Towards a Conjugal Spirituality: Karol Wojtyla's Vision of Marriage Before, During, and After Vatican II

Abstract

The trajectory and development of Pope John Paul II’s (Karol Wojtyła’s) thought on marriage and the family, though a fairly obscure topic for American moral theologians, serves as an important hermeneutic key to understanding his subsequent papal corpus. With an eye toward clarifying that obscurity, this article recovers and explores some underappreciated (and untranslated) resources from his early years as a pastor in Kraków, his interventions at the Second Vatican Council, and his subsequent implementation of the Council in his diocese to bring to light key aspects of his early thought regarding marriage and the family.