John Paul II as an example in one life of faith

(Vatican Radio) One of the people who will be attending the canonization ceremony of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II is Kishore Jayabalan. His life of faith was strongly connected with the Blessed John Paul II. He was baptized by the Pope at the Easter Vigil in 1996. He then worked for the Holy See, both at the offices of the Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York and at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

“For me personally, it was incredible because John Paul II was someone I grew up admiring. Of course, he was more than an example and a personal hero of mine: He was also Peter, and he was also the leader of the Catholic Church,” he told Vatican Radio. “To be received into the Church by Peter over the tomb of Peter, you can’t really have a better way to start your Catholic life.”

Jayabalan currently works for the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which tries to apply the social teachings of the JP2 Encyclical Centesimus Annus to economic teaching. He said the presence of John Paul II is still with him, and inspires him.

“There is a way human beings look at the world in terms of good and evil, in terms of saints and sinners,” he said. “You start to realize as you grow in your faith that that is a really superficial way of looking at it. All saints are sinners at some point in their lives, and with God’s grace and the individual’s cooperation, you can grow in holiness and you can grow in faith and you can really start to live the life that God has in store for each and every one of us in the Catholic Church. Those are the impressions that you have starting out with someone like John Paul II.”

Listen to the interview by Charles Collins with Kishore Jayabalan: