Dear People of Wadowice, as well as our neighbours who came to Wadowice today! It is with deep emotion that I arrive today in the town of my birth, in the parish in which I was baptised and accepted as part of the ecclesial community, and in the surroundings to which I was linked for eighteen years of my life, from when I was born to when I left school. When I look at this market, almost every detail is connected with the memory of the earliest period of my life.
John Paul II
The market square has always been the heart of Wadowice. The main square of the city during the interwar period did not differ so much from what we know now. To this day it is still dominated by the church tower, and the surrounding space is occupied by nineteenth-century tenement houses. Every resident had a reason to come here because you could buy almost everything on the market in Wadowice. A walking route led around it, while the centre of the square, depending on the circumstances, served as a marketplace, a parade square, cart stop or playground.
The market square was also the centre of Karol Wojtyła's life. His family home was located here, and also the parish church and elementary school. It was here that Karol and his schoolmates met, spending time together playing football and having fun. He also took part in important state or religious ceremonies. On the Independence Day (11 November) or on the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of 3 May, a field mass was held in the square, and then a parade in front of the barracks.
After the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as the Pope, the market square - then the Red Army Square - became a meeting place with the inhabitants of Wadowice. The first one took place on 7 June 1979, during the first pilgrimage of the Holy Father to his homeland. At that time John Paul II flew to Wadowice in a helicopter, which landed at the town's sports stadium. After initial greetings, he was taken by car along the main street of the town to the market square, where a crowd of people waited for him. The Pope spoke from a platform, specially built for this occasion, and talked about his youth spent in the town by the Skawa River and about his male and female friends, some of whom were still alive at that time. He spoke of gratitude to the local community and parishes from which he came into the world. He also thanked the crowd for coming and asked for constant prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
During his second stay in Wadowice (14 August 1991) the main celebrations took place in front of the church of St. Peter the Apostle, but the inhabitants also came to greet the Pope in the market square, when he went to the parish church for prayer.
The next meeting on the market took place on 16 June 1999 during the third and last stay of John Paul II in Wadowice. It was his seventh pilgrimage to his homeland. At that time, the Pope moved the hearts of the inhabitants by recalling those corners of the town, roads and streets that are still dear to each of the inhabitants of Wadowice. He also spoke of gratitude to the local parish. He thanked for the prayers he had asked for during his first stay as the Pope. He also referred to the theatrical passion he pursued in Wadowice, quoting a fragment of an ancient drama played on the local theatre scene. When he recalled the cream pastries he ate after high school graduation it brought the most joy to the audience. Then, he also said something special: ‘It all started here in this town, in Wadowice, everything. Life started, and school started, studies started, and the theatre started, and the priesthood started.’
Every return of John Paul II from the Vatican to his hometown was a great experience both for the Pope and his fellow citizens. The stay of the Holy Father in Wadowice was at the same time a sentimental journey to the times of childhood and youth, a longing for the past world.
In 1995, on the 75th anniversary of the birth of John Paul II, the main square in the town was named after him.
