Medals are considered 'sacramentals'. What makes them very special is that they have the blessing of the priest (in your case, Pope John Paul II), who has received the special anointing for consecrating the bread and wine used in the celebration of the mass. You not only have a medal blessed by a pope but one who, since his death, has been elevated as a Blessed and will soon be declared a saint. Here is an interesting and true story about a blessing given by JPII.
JERUSALEM (CNA) -July 2008 - In the Jubilee Year of 2000, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land stopping at one point to bless an olive tree on the Mount of the Beatitudes. A forester with the Jewish National Fund reports that this tree is the only one producing olives this year.
"It is a miracle," Yossi Karni from the JNF, which maintains the plot, told local media.
During a visit to northern Israel, in March of 2000, the late Pontiff blessed an olive tree that was planted on the Mount of Beatitudes, which was previously called Mt. Eremos. According to tradition, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount on this mountain, which is located near the Sea of Galilee.
Israel is currently facing what Uri Shani, Israel’s Water Authority director, called “the worst crisis in 80 years.” “Israel's major sources of drinking water, including the Sea of Galilee and the mountain aquifer, are below their ‘red lines,’ meaning they are not recommended to draw water,” he said at a news conference last month.
Karni explained that all the trees on the plot were treated equally, but the ones that did not receive the blessing have not given fruit this year.
"They get treated the same, watered the same," he said, adding that some trees had even started to wither, which he could not explain.
When he was asked what he would do with the olives, Karni told Israel's Channel 10 he might market their "holy oil.
Olive tree planted by pope JP II
May this cherished gift continue to accompany you on your journey and lead you to the Truth.