John Paul II might not have been born!

Emilia i Karol Wojtyłowie, rodzice papieża Jana Pawła II, fot. wikimedia (domena publiczna)

The pregnancy of Emilia, Karol Wojtyla’s mother, was at risk, but she decided to give birth to the child even though their lives were in danger and she was advised to abort. A Jewish gynecologist helped her and followed the pregnancy.

One of Mrs. Wojtyla’s neighbors, Mrs. Maria Siwcowa, a resident of Wadowice, testified that when Emilia was in her second month of pregnancy, Dr. Jan Moskała, then a well-known gynecologist and obstetrician, diagnosed her with a high-risk pregnancy, stating that she could not carry it to term and that the child would not be born healthy. Therefore, he advised her to have an abortion, refusing to continue with the pregnancy. This situation was also confirmed by two of Emilia’s friends from Wadowice, Maria Kaczorowa and Helena Szczepańska.

The conversation with Maria Kaczorowa was recorded in 1985 by Roman Gajczak and her deposition was included in the book Closest to the heart. Sketches from the youth of Karol Wojtyła – John Paul II. In 1985, Mrs. Kaczorowa, was perhaps the last person left who had known Emilia well; she was already elderly, seriously ill, bedridden, but with an extraordinary memory, the book says.

The midwife in Wadowice, Jadwiga Tatarowa, who took care of Emilia during her pregnancy, knew well the risk that both mother and child were running. From her testimony emerges Emilia’s suffering because of the advice to abort that the most famous obstetrician in Wadowice had given her, and she was fully aware of the danger hovering over the child’s life and to hers.

The rector of Wadowice’s Basilica at that time, Fr. Jakub Gil, confirmed that it was Mrs. Wojtyła’s deep faith that made her decide not to have an abortion, although she was fearing for her own life and that of the child she was carrying.

She certainly could not have known that she was about to give birth to a Pope!

Dr. Mosała had the reputation of being a serious professional, but he was also a well-known abortionist, so much so that someone wrote on the wall of the building where he had his office: “The Factory of Angels.”

Karol’s parents then decided to go to another doctor of Jewish origin, Samuel Taub, who confirmed the risk of complications at birth, including the death of Emilia. However, he did not propose an abortion and agreed to follow up on the pregnancy.

Although Emilia Wojtyla’s medical records no longer exist and all testimonies are oral, nevertheless the reliability of the facts is given by direct witnesses, whose depositions agree. Moreover, during Pope John Paul II’s visit to Wadowice in 1979, when he saw Mrs. Helena Szczepańska (one of his mother’s dearest friends) in the crowd, he asked to meet her, and that same day, he spoke with her in the parish of Wadowice.

What we are celebrating today is not the anniversary of a man who was undoubtedly great, but who has completed his life on earth. The postulator of the cause of beatification, Fr. Sławomir Oder, reminds us that his activity for the good of mankind has not yet ended. Many healings are occurring through the intercession of St. John Paul II. The director Piotr Diubak filmed, in a documentary, the two persons who received the miraculous healings that were considered for his beatification—the French Sister Marie Simone Pierre—and for canonization—Costa Rican Floribeth Diaz, as well as other witnesses, from around the world, of both miracles and personal changes.

Moreover, the changes in the history of the Church, humanity, Poland, and the whole of Europe brought about by the Pontificate of John Paul II have not yet stopped bearing fruit.

According to the postulator, the three main themes of John Paul II were: the Mercy of God here and now; freedom, which is a gift to be sought; the awareness of God’s presence in the life of man and society, a challenge to the world that wants to relegate God to the sacristy.

Krzysztof Witkowski, director of the John Paul II Coin Museum in Czestochowa, and Artur Witkowski of the Pontifical Mint in Czestochowa announced the release of the unique coin, minted in 27 copies, one for each year of John Paul II’s pontificate. The money collected will be used for a large concert in Czestochowa and for equipment in a local medical clinic for the homeless.

Thanks to Mrs. Emilia and her husband’s stance, 101 years ago Karol Wojtyła was born.