An exhibit at the St John Paul II National Shrine in Washington on display through 9 September celebrates St John Paul II’s esteem for the nation’s foundational documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
In his seven visits to America during his papacy, St John Paul often quoted from those documents. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the exhibit includes audio and video, photos and artifacts from his visits, including the future pope’s trip to America for its bicentennial in 1976.
Two years later, Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected pope – on 16 October, 1978. St John Paul’s message during his visits, reaffirmed in several ways, was that Americans are blessed to have the freedoms they have.
And this merged with the pontiff’s promotion of human rights. Some elements in the exhibit – www.jp2shrine.org – were loaned by the archdioceses of Miami, Denver, St Louis, Chicago and Philadelphia as well as Xavier University of Louisiana and The Catholic University of America.
Grattan Brown, director of mission and ministry at the shrine, curated the exhibit, titled “A New Birth of Freedom,” with contributions from Bethany Bromwell, collections curator, and Victoria Gallegos, curatorial assistant.
