Pope John Paul II
head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State
Years: 1920 - 2005
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005.
He is elected pope by the second papal conclave of 1978, which is called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, dies after thirty-three days.
Cardinal Wojtyła is elected on the third day of the conclave and adopts he name of his predecessor in tribute to him.
John Paul II is recognized as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe.
John Paul II significantly improves the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
He upholds the Church's teachings on such matters as the right to life, artificial contraception, the ordination of women, and a celibate clergy, and although he supports the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he is seen as generally conservative in their interpretation.
He is one of the most traveled world leaders in history, visiting one hundred and twenty-nine countries during his pontificate.
As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatifies thirteen hundred and forty and canonizes four hundred and eighty-three people, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries
By the time of his death, he has named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests.
John Paul II is the second longest-serving pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX.
Born in Poland, John Paul II is the first non-Italian pope since the sixteenth-century Pope Adrian VI.
John Paul II's cause for canonization commences one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived.
On December 19, 2009, John Paul II is proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI, andis beatified on May 1, 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday), after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributes one miracle to his intercession, the healing of a French nun called Marie Simon Pierre from Parkinson's disease.
A second miracle is approved on July 2, 2013, and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later.
John Paul II is canonized on 27 April 2014 (again Divine Mercy Sunday), together with Pope John XXIII.
On September 11, , Pope Francis adds these two optional memorials to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints.
It is traditional to celebrate saints' feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, but that of John Paul II (October 22) is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration.
Posthumously, he has been referred to by some Catholics as "St. John Paul the Great", although the title has no official recognition.
