The Pope Should be Attacked, the Pope Should Suffer

The life of Blessed Pope John Paul II is a life of beatitude. Now, remember, the beatitudes are paradoxical, it is in lowliness that one is exaulted. So, we should understand that this was a beatitude in hardship and suffering, which he endured all of his life. "The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity." (cf. Is 53:10) But it is in such suffering that we are most united to Christ in His Passion. And in being so united to Him, we are blessed.

Address of Bl. Pope John Paul II
Angelus, May 29, 1994

Through Mary I would like to express today my gratitude for this gift of suffering, associated once again with this Marian month of May. I want to appreciate this gift. I understand that it is a necessary gift. The Pope should be in the hospital Gemelli; he should be absent from this window for four weeks; in the same way he suffered thirteen years ago, he should suffer again this year.

I have meditated, I have reflected over all of this during my hospitalization. And I have found again at my side the great figure of Cardinal Wyszynski. At the start of my Pontificate he told me, “If the Lord has called you, you should take the Church of Christ to the Third Millennium.”

And I have understood that I should lead the Church of Christ to this Third Millennium with prayer, with various initiatives, but I have seen that this is not enough: I needed to lead it with suffering – with the attempt on my life 13 years ago and with this new suffering.

Why now? Why this year? Why in this year of the Family? Precisely now, because the family is being threatened, because it is being attacked. The Pope should be attacked, the Pope should suffer, so that all the families and the whole world can see that there is a gospel – I could say, a superior gospel – the gospel of suffering, with which we are to prepare the future, the Third Millennium of families, of all families and of each family.

I wanted to add these reflections in my first encounter with you at the end of this Marian month, because I owe this gift of suffering to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I thank her. I understand it was important to have this debate before the powerful of the world. I need to meet again with the powerful of the world, and I have to speak up. With what arguments? I am left with this argument of suffering. And I would like to tell them: understand, understand why the Pope has returned to the hospital, why has he suffered again; understand it, reflect on this one more time.

Note the date of the Pope's remarks here - May 1994. We remember His Holiness being "crushed in infirmity" at the end of his worldly sojourn, but, given his active schedule, we tend to forget that, especially after the shooting, he had suffered multiple health issues for a long, long time.