Andrew Krawczyk and Laura Paraboni-Krawczyk (Representatives of LP Bronze / LP Cameos) are attending the beatification of John Paul II in Rome.

the simple wooden casket of late, blessed John Paul II

Andrew Krawczyk and Laura Peraboni-Krawczyk first maried couple ever blessed by JP II

Andrew Krawczyk and blessed John Paul II

Laura Krawczyk and son Patrick with blessed John Paul II on year 2000 jubilee

The Program of the Beatification of John Paul II

"It is very important to make as clear as possible that no tickets are needed, to attend the beatification of John Paul II", says Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, monsignor Guido Marini.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household has issued a draft program for the Beatification of John Paul II, May 1st this year. Describing it as "a great ecclesial event," the office in charge of organising audiences and handles ticketing for all papal events at the Vatican, issued a statement Friday that began "tickets are not needed to attend the beatification ceremony".

It added that no individual or institution can demand payment for improper deals as has become particularly common on the Internet. It also reaffirms that tickets are always free at papal ceremonies and general audiences.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, retired prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has also confirmed an initial estimate of over 2.5 million pilgrims and faithful, from all over the world, for the ceremony of beatification of John Paul II

The ceremonies for the beatification have been divided into five phases. The first event is an open air vigil of preparation that will take place on the evening of Saturday, April 30 at the Circus Maximus. Organized by the diocese of Rome , it will be led by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI will join spiritually through a live video link.

The second phase is beatification ceremony itself, Sunday, May 1 in St. Peter's Square.
The celebration, which will be presided by the Holy Father, will begin at 10am. Immediately after the ceremony, the remains of the newly Blessed will be placed in front of the High Altar in St. Peter's Basilica, for the veneration of thefaithful. On Monday, May 2, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, will preside Mass of thanksgiving at 10:30 am in St. Peter's Square. Following this Pope John Paul II's remains will be "privately" reinterred in the side chapel of St Sebastian, in St Peter's Basilica.

Msgr. Marini, notes, "the beatification ceremony will have the same characteristics of every beatification ceremony, so during the Mass there will be the proclamation of the newly Blessed, and a brief summary of the life of John Paul II will be read. The Pope will solemnly proclaim the newly Blessed, then there will be the unveiling of the image, which will hang in front of the Basilica, from the central balcony, and then also the veneration of a relic that will be taken at the time. These are the various phases of the rite of beatification, inserted within the Eucharistic celebration".

Regarding the exposition of the coffin of the newly blessed Msgr. Marini adds; "it was decided as follows: the coffin containing the remains of John Paul II, suitably embellished so we cannot see the body of John Paul II - will be placed in the Basilica, before the High Altar, and access will be allowed to pilgrims for a brief moment of prayer. We thought to expose the coffin of the newly Blessed in the Basilica to foster an atmosphere of meditation and prayer, so that pilgrims can do so as a proper, authentically religious act".

His Holiness John Paul II. (Short Biography)

Info taken from: (visit link)

Early life

Karol Józef Wojtyla was born on 18 May 1920 in Wadowice in southern Poland and was the youngest of three children of Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929 when he was just nine years old, and his father supported him so that he could study. His brother, who worked as a doctor, died when Wojtyla was twelve. He lost everyone in his family - a sister, brother, mother, and father - before he became a priest. He played sports and was particularly interested in football (soccer) as a goalkeeper.

After finishing his studies at the Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, in 1938 Wojtyla enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and in a school for drama. He worked as a volunteer librarian and was an athlete, actor and playwright. He did 2 months military training in the Academic Legion because it was compulsory, but he refused to hold or fire a weapon.

While he was young he met many Jewish people who lived in that area. In 1939, Nazi forces closed the Jagiellonian University. All the able-bodied males had to have a job. From 1940 to 1944 Wojtyla worked for a restaurant and in a limestone quarry, and then as a salesman for a chemical factory. He did not want to be sent to Germany where he would be made to join the army. His father died of a heart attack in February 1941. It is believed that his father had been helping Jews escape from the Nazis.

On 29 February 1944, Wojtyla was knocked down by a German truck. He expected to be badly treated, but the German officers sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there with head and shoulder injuries. It was at this time that he decided that he must become a priest. When he came out of hospital, the young Polish men were being sent to Germany for training. He escaped to the house of the Archbishop and hid there till after the war. On the night of 17 January 1945, the Germans left the city. The priests and teacher and students went back to the seminary (Bible college), where there was a big clean-up to be done. Wojtyla volunteered to clean out the lavatories.

That month, Wojtyla he found a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer who had collapsed from hunger while trying to reach her parents. He gave her food and helped her go to the railway station. She did not hear of him again until the day came when he was elected Pope.

Karol Wojtyla was ordained as a priest by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha on November 1, 1946. He then became the youngest bishop in Poland at the age of 38 in 1958. In 1962 he took part in the Second Vatican Council and helped write two very important documents. One was about Religious freedom and the other one was about the work of the church in the Modern World. In 1963 Bishop Wojtyla became Archbishop of Krakow. On 26 June 1967, Pope Paul VI announced Archbishop Wojtyla's promotion to the Sacred College of Cardinals.


Papacy

Pope John Paul II became Pope on October 16, 1978. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope for 455 years. He was pope for 27 years, making him the second longest serving pope, after Pope Pius IX who held the office for 31 years and seven months. He was also the first, and still the only Slavic pope. John Paul II was the most traveled pope in history with 104 international trips.

During his lifetime he learnt many foreign languages. He spoke Polish as his native language, and learnt Latin and Ancient Greek in school. On the day that he officially became Pope, he spoke to people in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Czech and Portuguese. He also spoke a little Lithuanian, Hungarian, Russian and Ukrainian.

John Paul II beatified many people. This means that the Pope gave these people the title of "Blessed". One example is the painter Fra Angelico, who lived in the 1400s. After studying his life and teaching, it was decided that he should officially be called "the Blessed Fra Angelico". John Paul II gave more people the title of "Blessed" than any other pope in history. He also made many saints.

In 1984 John Paul II started World Youth Day which was first held in Rome and attended by about 300,000 people. Since then it has been held in a different country every year. It encourages young people to be faithful to God, and to live together in peace. Many millions of people have attended.


His travels

The first pope who traveled widely was Pope Paul VI. Like him, John Paul II liked to travel. While he was pope, he visited 117 countries.[13] In total he travelled more than 1.1 million km (725,000 miles). Wherever he went, he attracted large crowds. All these travels were paid by the money of the countries he visited and not by the Vatican.

One of John Paul II's earliest official visits was to his home country of Poland, in June 1979. There, he was always surrounded by happy, cheering crowds. The Pope wanted to bring freedom and human rights to his country. His visit encouraged Poles to oppose the communism, and in 1980 the Solidarity movement was born. On later trips to Poland, he made his message of support stronger. The Soviet Union had controlled Eastern Europe for many years. In 1989, Poland was the first country to begin to break free from the Soviet Union.

John Paul II went to places where other popes before him had already been, such as the United States, or The Holy Land. He also went to many countries that no pope had ever visited before. He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.


In 1982, the Pope made a visit to Japan, and in 1984 to South Korea and Puerto Rico. He was the first pope to visit Cuba. During his visit in January 1998, he sharply criticized Cuba for not allowing people to freely express their religion. He also criticised the United States embargo against Cuba. In 2000, he became the first modern Catholic pope to visit Egypt, and met with the Coptic Pope, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. He was the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus, Syria in 2001. He visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist is believed to be buried.

In 1988 he made a trip to Lesotho to beatify Joseph Gerrad. On 15 January 1995, during the 10th World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between four and eight million in Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines. This is considered to be the largest single event in Christian history.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, even though people were worried about his safety, the Pope traveled to Kazakhstan and spoke to large audiences including many Muslims. He also went to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of the 1700 years of Christianity. He said Mass in local languages during some visits, including Kiswahili in Nairobi, Kenya in 1995 and in an Indonesian language in East Timor.

Throughout his trips, the Pope always showed his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He visited many shrines consecrated to her, notably Knock in Ireland, Lichen Stary in Poland, Fátima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico and Lourdes in France.


Attempts on his life

On May 13, 1981, the Pope was shot twice in the abdomen by a Muslim fanatic, Mehmet Ali Agca. The pope was gravely injured.He barely survived the assassination attempt, and had to be treated in hospital for 20 days. The pope later visited Agca in prison. He had forgiven him already. Exactly one year later he traveled to Fatima to thank Mary, Mother of God for saving his life.

On this trip there was a second attempt to his life. A follower of the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre tried to hurt the Pope with a bayonet. He was overpowered by the bodyguards of the Pope. Lefevbre and his followers were against the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. After this the Pope often travelled in a bullet-proof trailer known as the "popemobile."


Death

Pope John Paul died on Saturday, on the eve of the Divine Mercy Holiday, April 2, 2005. The official time of death on his death certificate was 9:37 pm, but a few sources reported 9:33 pm. The death certificate stated that when the Pope died, he had Parkinson's disease, with serious breathing difficulties. The Pope had tracheotomy surgery in mid February but it did not help and he lost lots of weight. He also had an enlarged prostate, urinary infection and other problems. The cause of death were that his kidneys failed, causing blood poisoning and infection brought by septic shock. The Pope died while holding Archbishop Dziwisz' hand. His last word was: "Amen!" (Meaning "so be it", or "so let it be done.")

The Pope's medical team used heart-monitoring machinery for more than 20 minutes, so his real and true time of death was around 9:15 PM Vatican time. As tradition demands, his name was called three times. When there was no reply, his papal ring was broken, which meant the end of John Paul II's papacy (reign as pope).

Many people claimed to have been specially blessed by the reign of Pope John Paul II. Many people thought he should be given the title "Blessed". This usually takes at least five years (and may take hundreds of years). On May 13, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI cut short the usual 5 year wait for the beatification process to begin. The only other time (in recent history) that this has happened was for Mother Theresa, who was made the Blessed Mother Theresa by John Paul II.

If John Paul becomes a saint, it has been suggested that May 22 should be the official John Paul II Day on Church Calendar of the Saints. May 22 is 50 days after the death of the Pope. May 18 has also been suggested as his official saint day on the church's calendar. It's also Saint Pope John I's Day.