Sixteen years have passed since his death, but the memory of John Paul II is always alive, as well as the feeling of gratitude of the of Sant'Egidio for the Bishop of Rome, who accompanied the journey of the Community for almost three decades. Moreover, the awareness grows that Wojtyla was a great figure of the 20th century and of the beginning of the 21st century.
Witness to the painful European history of the last century, he was also the pope who acted on the global level, understanding the increasingly significant role that religions would play in the future. In 2003, though old and broken in health, John Paul II told the diplomatic corps gathered at the Vatican: "Yet everything can change. It depends on each of us. Everyone can develop within himself his potential for faith, for honesty, for respect of others and for commitment to the service of others". This has always been his trust.
Find out more:
Address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to the Diplomatic Corps - 13th January 2003
Prayer in Memory of Saint John Paul II, online from the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere - 22 October 2020
Prayer for Peace in Assisi with Pope John Paul II - 27th October 1986
