Photo Credit: Ioannes Paulus II, pilgrim to Poland, Gniezno, Chrobrego Street (Barbara Bartkowiak)
Thomas Griffin 10/23/25 (For The Daily Signal)
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Oct. 22 is the Catholic feast day in remembrance of Pope St. John Paul II. The story of his life is an inspiration for countless Catholics and non-Catholics. His witness of faith and courage in the face of darkness continues to shine as an example to the world for how we ought to respond to trials in our own lives.
Growing up in Communist Poland, John Paul lost every member of his immediate family by the time he was 20 years old. His mother died when he was very young, then his brother as a teenager, and finally his father as he entered the second decade of his life. Despite experiencing such tragedy, Karol Wojtyla entered the underground seminary in order to say yes to the call from God to be a priest. He risked his life to do so.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and children. He has a masters degree in theology and is a masters candidate in philosophy. Thomas is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World.
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