Karol Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920 at Wadowice, Poland. For many years Karol believed God was calling him to the priesthood. He studied secretly during the German occupation of Poland, and was ordained to the priesthood on November 1, 1946. He earned a doctorate in theology in 1948 at the Angelicum in Rome, Italy.
From 1948 to 1951 he served as a parish priest in Poland's Krakow diocese and then returned to study philosophy at the Jagiellonian University at Krakow. From 1952 to 1958 Wojtyla taught social ethics at the Krakow Seminary, and became a professor at the University of Lublin in 1956. Pope Pius XII appointed Wojtyla an auxiliary bishop in Krakow on July 4, 1958, and Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Krakow on December 30, 1963.
As Archbishop of Krakow, Wojtyla proved himself an able pastor in the face of Communist persecution. He attended all four sessions of Vatican II Council, and played a prominent role in the formulation of the Declaration on Religious Freedom. Following the Council Pope Paul VI, appointed Wojtyla a Cardinal of the Roman Church on June 26, 1967.
On October 16, 1978, Archbishop Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope since Hadrian VI (455 years), and at age 58, the youngest pope in 132 years. John Paul II asserted that he took the name of his predecessors (John, Paul, John Paul) to emphasize his desire to continue the reforms of the Vatican II Council.
In his role as the shepherd of Catholic dogma, John Paul II rejected changes in the Vatican's traditional positions on issues including abortion (NO), birth control (NO), divorce (NO), homosexuality (NO), the marriage of priests (NO), women priests (NO), and on the more recent issue of stem cell research, he took a strong position against it. Many of these positions were rejected by American and European liberals, to which John Paul responded, the Church is not a democracy.
John Paul's influence was felt far beyond the Vatican. In 1979, his first visit to his homeland as Pope was a major catalyst for the collapse of communism in Poland. The visit was a harbinger of events that would bring down communist regimes across the Soviet Bloc. Throughout his papacy, John Paul worked to improve the Vatican's relations with other Christian sects and with the Jews.
During a public appearance in Rome in May 1981, John Paul was the target of an assassin. The gunman, a Turkish Muslim named Mehmet Ali Acga, was apprehended at the scene. The pope forgave Acga from his hospital bed.
In 1993, John Paul II was stricken with Parkinson's disease, a condition that grew progressively worse, slurring his speech, and causing him to shake uncontrollably and shuffle when he walked. Despite his frailty and ailments he maintained a tenacious grip on the papacy.
John Paul II was the most traveled pope in history, visiting more than 120 countries during his 26-year papacy, nearly every country in the world which would receive him.
Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. He was 84 years old.
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