Saint John Paul II
Be not afraid
The life of Karol Wojtyła — the young Pole who lived through the war, became a priest in secret, and grew into the pope who embraced the world.
15 episodes · Narrated in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German
Episode 1 is free
Episodes
- 01
Shots in the Square
Rome, late afternoon: a white jeep, a crowd, gunshots. And a Polish boy who lost his mother far too soon.
- 02
Lolek
A widowed father, a doctor brother, a school stage — and another death. What sustains a boy who is left more and more alone?
- 03
The Quarry
War closes the university. A poet breaks stone to avoid deportation — and loses the last of his family.
- 04
The Hidden Seminary
Laborer by day, clandestine actor by night, seminarian in secret: in occupied Krakow, Karol chooses between the stage and the altar.
- 05
The Uncle of the Kayaks
A priest who takes young people to the mountains and the lakes — and whom the police do not know what to call.
- 06
The Cross of Nowa Huta
A council in Rome, a cross in an open field, twenty years of patience before a regime that planned a city without a church.
- 07
From a Far Country
Three popes in a single year, and a name no one in Rome knows how to pronounce.
- 08
Nine Days in June
A pope with no army comes home. An entire country takes to the streets and discovers how many they are.
- 09
Solidarity
A portrait on a shipyard gate. And a young Turkish man who crosses Europe with a pistol.
- 10
A Mother's Hand
A bullet that passes within millimeters of death. A pardon given before anyone asked for it. And a question with no answer: who gave the order?
- 11
The World Is His Parish
One hundred and four journeys. Favelas, stadiums, airports — and a wagging finger in Managua.
- 12
The Wall
A murdered priest, a round table, a Soviet leader in the Vatican. And historians still arguing to this day.
- 13
The Teacher and His Critics
A professor on the throne of Peter: lectures, encyclicals, a failed bank, two women friends — and critics who raise their hands.
- 14
Asking Forgiveness
A synagogue, a hillside in Assisi, a note in a crack of the Wall. Can so ancient an institution say “we were wrong”?
- 15
Let Me Go
The athlete becomes an old man before the cameras. And a whole square prays for a lighted window.
Read more on the Journal
John Paul II and the Fall of Communism: The Pope and the Year 1989
How a Polish pope's words — 'Be not afraid' — and his 1979 pilgrimage home helped ignite Solidarity and the peaceful collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.
Why John Paul II Was Shot: The 1981 Attack and the Forgiveness
On 13 May 1981, a gunman shot Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. He survived, credited Our Lady of Fátima, and later visited his attacker in prison to forgive him.
