Pope John Paul II Dies

Pope John Paul II was elected pope on October 16, 1978, and he died on April 2, 2005, on the Vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy. The evening of April 2nd, John Paul II’s personal secretary and dear friend, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, realizing that John Paul II was nearing death, suddenly felt a strong inspriation to celebrate Mass. As it was long past sundown, he knew the Mass the Holy Father would want said, the liturgy of Divine Mercy Sunday. A small drop of consecrated wine was placed on his tongue at Communion and within 30 minutes, John Paul II had passed into Eternal Life, just after Mass was finished. John Paul II was the Divine Mercy Pope, having lifted the ban of Sr. Faustina Kowalska from out of the shadows where the Church had placed her and her revelations of Divine Mercy. He then began to fulfill the requests the Lord had made of Sr. Faustina, which included designating the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul II did this in the Year 2000, during the Great Jubilee Year, and at the same time, raised Sr. Faustina to sainthood. Of this day, John Paul II exclaimed:

“Today is the happiest day of my life.”

But it was not only St. Faustina that John Paul had brought to light, but he also was the Pope who would fulfill Our Lady’s desire to consecrate Russia made known through the Fatima visionaries. John Paul lamented that so many in the Church hierarchy and clergy had lost their sense of the supernatural. He believed that Medjugorje was the fulfillment of Fatima and never tired in pointing the faithful to Medjugorje and to guide the bishops towards openness rather than oppression of the apparitions. In Medjugorje, not only the faithful, but so many of the shepherds were rediscovering the supernatural in the life of the Church, exactly what John Paul desired to see happen. In the end, the triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, which will happen through Medjugorje, will be brought about through a future pontiff. But as Our Lady’s chosen Son for Her time, it was John Paul who helped to ready the Church and the world for Her final victory. As Our Lady said On October 25, 2010:

“…My children, my apostles, help me to open the paths to my Son. Once again I call you to pray for your shepherds. Alongside them, I will triumph. Thank You.”