Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II

I was overjoyed at the canonizations this past Sunday, especially of Pope John Paul II, who means so much to me and to my family. I loved seeing Pope Francis embrace Pope Emeritus Benedict. The whole "day of four popes" (John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis) was a sign of continuity in the church, a sign that while different popes have different styles and different emphases, we are still one church, with Christ as our head.

If you missed the canonizations, here is the complete video, first from the Vatican and then from EWTN:





On the first video, click on "English" at the top of the video to hear commentary and translations in English. (English audio starts around 4:22 in the video.)

For more videos about the canonizations and other Catholic news and events, check out the Vatican YouTube Channel and the EWTN YouTube Channel.

Pope John Paul II Remixed

Have you seen those "remix" videos of well-known PBS personalities, where they use pitch correction audio processing to change recorded speech into something like singing? For example, here is one with Mr. Rogers, and here is another one with Bob Ross (the PBS "happy little clouds" painting guy). (I absolutely love the Mr. Rogers video, and the Bob Ross video is pretty good too.)

Well, someone has done something similar using a speech by Pope John Paul II:



I found this video on Simcha Fischer's National Catholic Register blog, and I think her reaction is worth quoting:

Speaking of things that someone ought to be arrested for, someone sent me this, and I thought I was going to hate it.

Then I played it, and I started to hate it, but then . . . I don't know what happened. I liked it. I think he would have like it. Anyway, it was nice to hear his voice again. Oh, what a weird world.

I think that sums it up pretty well!

UPDATE: Here is the original video of the speech (without any added music or audio processing): Part 1, Part 2

Paul Kengor on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II

From the Franciscan University of Steubenville's Distinguished Speakers Series:



Here is the video description from YouTube:

Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and executive director of the college's Center for Vision and Values, speaks on the life and times of Blessed Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan, the collaboration and friendship between those men, and the difference it made for the world on issues such as Soviet Communism and defense of life. His talk was part of the Distinguished Speakers Series. Find out more at http://www.franciscan.edu/distinguishedspeakersseries.

Also, I highly recommend Paul Kengor's book on Ronald Reagan, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.

George Weigel on Pope John Paul II

As you probably already know, today is All Saints Day. But you may not know that today is also the anniversary of Pope John Paul II's ordination to the priesthood.

This is also a very special day for my family, because it is the birthday of my second son, whose middle name is Karol (after Karol Wojtyla, who of course is better known as Pope John Paul II).

Therefore, in honor of Pope John Paul II, here is a talk on this great pope by his biographer George Weigel:



Click here for other videos that I have posted on Pope John Paul II.

World Youth Day 2011

Here is a nice promotional video for the upcoming World Youth Day 2011, which will be in Madrid, Spain in August of this year.

Biography of Pope John Paul II

With the recent news that Pope John Paul II will be beatified on May 1 of this year, this seems like a good time to post this short video biography of Pope John Paul II.