A true example for modern families

“There is not the slightest doubt that the spirituality of the future saintly Pope was formed within his family, and was thanks to the faith of his parents.” So said Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former private secretary of John Paul II, in commenting on the news of the general assent, on the part of the plenary meeting of Polish bishops, for requesting the nihil obstat from the Holy See for beginning the diocesan level instruction of the cause in the beatification process of the parents of Pope John Paul II.

The news came in the wake of the plenary meeting, during which the bishops discussed various aspects of the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Karol Wojtyla’s birth, which falls on 18 May 2020. The Archdiocese of Krakow has thus obtained, from the Bishop’s Conference, the authorization to proceed with the request for permission to begin the instruction phase in the beatification process of the mother of the future Pope, Emilia Kaczorowska—who died when Karol was only nine years old—and of his father, after whom Karol was named, who died in 1941 during the second World War.

“The parents of the Polish Pope can become a true example for modern families,” Cardinal Dziwisz added, recalling how Pope Francis, during the ceremony of canonization, bestowed on Wojtyla his own particular title, “the Pope of families.”