October 22nd is the feast day of Saint John Paul II. Elected Supreme Pontiff on October 16, 1978, he died on April 2, 2005, in Rome. He was canonized on April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis.

In considering his legacy, we can pay attention to many aspects of his pontificate. For example, two main themes of his teaching stand out: freedom and the family, which for him were not mere ideas, but decisive causes upon which the destiny of humanity hinges.

If we consider the world of business and economics, other topics that stand out include: the moral dimension of economic activity; the value of work; the company as a community of people; technology and the organization of the production process; labor relations; business, society, and the environment; the dynamic role of the entrepreneur; and solidarity in economics. These topics can be summarized by saying that John Paul II believed that business and the economy are at the service of humanity. For John Paul II, the human being is at the center of economic activity.

When the centenary of his birth was commemorated, I published a post entitled ” John Paul II ‘The Great Communicator,'” attempting to summarize his communication skills and his impact on the media and on people. The importance of his communication is twofold, both in its form and content. That post includes some videos and, especially, his messages addressed to young people.

Now I wanted to comment on a perhaps less well-known aspect: his expressions of joy. I found a website ( The Pope’s Joy ) with quite a bit of information and, above all, several videos that testify to and demonstrate this joy. The six videos stored on YouTube under the title ” The Pope’s Joy, ” and compiled on that website, capture scenes from meetings with young people over several years. There are no other filmed images of the Holy Father laughing so much, to the point that he almost fell off his chair at one point. In the following video, by way of introduction, he presents the festive nature of these encounters and the diverse contributions of the students, where the clowns’ performance is just one more moment in a rich and varied gathering.

For several years, on Easter Sunday afternoon, the Holy Father John Paul II welcomed to the Vatican the young people participating in the UNIV International University Congress, which, at the initiative of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer , brings together thousands of boys and girls from the five continents every year in Rome.

It was a long two hours in which the students would give the Pope a break with songs, dances and funny acts, such as those of the clown Japo and the magician Torricelli , who were also university students at the time.

” John Paul II is a saint, more human than anyone, joyful and, above all, very sincere . Perhaps that’s why he attracted so many young people,” recalls  Japo the clown , who knew him very well: “Every year, right after being with him, I just wanted to pray. Clearly, he was a man who brought you closer to God.”

The clown Japo is actually Diego Poole. He is now a professor of Philosophy of Law at the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid: “What a contrast, you might think! Well, no. Because philosophy is the closest thing to art that exists in thought; it tells you what is good and beautiful, and if you don’t know where that is, what good is anything useful? Besides, to teach a class well you have to do a bit of theater, so that the students have a good time.”

Finally, I’ve selected the video of the 1991 meeting for you:

José Miguel Ponce