Funday Times

Silver Jubilee Stamp
A new postage stamp was issued by the Philatelic Bureau of the Department of Posts on October 22, 2003, to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the pontificate of Pope John Paul 11, spiritual leader of over a billion Roman Catholics in the world.

Baptised Karol Jozej Wojtyla, he was born in Wadowice near Crakow, Poland on May 18, 1920. he was the son of an army officer in the Polish Army. His mother died when he was 9 years old and four years later his elder brother died from scarlet fever. The young Karol was guided by his father in his studies. Outside of studies, he was a keen sportsman.

On 1st September 1939, Hitler’s army invaded Poland and the university where Karol was studying closed down. He was forced to find a job as a quarry worker. In February 1945, his father died of a heart attack.

It was about this time that Karol decided to become a priest. In 1942, he attended underground courses on Theology as a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Crakow.
He was ordained a priest in 1946. He completed his studies in Rome and was awarded a Doctrate of Divinity.

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed auxillary bishop to the Archbishop of Crakow. On 30th December 1963, he was appointed metropolitan Archbishop of Crakow and in June 1967, he was appointed a Cardinal by Pope Paul V1. In 1978, Pope Paul V1 died and Pope Albini Luciani was elected taking the name of Pope John Paul 1.

After his sudden death in September of the same year, the conclave elected Cardinal karol Wojtyla, Pope. He took the name of John Paul 11. He was the first non-Italian Pope since Adrian V1 in 1522. He was also the youngest Pope since Pope Pius 1X and is the 264th successor of St. Peter.

He is the most traveled Pope in history. The Pontificate of Pope John Paul 11 is one of the longest in the history of the Papacy. On May13, 1981, Pope John Paul 11survived an assassination attempt and after his injuries were healed he carried on his mission of peace.

In 1995, Pope John Paul 11 visited Sri Lanka for the beatification of Fr. Joseph Vaz, considered as apostle of Sri Lanka. The stamp in the denomination of Rs. 4.50 and the First Day Cover were launched at the Ministry of Christian Affairs.

Minister of Mass Communication, Imtiaz Bakeer Markar, presented the first day cover to the Apostolic Nunci, Thomas Yeh in the presence of Minister of Christian Affairs, John Amaratunga, and the bishops.

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