Let me share with you, in this special day of canonization of John Paul II, an article, written by George Weigel. It is very moving and describing very well Polish, or I guess Slavic, soul of the Pope, our pope as people say here. 
Whatever we think of him from doctrinal perspective, he was indeed an extraordinary person, coming from a very narrow background and yet having very broad horizons. In 80’s, he was one of the few stars shining for us here, in grey, poor and alienated Poland. He, as no one else then, gave us hope and showed the value of dreams.
I remember 1977, when he came to my hometown, then yet as a cardinal (called by many Uncle Karol). Virtually the whole city came to see him and listen to him. I can’t remember his actual words, I was only 6 then not knowing really what was going on, but I can still see my father crying when Cardinal Wojtyla preached.
I remember then a few years later going to Castel Gandolfo with my uncle-priest living in Rome. It was almost an epiphany for me then, 14 years old boy. In Vatican there were so many people gathered around the pope that he seemed almost semi-god or something, the magic was overwhelming. But than in his summer villa, with just 20 or so Poles, he was one of us but beyond all the fears and demons we were fighting against. He was all-hope, all-love, all-compassion. …and his touch, and his look at me, and his few words of hope.
Then, as a young doctor in 2001 I went to Lublin to attend philosophical conference at the university where he had taught for many years as a professor of ethics. I was then preoccupied really with Plotinus, Proclus and Iamblichus, despising social-Catholic teaching and the pagan – as I thought – hierarchy of the church, but then in Lublin, at the University it was impossible not to think with admiration of Professor Karol Wojtyla, an existentialist philosopher analyzing phenomenal realm through the concept of love (“A person lives through love”). Deep, humanistic and touching thought, predominantly interested in other being, in a dialog I – Thou. A different side of the later Pope.
And then he died, and the world stopped here for a while. Malls, theaters, factories, schools, kindergartens… everything stopped for a week or so. And people were in churches on their knees, praying and crying, as if he preached again to them. Or maybe he did, in a most dramatic way, being faithful to the end, beyond the end. It’s been almost ten years since his funeral, but his legend is still alive here, his spirit dwells in many people’s hearts, his sayings are part of our everyday language.
The canonization of John Paul II is a big thing for us here, regardless of the confession. Even our school has sent a delegation to Rome, our academic dean with a few of our students went there with our Jesuit friends and Catholic students to participate in a great Catholic event.
As in the case of other great people, it is possible to talk of many faces of John Paul II, it is easy now to criticize his late teaching, his mariology and other doctrines, his views on contraception and so on. However, at least here in Poland, it is impossible to deny his great heart, his humbleness and his deep faith. He is a great witness of faithfulness to many of Poles.
Wojciech Szczerba