¡ Thank you Emilia !

Emilia had always been poor in health since childhood, without the possibility of improving it owing to the poor conditions in which she lived. She got married while very young with a textile worker. They went to live in a new village away from relatives and acquaintances. Edmund, their first born, died shortly afterwards. He was a very handsome boy, a good student and an athlete of great personality. Some years later, Emilia gave birth to a child girl who lived only few weeks owing to the bad conditions in which the family lived. Emilia belonged to a middle class family in a european country devastated by famine after a long protracted national war. Hunger and epidemics threatened the whole country.

After fourteen years since Edmund’s birth and some ten after the death of her second daughter, Emilia was in a difficult situation. She was forty years old and in bad health: she had serious kidney problems and her heart was progressively giving way because of a congenital condition. The political situation of the country became incresingly critical, as a consequence of the recently terminated World War I. The family lived with a bare minimum in a situation of uncertainty and with the fears of a new war. In these terrible circumstances Emilia became aware of being pregnant again. It was possible for a pregnant woman to have recourse to an abortion and, although with difficulty, there were people ready to carry it out.

Edmund, the only brother of the baby she was expecting, would live only two more years. World War II exploded few years later. The father of the not yet born baby would lose his life in that war. Because of her age and poor health pregnancy posed a serious threat to her life. Her difficult situation prompted her to ask what kind of world she could offer to the newborn considering the miserable family conditions and the imminent war. Emilia was unaware of the fact that she was left only with ten more years to live.

Emilia chose to let her baby live and called him Karol. This child is now an elderly man, very alive and every time he visits some country millions of people shout: “John Paul II, we all love you"... ¡ Thank you a million, Emilia !

During the Angelus on Saturday 6th July, the Pope John Paul II asked those pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square in Rome to pray for him. He says that he keeps going because of the strength of the prayers of those who pray for him. Can you help him?

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen

Please send this message to 10 more people. If you do this, we have made sure that a lot of people have prayed for John Paul II in a short period of time and supported his mission in the world.