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.