As your compatriot, born in Wadowice and a servant of the Universal Church in the See of St. Peter in Rome, I wish you that the words of Peter's confession continued to resound in your new temple: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. I wish you that these words could be heard here from generation to generation, always with the same saving power as they have been heard for two millennia.
John Paul II
“Habemus Papam” - the words spoken by Cardinal Pericle Felici on 16 October 1978 heralded a great change in the Catholic Church. The new Pope John Paul II became the first head of the Catholic Church in 455 years from outside Italy and in addition “from a faraway country” as the pope said himself.
Shortly after that, the idea of building a new temple was born in Wadowice as a vote of gratitude and a commemoration of this important moment in history. During his first visit to his hometown in 1979, it was decided that the new church would be built at Zegadłowicza Street (today the Avenue of Our Lady of Fatima).
The attempt on the life of John Paul II on 13 May 1981 contributed to the expansion of the votive intention. The new church of St. Peter the Apostle was to be a vote of gratitude for the election and rescue of the Holy Father. The architectural and urban concept was entrusted to a team led by professor Tadeusz Szafer (1920-2017) from Cracow. The construction of the temple lasted from 1984 to 1991 and was carried out by the efforts of the inhabitants of Wadowice. The parishioners not only made donations for the new temple, but also personally participated in the construction works. Fr. Michał Piosek (1944-1993), a long-time vicar of the parish of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and later the parish priest of the new parish, undertook the efforts to organise the works. He devoted himself completely to this work, sparing no energy, strength and health. He was the soul of all activities, encouraging and mobilising the parishioners to make the effort and sacrifice, overcoming bureaucratic barriers, obtaining building materials (and it was not easy at the time), supervising the works, etc. In 1985, he went on pilgrimage to Rome with parishioners and on 29 May he received a blessing for the new parish and the temple being built during an audience with the Holy Father.
The solemn consecration took place on 14 August 1991, during the second visit of John Paul II to Wadowice. The Holy Father celebrated a solemn mass in the square in front of the church. Delegations from various circles of Wadowice took part in the procession of the Presentation: church builders, teachers, health care providers, craftsmen and delegations of miners and highlanders. The Pope crowned the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which was offered to the new parish in Wadowice by the Bishop of Fatima.
The complex of sacral buildings of St. Peter the Apostle consecrated by John Paul II symbolises his journey from Wadowice, through the Wawel Cathedral to the Vatican. It consists of a church, a chapel of Christ the King, a catechetical house with a parsonage and a free-standing tower.
