John Paul II. biography

Pope, leader of the Catholic Church. Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice (a small town about 35 miles southwest of Kraków), Poland, the second of two boys to parents Karol Sr., a tailor, and Emilia (née Kaczorowska), a schoolteacher. Following the sudden death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, Karol was elected as the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years. Throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century, he has resided in the Vatican in Rome, and has been known throughout the world as a pillar of moral conservatism for the Catholic Church. Both his mother and his older brother, Edmund, died when Karol was young. He was raised by his father, a devout Catholic, who prompted his son to enter the priesthood. In his youth, Karol was passionately interested in theater, poetry, and religion. In 1938, he and his father moved from Wadowice to Kraków. Enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Karol’s education was interrupted when, in 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi troops, and he was forced to continue his studies in an underground seminary. In 1941, Karol’s father died, a turning point in his life. Karol applied himself to the Church with greater fervor than ever, and within five years, he was ordained a priest. He swiftly ascended in the church, studying theology and philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Angelicum in Rome, where he earned a Ph.D. in Divinity in 1948. He returned to Kraków, where he then served as archbishop. In 1967, he became a cardinal. On September 28, 1978, just 33 days after his election, Pope John Paul died of an apparent heart attack. Surprising to everyone, the papacy was then passed on (by a conclave of secret voters) to Karol, the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, who—in memory of John Paul I—chose to be called John Paul II. On the issue of sexual morality, the pope has remained staunchly conservative, to the point that his positions have created considerable liberal adversaries within the Catholic Church, particularly in the United States. John Paul II unequivocally opposes pre- and extra-marital sex, homosexuality, abortion, and the use of contraception. In 1995, he dismissed a French bishop for advocating the use of condoms by those infected with the AIDS virus; and his refusal to allow women into the clergy is yet another major point of contention for many liberal Catholics.

Because of his position as the figurehead of the Catholic Church, the pope has often elicited extremist reactions. In particular, on May 13, 1981, before a crowd in Vatican Square, the pope survived an assassination attempt that left him seriously wounded. He eventually made a full recovery, and he even publicly forgave the man who shot and tried to kill him—a Turkish national named Mehmet Ali Agca—although Agca’s motives were never revealed. Among the numerous accomplishments during his papacy, John Paul II has opened up discussions of interfaith between the Catholic Church and other religions. His desire to accurately reflect the growing diversity of Catholics worldwide has led to the unprecedented appointments of African-Americans to prominent positions in the Vatican. He is the most widely traveled pope in history, having visited over 116 countries on missions of goodwill, promoting human rights, and condemning the decline of spiritual values brought about by the rising materialism of the twentieth century. Among his travels, in 1998 he made a highly publicized visit to Cuba, during which he helped to negotiate the release of 300 political prisoners. On March 20, 2000, the frail but determined John Paul II embarked on a much-anticipated pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While touring some of the most sacred areas of the Middle East—including the mountain where Moses is supposed to have died, as well as from the heights of Mt. Nebo (where, according to the Old Testament, God revealed to Moses the Promised Land that lay across the Jordan River)—the Pope extended a message to the Middle East to end centuries of violence. The Jordan’s King Abdullah II hailed the pope’s visit to the area as a “unique and emotional moment that brings closer the meaning of tolerance and coexistence from a distant land of dreams.”

Included in his ambitious six-day tour were a visit to Bethlehem, Mass at Galilee—the site of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—and the first official papal visit to Israel. He spoke at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, telling a crowd that included Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, “I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who—stripped of everything, especially of human dignity—were murdered in the Holocaust.” In his speech, he did not remark upon the inaction of the Roman Catholic Church or Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust—for which, in 1998, the Vatican had already formally apologized.

Overall, the visit remained a stirring culmination of the pope’s groundbreaking efforts during his 22-year papacy to reconcile the divergences between Jews and Christians. In addition to his lifelong devotion to the study of theology, John Paul II is proficient in Italian, English, Spanish, French, German, Latin, and his native Polish. He is the author of numerous best selling works, including Pilgrimage of Peace (1980), A Year with Mary (1986), and The Jeweler’s Shop (1992). When not touring, he holds his daily morning service in St. Peter’s Square, and continues his devotion to spreading the word—the “single truth,” as he refers to it—of God. Once a vigorous and athletic man, the elderly pope now suffers from Parkinson’s disease, a condition that slurs his speech and causes him to shake uncontrollably. He walks with a shuffling limp and often has to be escorted or even pushed in a cart; and it is rumored that in recent years, he has been fighting cancer. In spite of his physical concerns, however—particularly those concerning his retirement—John Paul II maintains a tenacious grip on the papacy and continues to believe in the divine importance of his role as the arbiter of Christian faith and the uncompromising voice of God.