Blessed John Paul II: salvific suffering

(Vatican Radio) As we know Pope John Paul II experienced the physical suffering that comes with age. Earlier still he had also tasted a deeper kind of suffering connected with the brush with death when he was targeted by a gunman in Saint Peter's Square on the 13th of May 1981.

Yet this Polish Pontiff did not see his physical limitations as a burden but as salvific, as some of the guests in this programme witness .

Among them is an American Cardinal who was one of those privileged to call on John Paul II when he was taken to hospital after the assassination attempt.

In this programme you can also hear a very personal selection of segments from Pope John Paul II's speeches from our Vatican Radio archive.

Listen to this programme in view of the canonisation of John Paul II by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014, presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: