A Short Biography of Pope John Paul II
(1920-2005)
by Stephen Abbott, for nhreligion.com
Pope
John Paul II was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland,
the son of two strict Catholics. He was pope for 26 years, the third
longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pope Pius IX. He was the
263rd pope, the first non-Italian pope since 1522.
His opposition to global Communism was perhaps his most lasting legacy to the world. He is credited with directly fostering the Solidarity movement in Poland in 1979 that led to that nation’s rejection of Communism, and remained firm throughout the 1980s, giving comfort and courage to Eastern Europeans as they, too, threw off their bonds and embraced freedom.
During World War II, to keep from being deported to Nazi Germany, he worked as manual laborer in a quarry from 1940-44. In the last months of German occupation, he worked in a chemical factory. In 1942, Karol secretly began studying to be a priest, and was ordained in Krakow in 1946.
He was first assigned to work in France with young people and Polish refugees. Karol then studied at Pontifical Angelicum University in Rome. After that he returned to Poland, teaching ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin.
In 1958, he was made an auxiliary bishop of Krakow. He was about 38 years old. In 1962, Bishop Wojtyla was put in charge of the archdiocese. In 1964, he was officially appointed as archbishop of Krakow. He gained attention after addressing the pivotal Vatican Council II several times. He became a cardinal in 1967, appointed by Pope Paul VI.
Cardinal Wojtyla was elected pope on October 16, 1978, accepting the position with tears in his eyes. At his first public appearance as pope, he said, "I was afraid to receive this nomination, but I did it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and in the total confidence in his mother, the most holy Madonna."
John Paul II was fluent in Polish, Italian and Latin. He also spoke conversational English, French, German and Spanish.
John Paul II was seen by more human beings in history. He traveled to 170 countries in his 26 years as pope, more than any of his predecessors. He was known as the "Pilgrim Pope."
In Dublin, Ireland on September 30, 1979, he set the record for the largest Mass ever, with 1.2 million people in attendance. More than 17.6 million people have attended his general audiences alone.
He had 737 meetings with heads of state, named 482 saints and created 232 cardinals.
John Paul II’s papacy was a morally conservative one, and he remained firm in his opposition to abortion and the death penalty, and refused to budget on the issue of a celibate, all-male priesthood.
He called on rich nations to forgive debts and share their wealth with poorer nations, supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and
In the sexual abuse scandal, he released a statement calling the abuse a "crime," but the 2002 message fell short of saying which priests should be removed.
In March 2000, the pope visited Israel and said the Catholic Church was to blame for fostering anti-Semitism leading up to the Holocaust. He has apologized for the Holocaust and to the Jewish people. He reached out to Jews, Muslims and fellow Christians separated by creed and past church schisms.
He was honored as a man of compassion and an effective and charismatic communicator even by those who disagreed with his moral teachings.
He was named Time Magazine's "Man of the
Year" in 1994, and in 2004, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by
President Bush. It's the highest civilian honor in the United
States.
Writing was important to this pope, and he authored five
books, "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (October 1994), "Gift and Mystery: On
the 50th Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination" (November 1996), "Roman Triptych
- Meditations", a book of poems (March 2003), "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way" (May
2004), and most recently, "Memory and Identity" (2005).
He also wrote 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions and 44 apostolic letters to Catholic clergy and lay persons.