As we celebrate another year of the birth of Pope Saint John Paul II this May 18, we remember that his mother Emilia Wojtyla, despite having had a risky pregnancy, said yes to life and no to abortion.
Thanks to her, the Catholic Church and the entire world now have a great holy Pope.
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In a passage from the book Closer to the heart. Sketches from the youth of Karol Wojtyła – John Paul IIthis event is explained.
A neighbor of Mrs. Wojtyla, Maria Siwcowa, a resident of Wadowice, where Karol was born, narrated that when Emilia was in her second month of pregnancy, Dr. Jan Moskala, then a well-known gynecologist, diagnosed a high-risk pregnancy, explaining that she did not could carry it to term and the child would not be born healthy.
For this reason, he advised Emilia to have an abortion. This situation was confirmed by two of Emilia’s friends: Maria Kaczorowa and Helena Szczepańska.
The conversation with Maria Kaczrowa was recorded in 1985 by Roman Gajczak and her statement was included in the aforementioned book, which further indicates that at that time Mrs. Kaczrowa was perhaps the last person alive who had known Emilia well.
Although she was elderly and bedridden, she had a great memory.
Wadowice midwife Jadwiga Tatarowa, who cared for Emilia during her pregnancy, was well aware of the risk to the mother and Karol. From her testimony we can see Emilia’s suffering due to the advice to abort, which the most famous obstetrician in Wadowice had given her.
The rector of the Wadowice basilica at that time, Fr. Jakub Gil, confirmed that it was Mrs. Wojtyla’s deep faith that made her say no to abortion, although she certainly feared for her life and that of the child in her womb.
Dr. Moskala had the reputation of being a serious professional, but he was also a well-known abortionist, to the point that someone wrote on the wall of the building where he had his office: “The angel factory.”
Karol’s parents then decided to go to another doctor of Jewish origin, Samuel Taub, who confirmed the risk of complications, including the possibility that Emilia would die.
Unlike the first, he did not propose an abortion and agreed to monitor the pregnancy.
Although Emilia Wojtyla’s medical records no longer exist and all the testimonies are oral, the reliability of the facts is given by direct witnesses, whose statements coincide.
During the visit of Pope Saint John Paul II to Wadowice in 1979, upon seeing his mother’s friend, Mrs. Helena Szczepańska, he asked to meet her and that same day they talked in the parish of Wadowice.
The postulator of the cause of beatification of the pilgrim Pope, Bishop Slawomir Oder, recalls that the activity of Saint John Paul II for the good of humanity has not ended, since many healings occur through his intercession.
This article was originally published in 2021. It has been updated for republication.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.