Common roots

Sister Faustina and Karol Wojtyła were children of the Polish land, characterized by deep Christian roots. Both were influenced by the spirituality of their homeland, deeply marked by the nation’s historical suffering, yet centered on trust in God. They shared part of their journey before the outbreak of the Second World War, during which Christ entrusted the nun with his message of mercy and Karol Wojtyła learned of it and was deeply struck by it.

Firsthand knowledge

To understand the facts properly, however, it is important to look back in time. It was October 5, 1938, when Sister Faustina Kowalska died in Kraków at the age of 33. Karol Wojtyła arrived in Kraków with his father in the summer of that same year. We have no certainty as to whether he had the opportunity to meet the nun personally, but he certainly knew the message of Divine Mercy that she had spread, which was already fairly widespread in the city at that time. On September 1, 1939, war broke out and the Nazi occupation of Poland began. Young Karol could no longer attend university, and to avoid being deported to Germany, he worked at the Solvay chemical plant, in a suburban district on the outskirts of Kraków, near the convent where Sister Faustina had lived. Before beginning work, he stopped in the chapel and remained there in prayer. From that moment on, Divine Mercy became central to his spirituality and his life.

Promotion of the devotion

Meanwhile, in 1959, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prohibited the dissemination of devotion to Divine Mercy according to Sister Faustina’s form and, consequently, banned publication of her Diary. Karol Wojtyła, who had already been auxiliary bishop of Kraków for a year, was quite surprised by this decision. Having become Archbishop of Kraków in 1963, he inquired in Rome about what he could do to have the case reexamined. He was advised to open the beatification process for Sister Faustina in order to submit a new version of the translation of the Diary for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. He had a new edition of the Diary prepared, and it was precisely thanks to this edition that, on April 5, 1978, the Congregation revoked the previous decree. On June 19, 1981, the continuation of the beatification process was ordered.

Pontificate and establishment of the feast

As pope, John Paul II continued to promote devotion to Divine Mercy. On April 18, 1993, he beatified the Polish nun; on April 30, 2000, he canonized her and established the Feast of Divine Mercy for the entire Church, setting its celebration on the first Sunday after Easter, just as Jesus had requested during his apparitions to Sister Faustina. This was the culminating and decisive act in the development of devotion to Divine Mercy, which thus became public and universal.

Personal identification with the message

From his youth, Wojtyła saw in the message of Divine Mercy an answer to the evils of the 20th century, including totalitarianism, war, and atheism, as a light of hope for future generations. He firmly believed that the world needed to hear and reflect on this message. Therefore, on several occasions, he tirelessly repeated: “Outside God’s mercy there is no other source of hope for human beings” (March 30, 2008). “Only Divine Mercy is truly capable of setting a limit to evil; only God’s omnipotent love can defeat the arrogance of the wicked and the destructive power of selfishness and hatred” (April 2, 2008).

Death and legacy

Before concluding, it is worth remembering that John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, on the eve of the Feast of Divine Mercy, which he himself had established based on the revelations of Saint Faustina, as if to emphasize once again the mysterious intertwining of their lives in service to Divine Mercy. Moreover, the legacy that John Paul II left to each of us can be found in his final message, read just 24 hours after his death and prepared by him for the Feast of Divine Mercy: “To humanity, which at times seems lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the risen Lord offers his forgiving and reconciling love as a gift, reopening the heart to hope. It is a love that converts hearts and grants peace. How greatly the world needs to understand and welcome Divine Mercy!”