Footsteps of John Paul II – Wadowice

Duration: 4 hours. Available in languages:

Wadowice is a small town in southern Poland, 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Kraków with 19 thousands inhabitants, situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills. Wadowice is best known for being the birthplace of Pope John Paul II.

What to see?

• Days of Wadowice (Dni Wadowic) are held every May–June. The feast starts every 18 May to commemorate the birth of Karol Wojtyła.
• Museum of the Holy Father Family Home in the family home of Pope John Paul II collects objects that belonged to Karol Wojtyła and his family.
• Parochial church – the Virgin Mary’s Offertory minor basilica–15th century, rebuilt in the 18th century.
• Kościelna 4 street, an 18th-century house.
• Neo-Classical “Mikołaj” manor – 19th century, named after the mayor Mikołaj Komorowski.
• Municipal Museum of Marcin Wadowita.
• Pope John Paul II square with 19th-century burgher houses.
• Monument to Emil Zegadłowicz, a writer who described the area of Wadowice in many of his books.

Divine Mercy Sanctuary

The Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Kraków, Poland is a Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to the Divine Mercy devotion, as the resting place of Saint Faustina Kowalska, canonized on April 30, 2000. In 1985, Pope John Paul II called Lagiewniki the “capital of the Divine Mercy devotion”. Since the beatification of Saint Faustina in 1993, her remains rest on the altar, below the image of Divine Mercy.

On June 17, 1997 Pope John Paul II visited the church to pray at the tomb of Saint Faustina – an event commemorated by a relief at the entrance to the chapel. The new basilica was built between 1999–2002, and is located in the District of Łagiewniki at św. Faustyny street. Two Popes have visited the shrine and millions of pilgrims from around the world continue to visit it every year.

In May 2006, Benedict XVI visited the chapel, and a second relief commemorates that. During the 2006 pilgrimage by Pope Benedict XVI, he unveiled a statue of Pope John Paul II at the observation tower at the basilica, as the seventh sculpture of John Paul II in Kraków.