– Do it fast, but not with leniency – appealed Cardinal Dziwisz to the members of the tribunals in the canonization processes of parents of St. John Paul II. The first trial session of the canonization process of the servants of God Emilia and Karol Wojtyła takes place in the Basilica of the Offering of the Virgin Mary in Wadowice.
– I want to testify here, here in this place, in the presence of the Archbishop and the priests, that as a long-time secretary of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła and Pope John Paul II, many times I heard from him that he had holy parents – said Cardinal. Stanisław Dziwisz on May 7th in Wadowice at the start of the beatification processes of Emilia and Karol Wojtyła.
We are in a special place and time. In this city, in Wadowice – as St. John Paul II – everything started. Basilica of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with an image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and with a parish baptismal font. Nearby, the family house of the Servants of God: Karol and Emilia Wojtyła. The time directed by Divine Providence is also special. In 11 days we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of their son Karol, the greatest son of Polish soil, St. John Paul the Great. The birthday of the child is also a celebration of parents, especially the mother.
For several years from many directions, both from our country and from abroad, I have been receiving inquires about the possibility for the Church to undertake the steps for the beatification and canonization of St. John Paul II’s parents. Pope John Paul II. Urged by these questions, convinced in my conscience of the validity of the case, I expressed this conviction during the Mass in the St. Anna parish in Wohyń in the Diocese of Siedlce, where I was presenting the relics of the blood of St. John Paul II on the feast of St. Anna in 2018. And, that’s how it started. The first public and solemn session of the Court which is taking place today is the result of this ‘urge’. This session is aiming to collect documentation and take away sworn testimony concerning life, activity, the opinion of the holiness of both Servants of God and the graces received through their intercession. As required by law, these will be two separate proceedings.
In the issued Archbishop’s edict the Servants of God were presented. I will therefore not repeat the key dates and events from Karol and Emilia Wojtyła’s lives.
I want to testify here, here in the presence of the Archbishop and the priests, that as a long-time secretary of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła and Pope John Paul II many times I have heard from Him that he had holy parents. He recalled, first of all, his father, Karol senior, with whom he was connected not only by his filial bond, but a true spiritual friendship. He recalled how in the family home, he found a father kneeling at night in the second room, sunk in prayer. He spoke with great emotion about their pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. It was thanks to his father that he accepted the scapular in a nearby church of Carmelites, on the “hill”, and prayed there to St. Joseph. The father’s trusting faith, expressed in prayer, his deep trust in God, the love of God and man, accompanied the adolescent Karol during the dark years of occupation, when they lived together in Kraków’s Dęnikach. His father’s death impacted him emotionally. He had a very close relationship with his father, characterized by a great trust. It was deeply marked not only in the life of the priest, the bishop, but also in Pope Karol Wojtyła.
He just a little remembered his mother Emilia. She died when he was 9 years old, just before his First Holy Communion. The feeling he had towards her and his love as her son, is the expressed very well in the poem ‘Over Your White Grave’. This is the essence of His emotional relationship with his mother. Despite the fact that he very little remembered his mother, the feelings to her were revealed in different ways and on different occasions.
