Saint John Paul II, Missionary of Mary

From the Marian devotion of his childhood, the young Karol Wojtyla went on to a true understanding of Mary’s role in the mystery of Salvation, after reading the Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This led him to offer himself to Christ, through Mary’s hands. "Thanks to Saint Louis de Montfort, I realized that genuine devotion to the Mother of God is truly Christocentric, deeply rooted in the Trinitarian mystery... This form of piety has continually matured in me and bore fruit."

After he became John Paul II, he continued to love to pray the Rosary, and he visited the Marian shrines of Poland and of every country he traveled to.

The Virgin Mary, so strongly present in his personal life, is also present in the preaching of Pope Saint John Paul II, in line with his mission to "strengthen his brothers" (Luke 22:32). He invites Christians to rediscover "the objective truth about the Mother of God" in their personal lives and in the life of the Church: "I would like to summarize in two words the sublime lesson of the Gospel of Mary: the Virgin is a Mother, the Virgin is our Model."

Bishop Guy de Kerimel, Bishop of Grenoble-Vienne (France)

In Jean-Paul II et Marie, March 23, 2011