{"id":17222,"date":"2026-10-22T03:15:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T01:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/memoria-di-san-giovanni-paolo-ii-il-papa-che-ha-cambiato-la-storia-e-il-cuore-del-mondo\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T19:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:09:51","slug":"memorial-of-saint-john-paul-ii-the-pope-who-changed-history-and-the-heart-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/memorial-of-saint-john-paul-ii-the-pope-who-changed-history-and-the-heart-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial of Saint John Paul II: the Pope who changed history and the heart of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\nThe Catholic Church celebrates today the liturgical memorial of Saint John Paul II, born Karol J\u00f3zef Wojty\u0142a, the Supreme Pontiff whose spiritual guidance profoundly marked the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. The first Polish Pope in history, his pontificate lasted nearly twenty-seven years, characterized by epochal geopolitical changes, including the collapse of communist regimes in Europe, a process to which his magisterium offered a fundamental moral contribution. A tireless global evangelizer, John Paul II crossed the borders of the Vatican, making over one hundred historic apostolic journeys, engaging in dialogue with young people through the unforgettable World Youth Days, and gifting the Church with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Having miraculously survived a dramatic assassination attempt in 1981, he embodied the Gospel of forgiveness by going to forgive his attacker in prison and becoming a tireless apostle of Divine Mercy. His spiritual legacy continues to live in the hearts of the faithful all over the world.\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Church celebrates the memorial of Saint John Paul II, Karol Wojty\u0142a, the first Polish Pope and pontiff for nearly 27 years. A protagonist of major historical changes, a tireless traveler, and founder of the WYD, he left his mark on the world with his faith, his forgiveness following the assassination attempt, and his devotion to Divine Mercy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":17207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4833],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saint-of-the-day"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Memorial of Saint John Paul II: the Pope who changed history and the heart of the world - Vaticano.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/memorial-of-saint-john-paul-ii-the-pope-who-changed-history-and-the-heart-of-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Memorial of Saint John Paul II: the Pope who changed history and the heart of the world - Vaticano.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Church celebrates the memorial of Saint John Paul II, Karol Wojty\u0142a, the first Polish Pope and pontiff for nearly 27 years. 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