Vocation

Fifty years after his ordination he reminisced about his vocation: It had been precisely within the horrendous ambient of war that "the meaning of the priesthood and its mission in the world became much clearer" to the young Wojtyla (Gift and Mystery, pp.34f.). Gradually "a light was beginning to shine ever more brightly in the back of my mind: the Lord wants me to become a priest. One day I saw this with great clarity. And this awareness filled me with great inner peace" (ibid.).

In 1946 he was ordained and, soon after, sent to Rome for further studies. His two-year glimpse into the universality of the Church at its ecclesial center broadened his perspective, as did his biennial excursions across Europe. After returning home and delivering his thesis on faith in the writings of John of the Cross, he received his doctorate in theology from the Jagiellonian.