Editor’s note: This saint series will feature a saint and how he or she is a meaningful example for us today.

Pope Francis wrote that “the saints help all the faithful” for “their lives are concrete proof that it is possible to put the Gospel into practice.” Pope Saint John Paul II’s witness provides an example of humility.

John Paul II was born in Poland in 1920. At the time of the Second World War, he was studying for the priesthood in an underground seminary. Prior to seminary, he was an actor and performed in plays to help the Polish people embrace their cultural values in a time when their country was being invaded.

In 1978, he was elected pope and served until his death in 2005. He was pope for 27 years. He is the most traveled pope as he visited 129 different countries and surpassed 700,000 miles of travel. He also had a keen memory of people and it is reported that the pope knew the names of all 2,000 bishops in the world.

It is believed that John Paul II is the most seen person in all of human history.

This refers to someone literally seeing the pope in person; not through a screen but actually seeing someone. From all his travels to different countries, and the vast multitudes of persons who came to see him, he became the most seen person of all time.

Pope John Paul II was once meeting with a priest and the pope said that they had met before.

The priest said that they had not and that he certainly would have remembered. The pope insisted that they had previously met. The priest was puzzled and days later he looked through his photo album and found an old picture with over 100 people in it on the steps of a cathedral (which included altar servers, priests, and bishops) — one of them was Pope John Paul II (who was only a young priest at the time of the photo). Then the memory came back to the priest. He was an altar server and was sent to grab candles from the lower floor and when traveling back up a spiraling staircase a few priests were traveling down to put their coats away. John Paul II passed him for a split second and said, “good morning.” 35 years later the pope had remembered meeting him.

The most seen person in all of human history was John Paul II. However, what is often missed is that the pope saw more people than anyone else in history; and he remembered those that he met.

Early in John Paul II’s time as pope he wrote, “The redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history.” Our culture has much to learn from the most seen person of all time. The pope published numerous books, encyclicals, and letters. It is estimated that if one were to stack all his published writings it would be over 10 feet in height.

One of his first published sentences was, “The redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history.” This is a powerful line worth thinking about more. The person who was seen more than anyone else in history realized that he was not the center of the universe; rather, Jesus of Nazareth is.

Pope Saint John Paul II’s witness of humility is a powerful example for our culture today.

Luke Daghir is a seminarian for the Diocese of Erie. He is with St. Joseph and St. Luke Parishes in Warren County for his parish mission. His favorite saints are St. Andrew, St. Ignatius, St. Hubert, and Pope St. John Paul II.