The premiere was held in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.
One of John Paul II's favourite movies was " The Shoes of the Fisherman ", which was directed by Michael Anderson, who would direct this adaptation of his 27 year old script.
Johnathan Crombie plays Christopher, who has to go the extra mile in order to prove to Monica that he really does love her and they are meant to be together. She even spurns his first proposal. Crombie also experienced this fate in his role as Gilbert Blythe in the 1985 CBC adaptaion of Anne of Green Gables - where he has to propose twice to the titular Anne (and nearly died) before she agreed to marry him.
In the opening of the film, Father Adam takes the group up into the mountains to say Mass. The author of the book on which the film is based, Karol Wojtywa, who would later become Pope John-Paul II, also enjoyed hiling and taking groups of young adults into the wilderness to say Mass.