John Paul II presided over as the Pope and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City for almost 27 years. Credited with being the second-longest pontificate till date, His Holiness has too many firsts to his credit. One of the most traveled leaders of the world, Pope John Paul II is considered as one of the most influential leaders of the world. His influence was not restricted to the Catholics across the globe. Rather, a true world statesman, Pope John Paul II brought changes in the image of the church, across the globe. During his long reign as Pope, he said 'sorry' to Jews, Galileo, women, victims of the Inquisition, Muslims slaughtered by the Crusaders and almost everyone who had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church through the years.Pope John Paul II, baptized as Karol Józef Wojtyla, was born on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. His mother died when he was only eight years old and after a couple of years (1932), Karol lost his elder brother as well. During his youth days, Karol enjoyed playing soccer, as a goalie. In the year 1938, he shifted lodgings to Kraków, along with his father. It was here that Karol broadened his horizons of knowledge. Enrolling himself in Jagiellonian University, he learned almost 12 languages and also participated in various theatrical groups, as a playwright.
In 1939, when the Nazi Germans occupied Poland, Karol was amongst the worst hit. His university had closed, leaving him with no choice other than to earn a living by doing petty jobs. His father left for the heaven abode in 1941, leaving him all alone in the world. It was, thence, that he realized his calling for priesthood and started studying in the clandestine underground seminary run by the Archbishop of Kraków, Adam Stefan, Cardinal Sapieha. After surviving an accident with a German truck, Karol's decision to become a priest became all the more firm.
Ordained as a priest on November 1, 1946, Karol Wojtyła was sent to Rome, at the Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, to study theology. In 1948, after attaining a licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology, he returned to Poland. His first-ever work as a priest was in the village of Niegowić, fifteen miles from Kraków. A year later, Karol relocated to Saint Florian's parish in Kraków. A teacher of ethics at Jagiellonian University and the Catholic University of Lublin, Karol assembled a group of about 20 young people that eventually expanded to 200 people. These participants met for prayers, philosophical discussions and helping blind and sick people.
It was in the year 1954 that Karol gained his second doctorate, in philosophy. A holder of two doctorates, he started his literary career by writing for the newspaper 'Tygodnik Powszechny', also known as Universal Weekly. Herein, he wrote about the contemporary church issues. Karol dealt with issues like war, life under communism and his pastoral responsibilities, as the themes for his poems and plays. He distinguished his literary writings from his religious ones by publishing the former under pseudo names, so that they get recognition on merit and not on his name. It was in 1960 that Karol wrote an influential theological book 'Love and Responsibility', a defense of the traditional Church teachings on marriage, from a new philosophical standpoint.
It was during his kayaking vacation, in July 1958, that Karol came to know about his nomination for the position of auxiliary bishop of Kraków. Agreeing to serve as auxiliary to Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak, he was consecrated to the Episcopate on September 28, 1958. With this, he became the youngest bishop in Poland. After the death of Baziak, Bishop Karol was elected as Vicar Capitular, or temporary administrator, of the Archdiocese. Becoming a Bishop, henceforth, he participated in the Second Vatican Council.
Bishop Karol also contributed in the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis Humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). He took part in the assemblies of Synod of Bishops. Admiring his worthy contributions and laudable role as a temporary administrator, Pope Paul VI appointed him as the Archbishop of Kraków, on December 1963. Archbishop Karol was promoted to the Sacred College of Cardinals, on June 26, 1967. Later on, he became instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which dealt with sensitive issues of abortion and artificial birth control.
Following the death of Pope Paul VI, Albino Luciani was appointed as the next Pope - Pope John Paul I. However, the latter left for the heaven abode after only 33 days of his papacy, thereby causing another conclave of the cardinals. Cardinal Giuseppe Siri and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli were the two main contenders for the post. However, observing the scale of their opposition, Cardinal Franz König, Archbishop of Vienna, individually suggested Karol, the Polish Cardinal, as a compromise candidate.
Surprisingly, Cardinal Karol won the election on the eighth ballot on the second day. According to the Italian press, he received 99 votes, from the 111 participating electors. With this, Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła succeeded Pope John Paul I and became Pope John Paul II. He was the youngest Pope to be elected, in the history of Rome, since Pope Pius IX (1846), who was 54 years old. Becoming the 264th Pope, Pope John Paul II received his simplified Papal inauguration ceremony on October 22, 1978, dispensing with the traditional Papal coronation, just like his immediate predecessor.
Pope John Paul II visited as many as 129 countries as the Bishop of Rome. Attracting large crowds everywhere he went, he became one of the largest-traveled Popes. The number of trips he made to foreign countries was more than that of all his predecessors, put together. Probably, this is the reason why Pope John Paul II was also given the title of the 'Pilgrim Pope'. Though amongst the 129 countries, there were many countries that had been visited by his predecessors; he is entitled with a lot of firsts. Pope John Paul II was the first Pope ever to visit Mexico, Cuba and Ireland, a few names amongst his long list.
Pope John Paul II was also the first pope to travel to the United Kingdom (1982), Egypt and Jerusalem (2000). His Holiness also became the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque (Umayyad Mosque) in Damascus, Syria (2001). There, he also visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist is believed to be interred. Pope John Paul II's visit to Luneta Park, Manila, (Philippines) attracted probably the largest single gathering in Christian history. The visit took place on 15th January 1995, during the X World Youth Day. In 2001, this Servant of God also traveled to Kazakhstan, to celebrate 1,700 years of Christianity.
As he entered St. Peter's Square to address an audience on 13 May 1981, John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a trained expert Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant group Grey Wolves. The gunman used a Browning 9-mm semiautomatic pistol, striking him in the belly and perforating his colon and small intestine multiple times. John Paul II was rushed into the Vatican complex and then to the Gemelli Hospital. En route to the hospital, he lost consciousness. Despite the fact that the bullets missed his mesenteric artery and abdominal aorta, he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood and neared exsanguination. He underwent five hours of surgery to treat his massive blood loss and abdominal wounds. When he briefly gained consciousness before being operated on he instructed the doctors not to remove his Brown Scapular during the operation. The pope stated that Our Lady of Fátima helped keep him alive throughout his ordeal.
“ Could I forget that the event [Ali Ağca's assassination attempt] in St. Peter’s Square took place on the day and at the hour when the first appearance of the Mother of Christ to the poor little peasants has been remembered for over sixty years at Fátima, Portugal? For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet. ” —Pope John Paul II -Memory & Identity, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, p.184
Ağca was caught and restrained by a nun and other bystanders until police arrived. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two days after Christmas in 1983, John Paul II visited the prison where his would-be assassin was being held. The two spoke privately for 20 minutes. John Paul II said, “What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.″
On 2 March 2006, an Italian parliamentary commission, the Mitrokhin Commission, set up by Silvio Berlusconi and headed by Forza Italia senator Paolo Guzzanti, concluded that the Soviet Union was behind the attempt on John Paul II's life, in retaliation for the pope's support of Solidarity, the Catholic, pro-democratic Polish workers' movement, a theory which had already been supported by Michael Ledeen and the United States Central Intelligence Agency at the time. The Italian report stated that certain Communist Bulgarian security departments were utilised to prevent the Soviet Union's role from being uncovered. The report stated Soviet military intelligence (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije)—and not the KGB—was responsible. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation ‘absurd’. Although the Pope declared during a May 2002 visit to Bulgaria that the country's Soviet bloc-era leadership had nothing to do with the assassination attempt, his secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, alleged in his book A Life with Karol, that the pope was convinced privately that the former Soviet Union was behind the assassination attempt. Bulgaria and Russia disputed the Italian commission's conclusions, pointing out that the Pope denied the Bulgarian connection.
A second assassination attempt took place on 12 May 1982, just a day before the anniversary of the first attempt on his life, in Fátima, Portugal when a man tried to stab John Paul II with a bayonet. He was stopped by security guards, although Stanisław Dziwisz later claimed that John Paul II had been injured during the attempt but managed to hide a non-life threatening wound. The assailant, a right wing Spanish priest named Juan María Fernández y Krohn, was ordained as a priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of Saint Pius X and was opposed to the changes caused by the Second Vatican Council, calling the pope an agent of Communist Moscow and of the Marxist Eastern Bloc. Fernández y Krohn subsequently left the Roman Catholic priesthood and served three years of a six-year sentence. The ‘ex-priest’ was treated for mental illness and then expelled from Portugal, going on to become a solicitor in Belgium. He was arrested again in July 2000 after climbing over a security barricade at the Royal Palace of Brussels, accusing the visiting Spanish King Juan Carlos of murdering his older brother Alfonso in 1956.
Pope John Paul II was also one of the targets of the Al-Qaeda-funded Operation Bojinka during a visit to the Philippines in 1995. The first plan was to kill Pope John Paul II when he visited the Philippines during the World Youth Day 1995 celebrations. On 15 January 1995, a suicide bomber would dress up as a priest, while John Paul II passed in his motorcade on his way to the San Carlos Seminary in Makati City. The assassin planned to get close to the Pope, and detonate the bomb. The planned assassination of the Pope was intended to divert attention from the next part of the phase. However, a chemical fire inadvertently started by the would-be assassins alerted police to their whereabouts, and they were arrested nearly a week before the Pope's visit.
As the youngest pope elected since Pope Pius IX in 1846, John Paul II entered the papacy as a healthy, relatively young man who hiked, swam and went skiing. However, after over twenty-five years on the papal throne, the 1981 assassination attempt, and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health declined. He had a tumour removed from his colon in 1992, dislocated his shoulder in 1993, broke his femur in 1994, and had his appendix removed in 1996.
An orthopaedic surgeon confirmed in 2001 that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease, as international observers had suspected for some time; this was acknowledged publicly by the Vatican in 2003. He had difficulty speaking more than a few sentences at a time, as well as trouble hearing. He also developed severe arthritis in his right knee following a hip replacement, and therefore rarely walked in public. Nevertheless, he continued to tour the world. Those who met him late in his life said that although physically he was in poor shape, mentally he remained fully alert.
Towards the end of his Papacy, there were those both within and outside the church who thought that the Pope should resign or retire. Even term limits for Popes were suggested. However, as John Paul had indicated his acceptance of God's will that he should be Pope, he was determined to stay in office until his death, although his private papers show that he gave resignation serious consideration in 2002.
On 1 February 2005, the Pope was taken to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic in Rome suffering from acute inflammation of the larynx and laryngo-spasm, brought on by a bout of influenza. The Vatican reported the following day that his condition had stabilised, but he would remain in the hospital until fully recovered. The pope appeared in public on 6 February to deliver the final lines of the Angelus blessing in a hoarse voice from the window of his hospital room. He missed the Ash Wednesday ceremonies in St Peter's on 9 February for the first time in his 26-year papacy, and returned to the Vatican on 10 February.
On 24 February 2005 the Pope began having trouble breathing and also had a fever, and he was rushed back to the Gemelli Hospital, where a tracheotomy was successfully performed. An aide to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that John Paul was "serene" after waking up following the surgery. He raised his hand and attempted to say something, but his doctors advised him not to try speaking. The Pope gave 'silent blessings' from his hospital window on Sunday 27 February and Sunday 6 March, and is said to have spoken in German and Italian during a working meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) in his 10th floor suite of the Gemelli on Tuesday 1 March. Cardinal Ratzinger told international press: "the Pope spoke to me in German and Italian. He was completely lucid. I brought the Holy Father greetings from the plenary of the Congregation for the divine cult, which is meeting at this moment in the Vatican. The Holy Father will be working on material, which I gave him today. I am happy to see him fully lucid and mentally capable of saying the essential matters with his own voice. We usually speak in German. The details are unimportant--he spoke of essential matters."
During the Angelus of Sunday 13 March The Pope was able to speak to pilgrims for the first time since he was readmitted to hospital. Later that day he returned to the Vatican for the first time in nearly a month. On Palm Sunday (20 March) the Pope made a brief appearance at his window to greet pilgrims. He was cheered by thousands of the faithful as he silently waved an olive branch. It was the first time in his pontificate that he could not officiate at Palm Sunday Mass. He watched it on his TV in his apartment overlooking Saint Peter's Square.
On 22 March, there were renewed concerns for the Pope's health after reports stated that he had taken a turn for the worse and was not responding to medication. On 24 March, Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo performed the rite of the washing of the feet, in the Vatican's St Peter's Basilica. The cardinal stood in for Pope John Paul II at a Holy Thursday ceremony at the Vatican. He said the ailing Pontiff was 'serenely abandoning' himself to God's will. The Pope, whose health was precarious following the throat surgery in February, watched the service on television from his Vatican apartments. On 27 March, Easter day, the Pope appeared at his window in the Vatican for a short time. Angelo Sodano read the Urbi et Orbi message while the Pope blessed the people with his own hand. He tried to speak but he could not. By the end of the month, speculation was growing, and was finally confirmed by the Vatican officials, that he was nearing death.
On 31 March 2005 the Pope developed a "very high fever caused by a urinary tract infection", but was not taken to the hospital, apparently in accordance with his wishes to die in the Vatican. Later that day, Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been given the Anointing of the Sick (informally known as Last Rites) of the Roman Catholic Church, the first time that the pontiff had received the sacrament since the 1981 assassination attempt on his life. It is unclear if he received the Apostolic Pardon as well.
On 1 April, his condition worsened drastically, with his heart and kidneys rapidly failing. The Pope had been fitted with a second feeding tube in his nose to help boost his nutritional intake as a result of his fever. Reports from the Vatican early that morning reported that the Pope had suffered a heart attack, but remained awake.[38] Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls denied the reports of the heart attack, but said the Pope had suffered a "cardio-circulatory collapse" and called the Pope's condition "very serious".
Several Italian media agencies reported the Pope's death at 20:20 CEST (18:20 UTC), but soon afterwards, the Vatican denied that the Pope was dead, and stories changed. TV Sky Italia reported that his heart and brain were functioning.
At around 00:37 CEST on 2 April (22:37 1 April UTC), a Vatican spokesman gave a further briefing on the Pope's health and confirmed that the Pope had had the Last Rites. He refused to be taken to the hospital, and met with his closest associates, among them Cardinal Ratzinger, who said, "he knows that he is dying and he gave me his last goodbye." The Pope also requested that he be read the meditations said on the Stations of the Cross a few days before.
His final hours were marked by an overwhelming number of younger people who kept vigil outside his Vatican apartments. In his last message, specifically to the youth of the world, he said: "I have looked for you. Now you have come to me. And I thank you."
Early in the evening, the Vatican announced that his condition "remains very serious. In late morning, the high fever developed." However, "when addressed by members of his household, he responds correctly."
At approximately 19:00 CEST (17:00 UTC), Italian news sources claimed that Pope John Paul II had lost consciousness. At least one medical centre stated that there was no more hope for him. The Vatican published a press release refuting the claim but conceding the Pope's kidneys had stopped functioning. The ANSA news agency reported around half an hour later that he lost consciousness.
According to Father Jarek Cielecki, the Pope's last word before death was "Amen"; then he closed his eyes. In his private apartments, at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) on 2 April, Pope John Paul II died, 46 days short of his 85th birthday. His death certificate listed septic shock and heart failure as primary causes of death.
Present at the moment of death were his two personal secretaries, Archbishop Stanisław Dziwisz and Mieczysław Mokrzycki, Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanisław Ryłko and Father Tadeusz Styczeń. The pope was assisted by his personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with two doctors, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo and their respective nurses who had been on call if needed. Also three nuns who were handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, helped him in his final hours.
Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano arrived, as did the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice-Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. Thereafter, Cardinal Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Jozef Tomko were able to enter the apartments.
John Paul II is one of the four Popes, who have been referred to with the title 'the Great'. He has been called 'John Paul the Great' through popular and continued usage, since there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great". In 2007, the successor of Pope John Paul II - Benedict XVI began his beatification process. He bypassed the normal restriction of five years having been passed since a person's death, for beatifying him/her, citing "exceptional circumstances". The Vicariate of Rome, on March 8, 2007, declared that the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for beatification was at its conclusion.
Relationship with Other Religions
Anglicanism (Church of England)
Preached in Canterbury Cathedral during his visit to Britain
Issued a Pastoral Provision, allowing married former Episcopal priests to become Catholic priests & accepting former Episcopal Church parishes into Catholic Church
Allowed creation of the Anglican Use form of the Latin Rite, which incorporates the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
Established Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church (Anglican Use), in cooperation with San Antonio Archbishop Patrick Flores
Lutheranism
Signed a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, as a gesture of unity by the representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation
Judaism (Jerusalem)
Improved relations between Catholicism and Judaism
Became the first Pope to visit the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, in 1979
Visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in April 1986, thus becoming the first pope ever known to have made an official papal visit to a synagogue
Established formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel, acknowledging its centrality in Jewish life and faith
Visited Yad Vashem in Israel and made history by touching the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem
Placed a letter inside the Western Wall in Jerusalem, asking for forgiveness for the actions against Jews, in the past
Became the first known Pope in history to receive a priestly blessing from a rabbi, in January 2005
Eastern Orthodox Church
Became the first Pope to visit Romania, a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country, since the Great Schism in 1054
Visited Ukraine and pleaded for "open, tolerant and honest dialogue", also stated that putting an end to the Schism was one of his fondest wishes
Became the first Pope to visit Greece in 1291 years
Buddhism
Was visited by Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama eight times, more than any other dignitary in this world
Islam
Became the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque (Umayyad Mosque) in Damascus, Syria (2001)
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Elevated the Archdiocese of Trivandrum to a Major Archdiocese, elevating the Archbishop to Major Archbishop, on February 10, 2005
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