”PILIGRIM ROUTE OF JOHN PAUL II”

Pope John Paul II, called the Pilgrim Pope, is considered to be one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century who has served as the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church for almost 27 years. During his papacy, John Paul II visited 129 countries, including Lithuania on 4-8 September 1993. He was the first pope ever to visit our country.

To commemorate this Pilgrim route, Lithuania Post issued one stamp depicts Pope John Paul II on May 07, 2011.

To mark the Pope‘s apostolic visit to Lithuania, the main shrines of Lithuania, the ones connected with this Pope, and the places which received the Holy Father’s attention, have been joined into the Pilgrim Route of John Paul II.

FOLLOWING THE TRACES OF KAROL WOJTYŁA - WADOWICE

Polish Post issued the stamp series feature KAROL WOJTYŁA  as known of Pope Paul Johannes II to commemorate the traces of the Pope on May 18, 2010.

Karol Józef Wojtyła (Anglicised: Charles Joseph Wojtyla) was born in the Polish town of Wadowice and was the youngest of three children of Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole,and Emilia Kaczorowska, who was of Lithuanian ancestry.

As a youth, Wojtyła was an athlete and often played football as a goalkeeper.His formative years were influenced by numerous contacts with the vibrant and prospering Jewish community of Wadowice. In mid-1938, Karol Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków, where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University. While studying such topics as philology and various languages at the University, he worked as a volunteer librarian and was required to participate in compulsory military training in the Academic Legion, but he refused to fire a weapon.