Vatican City, 05 May, 2020 / 5:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis said that he has looked up to St. John Paul II throughout his priesthood in a book foreword he wrote ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the Polish pope’s birth.
“St. John Paul II was a great witness of faith … Many times, in the course of my life as a priest and bishop I have looked to him, asking in my prayers for the gift of being faithful to the Gospel as he witnessed to us,” Pope Francis wrote in the forward of a recently published Italian book.
The book, “St. John Paul II: 100 Years. Words and images”, is being issued by the Vatican Publishing House to mark the centenary of Karol Wojtyła’s birth on May 18, 1920.
In his five-page foreword, Pope Francis wrote that St. John Paul II was “a great man of prayer who lived completely immersed in his time and constantly in contact with God, a sure guide for the Church in times of great change.”
“He was a great witness of mercy and throughout his pontificate he called us to this characteristic of God,” Francis said.