POPE JOHN PAUL II

Papież Jan Paweł II

Pope John Paul II is the most

famous man of Polish. He’s

sometimes called Blessed John

Paul or John Paul the Great, born

Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 1920

– 2 April 2005), reigned as Pope

of the Catholic Church from 1978

until his death in 2005. He was

the second-longest serving Pope

in history and the first non-Italian

since 1523.

JOHN PAUL II

Karol Józef Wojtyła

was born in the

Polish town of

Wadowice and was

the youngest of three

children of Karol

Wojtyła and Emilia

Kaczorowska. On 13

April 1929, Wojtyła's

mother died in

childbirth.

CURRICULUM VITAE

In mid-1938, Wojtyła

and his father

moved to Cracow,

where he enrolled at

Jagiellonian

University. He was

studying such topics

as philology and

various languages.

In 1939, Nazi German

occupation forces closed the

university after invading

Poland. Able-bodied males

were required to work, so from

1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously

worked as a messenger for a

restaurant, a manual labourer

in a limestone quarry and for

the Solvay chemical factory, to

avoid deportation to Germany.

After his father's

death, he started

thinking seriously

about the priesthood.

In October 1942, while

the war continued, he

knocked on the door of

the Bishop's Palace in

Cracow and asked to

study for the

priesthood.

On finishing his studies at the

seminary in Cracow, Wojtyła

was ordained as a priest 1

November 1946, by the

Archbishop of Cracow,

Cardinal Sapieha. He then

studied theology in Rome,

where he earned a licentiate

and later a doctorate in

sacred theology.

He returned to

Poland in the

summer of 1945

with his first

pastoral

assignment in

the village of

Niegowić,

fifteen miles

from Crakow.

In March 1949, Wojtyła was

transferred to the parish of

Saint Florian in Kraków. He

taught ethics at Jagiellonian

University and subsequently

at the Catholic University of

Lublin. In 1954, he earned a

second doctorate, in

philosophy.

In October 1962, Wojtyła

took part in the Second

Vatican Council (1962–1965),

where he made contributions

to two of its most historic

and influential products, the

Decree on Religious Freedom

and the Pastoral

Constitution on the Church

in the Modern .

On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him

Archbishop of Kraków. On 26 June 1967, Paul VI

announced Archbishop Karol Wojtyła's promotion

to the Sacred College of Cardinals. Wojtyła was

named Cardinal-Priest of the titulus of San

Cesareo in Palatio.

In August 1978, following the

death of Pope Paul VI,

Cardinal Wojtyła voted in the

Papal conclave which elected

Pope John Paul I, who at 65

was considered young by

papal standards. John Paul I

died after only 33 days as

Pope, triggering another

conclave.

The second conclave of 1978 started on 14

October, ten days after the funeral. It was split

between two strong candidates for the papacy:

Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the conservative

Archbishop of Genoa, and the liberal Archbishop

of Florence, Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, a close

friend of John Paul I.

A very charismatic figure, John

Paul II was acclaimed as one of

the most influential leaders of the

20th century. He was instrumental

in ending communism in his native

Poland and eventually all of

Europe. John Paul II significantly

improved the Catholic Church's

relations with Judaism, Islam, the

Eastern Orthodox Church, and the

Anglican Communion.

He was one of the most-

travelled world leaders in

history, visiting 129 countries

during his pontificate. As part of

his special emphasis on the

universal call to holiness, he

beatified 1,340 people and

canonised 483 saints, more

than the combined tally of his

predecessors during the

preceding five centuries.

He named most of the present

College of Cardinals, consecrated or

co-consecrated a large number of the

world's past and current bishops,

and ordained many priests. A key

goal of his papacy was to transform

and reposition the Catholic Church.

His wish was "to place his Church at

the heart of a new religious alliance

that would bring together Jews,

Muslims and Christians in a great

[religious] armada".

On 19 December

2009, John Paul II

was proclaimed

venerable by his

successor Pope

Benedict XVI and

was beatified on 1

May 2011.