Pope John Paull I- Love is Stronger Than Hate by:Allyx Fabiano

           After a good night's sleep, our group woke up, ate breakfast, and was ready to go for the day. Sister Mary took us to the Pope John Paul II museum in Wadowice. Before going to this museum, I knew very few things about the former pope and his life, so I was excited to learn more about him and tour the museum. As we arrived, we were informed that the museum was the pope’s former home.

            In the first part of the tour, our tour guide informed the group of his life before becoming the pope; his life as Karol. Karol lived a hard life as a child, his mother passed away when he was nine and his brother a few years later when he was twelve. One part of his childhood that stood out to me was that his best friend growing up was Jewish. Our tour guide informed us that in Wadowice 2,000 of the 10,000 citizens were Jewish. Therefore, Karol was surrounded by many in his earlier life. 

After receiving his PhD in theology, he eventually joined the priesthood following the passing of his father in 1941. Eventually, he worked his way up in priesthood, becoming the youngest bishop in the world at the age of 38 in 1958, and became pope in 1978.

The pope, the most powerful figure in the Catholic church, however he was very involved in the Jewish relations and extremely respectful of the religion. As pope, he visited their holy land, and prayed with them, and like them. This showed the Jewish people that the Catholic church stood in solidarity with them, even after such tragedy occurred.

When our tour guide was explaining this to us, it made me think of Martin Luther and his writing The Jews and their Lies. These two men practiced the same religion, but acted in such different manners to the Jewish people. Luther, though he lived hundreds of years before the pope, was drastically different. He published this book stating that the Jews were liars and should be hated by all because of their demonic acts and refusal to convert to Catholicism. The Pope did the opposite. He acted as a true Catholic and an amazing leader of the church, showing his people to love all people, even the Jewish people. His love for his childhood friendship and for fellow human beings, trumped the idea of hate between Catholics and Jews.