Vatican City, Oct 16, 2020 / 04:00 am
St. John Paul II accurately predicted the problems facing the world today, his longtime personal secretary said Friday, the anniversary of the Polish pope's election.
In an essay marking the election on Oct. 16, 1978, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz said that John Paul II was accused of being out of touch with the world following the collapse of communism.
"Today, however, 15 years after he left for the House of the Father, we can see with what perspicacity he was analyzing the reality, and how accurate were his predictions of the problems we are facing today," he wrote in the Polish newspaper Wszystko Co Najważniejsze (All that Really Matters).
John Paul II served as pope for 26 years until his death in 2005, publishing 14 encyclicals and making pastoral visits to 129 countries. This year, the centenary of his birth is being marked by events in Rome and Poland.