Feasts of two Pope Saints in October ‎

April 28, 2014 - ‎With Sunday’s canonization, the feast days of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II are now officially in ‎the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church for universal veneration. When at the canonization Mass ‎Pope Francis pronounced the words in Latin, "We declare and define Blesseds John XXIII and John ‎Paul II be saints" and "they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church," their October feast days ‎automatically could be celebrated at Masses around the world. St. John XXII’s feast day is Oct. 11, ‎the anniversary of the day that he inaugurated the Second Vatican Council in 1962. St. John Paul II's ‎feast day is Oct. 22, the anniversary of the inauguration of his pontificate in 1978. After the ‎beatification of Pope John XXIII in 2000 and Pope John Paul II in 201, special Vatican permission was ‎required to publicly celebrate their feast days outside the Diocese of Rome, where they served as ‎bishop and pope, and their home dioceses. Vatican permission also was required to name parishes after ‎them, but with their canonization, that is no longer necessary.