Abstract

The popularity of the papal figure has grown a lot, from Pius XII (1939-1958) and John XXIII (1958- 1963) onwards. John Paul II during his long pontificate (1978-2005) has exasperated its relevance, especially with his travels all around the world and with the invention of the oceanic gatherings of World Youth Day. After surviving the attack in St. Peter's Square in 1981, the pope was convinced that the third part of the secret of Fatima was referring to his person. Despite his condition went worse from year to year, he had rejected the possibility of giving up the papacy since 1995. The media have projected his last suffering throughout the world. John Paul II had made easier the procedures for the proclamation of saints and blessed (labeled as "the factory of the saints"). The charismatic leader of contemporary Catholicism in the end became a canonized saint by the Catholic Church, rather quickly after his death. In this way a part of the Church hierarchy wanted to put the seal of holiness on his reductive vision of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Eventually it is possible that the devotion of the faithful for this saint pope will be popular mostly in his native country, Poland.