Pope John Paul II’s biographer is welcoming the announcement of a new
feast day for the soon-to-be beatified pontiff.
The Vatican has
declared that Oct. 22, the day he became Pope, will now mark the
occasion.
“I think it's an entirely appropriate date, for this was the day that
Karol Wojtyla formally began his service to the universal Church and
issued that ringing cry to freedom and evangelism: "Be not afraid! Open
the doors to Christ," George Weigel told CNA.
As is customary with beatified persons, the feast day will be
inserted into the Church calendar of only those places where Pope John
Paul II lived and worked – the diocese of Rome and the dioceses of
Poland.
In other places, local bishops will have to formally ask the Vatican
for permission to mark the feast day.
The same restrictions also apply
to the naming of churches for Pope John Paul.
In a break with custom, though, the Vatican is giving Catholics
throughout the world a year to celebrate a Mass in thanksgiving for the
beatification.
In an April 12 statement the Vatican said this is due to “the
exceptional character of the beatification of the Venerable John Paul
II, recognized by the entire Catholic Church spread throughout the
world.”
The Vatican has also unveiled the specific prayer, or collect, to be
used at any feast day celebration or thanksgiving Mass.
It reads:
“O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that Blessed John Paul II
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind,
Who lives and reigns.”
Weigel welcomed the new prayer.
“The evocation of the divine mercy, the face of the Father that John
Paul II believed was being turned to the world in a special way at this
moment of history … also brings to mind the late Pope's inaugural
encyclical, ‘The Redeemer of Man,’” he said.
Pope John Paul will be beatified on May 1 and will then be given the
title “Blessed.” “
Beatification” is the second step in a three-stage
process the Catholic Church has created for declaring a deceased person a
saint.