Click below for a THREE PART podcast series on the life of Pope St. John Paul II (The Pope Who Destroyed Communism):
Pope from October 16, 1978 - April 2, 2005
Lived: May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005
Birth name: Karol Józef Wojtyła
Who was this guy before he was pope?
Karol Wojtyla (voy-TEE-wuh) was born in Wadowice (vahd-oh-VEETZ-uh), Poland in 1920, despite his mother being encouraged to abort by doctors after suffering from rheumatic fever. He was athletic as a child, playing goalkeeper on his school soccer team. Karol’s love for acting and poetry blossomed once he entered the Jagiellonian University, and most especially as he and his friends secretly kept Polish culture alive following the Nazi occupation in World War II. Karol also learned 12 languages during his studies. Because of course he did.
He was ordained in 1946 after studying in the archbishop’s clandestine seminary, then went to Rome for further studies. His love for the youth of the Church began when he was a simple parish priest, where he directed the choir and formed a group of young adults that would stay together for decades. Karol was consecrated a bishop in 1958, was a key player at Vatican II, became Archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and was named a cardinal in 1967. An avid hiker and skier even as a cardinal, Karol justified his upgrade from hickory to Head-brand skis by once saying, “It's unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly.”
Give me the scoop on John Paul II.
“Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ!”
The man who had lived through the absolute worst of the twentieth century, who had lost his family at a young age, instead witnessed to the faithful the value of hope through a deep love of the Lord and strong devotion to the Blessed Mother throughout his entire 27-year reign. In length, his papacy trails only St. Peter and Bl. Pius IX (9,665 days). After his death in April 2005, Pope Benedict XVI waived the traditional five-year waiting period and opened his cause for canonization the following month. He was beatified six years later, and canonized alongside St. John XXIII on April 27, 2014.
John Paul the Great had a strong sense of humor, a rich singing voice, and a profound love of the Eucharist. He may well be the “coolest saint ever.”
What was he known for?
St. John Paul II is inarguably (in the author’s opinion) the most influential and towering individual of our time. He played a crucial part in toppling Communism with barely a shot fired. His visit to Poland in 1979 was the first domino, and his close ties with Ronald Reagan and other world leaders led to it being toppled elsewhere in Europe soon afterward. Even a would-be assassin’s bullet didn’t stop him (thanks, Mama Mary).
John Paul founded World Youth Day in 1985, producing some of the largest single gatherings of people in human history and sparking conversions by the thousands. He also oversaw the revision of canon law (1983) and the creation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993), the first universal catechism for the Church since the 16th-Century Council of Trent. As the “Pope of the Family,” his Theology of the Body continues to be a force on marriage and sexuality, and his other writings on the family comprise two-thirds of all the Church’s official documents on the topic.
Fun Fact: During his pontificate, John Paul II tallied a ton of “firsts” and “mosts.” He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, and closed out the first “Year of Three Popes” since 1605. John Paul was the most traveled pope in history, the most photographed human being by the time of his death, and the first pope to visit both Cuba and the White House. He also canonized more saints (482) than any other pontiff -- more than all the rest combined, in fact -- and created 232 cardinals in total. Find lots of other fun facts here.