Orbis Dei

Pope St. John Paul II

The former Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla from Poland was Pope from 1978 to 2005. He was known for his global travels, advocating for peace and religious freedom, and contributing to the fall of communism in Europe. He was canonized as a saint in 2014, with the initial five-year waiting period for beatification waived by Pope Benedict XVI.

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Sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of Podhale

This church was originally founded in the 13th century by Cistercians from France. According to legend, around the year 1400, a merchant lost in the nearby swamps was led to the church by a figure he discerned to be Mary. Out of gratitude, he commissioned a statue which can be found in the church today. A regular visitor to the shrine was Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope St. John Paul II. In August 1963, in his capacity as Archbishop of Kraków, the statue slipped during a ceremony and the future pontiff caught the scepter which had fallen out of the statue's grasp. This scene was interpreted by many as a prophecy of his upcoming papacy.