Pope John Paul II
Karol Wojtyla, also known as Pope John Paul II, was born on the 18th of May 1920 at Wadowice, Poland. He was pope from the 16th of October 1978 until his death on the 2nd of April 2005.
Background
Karol Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. Quite early Karol believed God was calling him for priesthood. During the German occupation of Poland, he studied secretly. On the 1st of November 1946, he was ordained to priesthood. Only two years later, he earned a doctorate in theology at the Angelicum in Rome, Italy.
From 1948 till 1951, he served as a parish priest in Poland's Krakow diocese. 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. In the period between he studied, and became a professor. In 1967 the pope elevated him to cardinal.
As Pope
On October 16, 1978, he was elected to succeed John Paul I. In order to make clear he wanted to continue the innovations of his predecessor, he chose the name John Paul II. his was election was unique, in that he was the first Polish pope, the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in 1522, and, at 58 years of age, the youngest pope in more then a hundred years. In 1981, he was shot, but survived. He had to spend two and a half months in hospital, but he fully recovered from his wounds. in 1983, two days after Christmas, he went to his would-be-assassin and had a conversation with him, in which he gave him forgiveness. Karol liked many sports, such as snowboarding and skiing. He also travelled a lot, and he was a fighter against communism. He also spoke at length of the need for dialogue between different beliefs. The pope was struck down by Parkinson's disease. After a long period of illness, he died on April 2, 2005. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced his death in this way:
"The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. ET) in his private apartment. All the procedures outlined in the apostolic Constitution 'Universi Dominici Gregis' that was written by John Paul II on Feb. 22, 1996, have been put in motion."