Benedict might make the official announcement during the trip.
After praying in Wadowice's ornate church, Benedict walked down a cobblestone street to the house on Koscielna Street where John Paul spent his boyhood.
The house is now a museum devoted to John Paul.
There he was greeted by the nuns who run the museum, and he walked through the rooms where photographs document the boyhood of Karol Wojtyla, the future pope.
Later, at the Lagiewniki Basilica, Benedict met briefly with a group of sick people.
Many had turned up to receive a blessing from the Pope.
Later on Saturday, Benedict addressed more than 600-thousand pilgrims - many of them young people - on the Blonia Common where he will lead Sunday Mass.
He urged the crowd not be discouraged by what he described as creeping secularism.

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Poland: Wadowice

Wadowice's history ... The history of the town of Wadowice can be traced back to the 13th century. First it belonged to the princedom of the Silesian Piasts, next to form a part of the Principality of Oswiecim that would morph later into Principality of Zator. In 1482 the short-lived Principality of Wadowice was created that lasted 11 years. Returned to the Zator statelet, in 1495 Wadowice was bought with it by Poland and incorporated to the powerful kingdom. During the first partition of Poland in 1772 the Austrian Empire annexed the southern part of the Krakow province, including Wadowice. In 1867 the town was made the capital of a county, which brought it new prosperity. In 1918, after the Great War, Wadowice returned to Poland reborn as a republic. At the outset of the Second World War, when the Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Wadowice was annexed to the Third Reich. Since the end of the WWII the town has been Poland again.

The Birthplace of Pope John Paul II ... Wadowice has gotten international recognition as the birthplace of Pope John Paul II. Born in 1920 as Karol Wojtyla, the future Pontiff lived in Wadowice till 1938 when he moved to Krakow to study at its ancient Jagiellonian Univesity. Yet to his last days the late Holy Father remembered fondly his Wadowice youth and places associated with it, the schoolmates, his teachers, and other local folks he had used to know. Also, he tried to include the town, when possible, in his visits to Poland.

Tourists seek in Wadowice sites connected with Pope John II. Their first obvious choice is the house at 7 Koscielna Street with flat where the future Vicar of Christ was born and raised. The place has been turned to a museum and exhibits comprise the Wojtyla family's former possessions such as an oven, a shelf, a table, tableware, a laundry basket, family pictures as well as personal belongings of Father Karol Wojtyla -- skis, a rucksack, a cap, a prayer book, etc., plus photos from his three visits to Wadowice as the Pope. The building is situated in the town's heart, next to the baroque church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the central square.

The church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is perhaps most iconic in the life of the Pontiff. The future John Paul II grew up in its shadow, was baptized a Catholic and later confirmed in it, served as an altar boy and prayed daily here before its miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The church's Gothic chancel dates from the 15th century while the late-Baroque nave and aisles were built in the 1790s. The left aisle contains a baptismal font where the baby Karol Wojtyla was baptized.

WYD2016 Blog 15 - A Pilgrim's Guide to Wadowice

In this WYD2016 Blog, we guide you through Wadowice, Poland. Wadowice is one of the pilgrimage places you might be visiting on your World Youth Day Pilgrimage, famous for being the birthplace of St Pope John Paul II.

Wadowice, Poland

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Polish pilgrims make long journey by road to attend Vatican canonisation ceremony

Pilgrims from Pope John Paul II's hometown of Wadowice in Poland took a 24-hour journey across Europe in order to witness his canonisation ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday.
The pilgrims left Wadowice on a bus on Friday morning and arrived in Rome on Saturday afternoon.
The late Polish pontiff is to be canonised along with late Pope John XXIII on Sunday.
During the trip, the pilgrims sung religious songs, prayed, and watched a film about John Paul II's life.
Along the way, they made a stop in the Italian town of Assisi to visit Saint Francis' sanctuary and the basilica, before moving on to the small town of Sacrofano, where a pilgrim shelter is located.
From there, they walked 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) to reach a train station from where they carried on to finally reach Rome.
Their journey came to an end some kilometres (miles) later, at St Peter's Basilica.
One of the pilgrims, Maria Guzik, said: We are very happy, we come from the town where Pope John Paul was born.
Teresa Byrska, another one of the pilgrims said enthusiastically: I love you Rome, I love Vatican, I love the Pope.
One (m) million people are expected to flood into Rome for the event, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.

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John Paul the Great Museum, Wadowice, Poland

'Pope-mania' hits John Paul II's Polish hometown - #Focus

Pope Jean Paul II, the first and only Polish pope, who worked hard to bring an end to communism, will soon be canonised as a saint. In Poland, where more than 80% of the population are Catholic, people are preparing to celebrate. Our team went to Wadowice, the town where he was born, to find out more about Jean Paul II from the time when he was known as Karol Wojtyla.

Programme prepared by Patrick Lovett and Elise Duffau
04/22/2014 FOCUS
An exclusive in-depth report from a FRANCE24 correspondent, followed by comment and analysis with the author and the anchor in the newsroom in Paris.
FRANCE 24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 24/7

POPE JOHN PAUL II ( BIRTH PLACE IN POLAND )

Wadowice is a city in southern Poland, 50 kilometres southwest of Kraków with 19,200 inhabitants, situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills. Wadowice is best known for being the birthplace of Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II.

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Wadowice town square

Along the old town square of wadowice in Poland. The birth place of Saint Karol wojtyla or pope John Paul Ii

Dream Tour 2: Wadowice, Poland

Birthplace of St.John Paul II

6 To Wadowice Poland

World Youth Day 2016 - Wadowice - hometown of Saint John Paul II

First World Youth Day was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Pope Francis and young people from all over the world will come to Krakow in 2016 to celebrate this occasion. Wadowice, the hometown of Pope Saint Jan Paul II who was the great believer in young people, is situated just 50 kilometers from Krakow. Why not visit us here? Make it an important part of your World Youth Day experience and follow Karol Wojtyła Route.

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