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Browse › 2011 › April

April 2011

April 30

Pope John Paul's blood is relic for beatification

April 30, 2011

Franciscan nuns from Bologna, Italy, walk past a giant image of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 28. [images/stories/international/internation11/beatificationnunswalkbyjpii.jpg]VATICAN CITY - A small vial of Pope John Paul II's blood is the relic for the Mass for his beatification, the Vatican said. The relic was to be presented to Pope Benedict XVI and exposed for veneration during the Mass in St. Peter's Square May 1, the Vatican said April 26. After the Mass, it will be kept with other modern relics in the Apostolic Palace. The Vatican explained that four vials of blood were drawn from Pope John Paul during the final stage of his illness by his personal physician. The vials were sent to the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome in case the ailing pope needed a transfusion, it said.

Vatican exhibit on Pope John Paul starts in St. Peter's Square

April 30, 2011

Pope John Paul II's cardinal vestments are seen in a special exhibit on the life and ministry of the Polish pope in the Carlo Magno Hall at the Vatican April 28. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) [images/stories/international/internation11/jpii_vatican_exhibition2011.jpg]VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's special exhibit hall wasn't big enough to honour the life and ministry of Pope John Paul II, so the exhibit begins in St. Peter's Square, said Barbara Jatta, curator of what is described as Pope Benedict XVI's special tribute to his predecessor. "The exhibit begins in the square, which for the first time ever for a beatification, is decorated with one large photograph of the pope with his pastoral staff as well as with photographs from each year of his pontificate," Jatta told reporters April 28. In addition, she said, "the exhibit leads directly to the basilica where people can venerate the tomb of Pope John Paul II." Visitors can enter the main exhibit, housed in the Carlo Magno Hall off of St. Peter's Square, until July 24 for free. The exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Vatican governor's office and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Pope John Paul's impact will last for centuries

April 30, 2011

An image from the cover of [images/stories/faith/faith11/jpiilegacy_headshot.jpg]VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II deeply influenced generations of Catholics who knew him in life, but his most enduring legacy — his teaching — is something that will continue to impact the Church for centuries, a biographer of the late pope said. "It's going to be several hundred years before the Church really takes on board the breadth and depth of this man's explication of the Gospel, and in that sense we're going to be thinking, and arguing, about John Paul II for hundreds of years," said George Weigel, author of the papal biographies Witness to Hope and The End and the Beginning. Weigel said that six years after the pope's death his connection with young people continues to bear fruit in many ways: in priesthood vocations over the last decade, in women's religious orders inspired by Pope John Paul and in renewal movements. "I look at my own parish in suburban Washington and see young couples raising Catholic families, who all took some form of inspiration from John Paul II. And I suspect this is replicated all over the world," he said in an interview April 27.