VATICAN CITY – St. John Paul II was a man of deep prayer, who loved being close to people and loved God’s justice and mercy, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY – Defending life is not an abstract concept but a duty for all Christians and it means protecting the unborn, the poor, the sick, the unemployed and migrants, Pope Francis said.

Last month’s column covered some of the key teachings from St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body that can help form our students in a whole and holy approach to understanding the body and sexuality. Growing up in a culture where relativism and a radical sense of autonomy influence our moral thinking, children and teens can be easily persuaded by secular ideas about the body, such as:

Fathers are heroes. A father who is living his vocation shows what it means to be a fulfilled man by giving himself away in love for his wife and children. He follows the model of Jesus Christ pouring himself out for his bride, the church, and giving his life for us.

Dear class of 2019,

Whether you are about to graduate from high school, college, graduate school or medical school, you are in a state of transition — and transitions can be disorienting.

Forty years after the beginning of the pontificate of St. John Paul II

A 40 años del pontificado deSn. Juan Pablo II

Christmas celebrates the gift of the Incarnation: the Word made flesh, God himself taking on a human body to reveal his love to us. The body is so important in Christianity. The body matters. The body speaks. Its language reveals to us our call to be a total self-gift in love. That is the central insight of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, a series of teachings on man, woman and love which he gave in the early years of his pontificate.