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Pope John Paul II

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John Paul II
Installed16 October 1978
Term ended2 April 2005
PredecessorPope John Paul I
SuccessorPope Benedict XVI
Personal details
Birth nameKarol Józef Wojtyła
Born18 May 1920
Wadowice, Poland
Died2 April 2005
Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
MottoTotus Tuus (Totally Yours - in Latin)

Blessed Pope John Paul II (18 May 1920-2 April 2005), born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was an Polish priest of the Roman Catholic Church and the 265th Pope from 1978 until his death.[1]

John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. He traveled more than any other pope before him, visiting many of the countries of the world. He is also famous for starting the annual World Youth Day. After he was beatified, his title was changed to Blessed John Paul II.

Early life

Karol Józef Wojtyła was born on 18 May 1920 in Wadowice in southern Poland and was the youngest of three children of Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska.[2] His mother died in 1929 when he was just nine years old, and his father supported him so that he could study. His brother, who worked as a doctor, died when Wojtyła was twelve. He lost everyone in his family - a sister, brother, mother, and father - before he became a priest. He played sports and was particularly interested in football (soccer)[3] as a goalkeeper.[4]

After finishing his studies at the Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, in 1938 Wojtyła enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and in a school for drama.[2] He worked as a volunteer librarian and was an athlete, actor and playwright. He did two months military training in the Academic Legion because it was compulsory, but he refused to hold or fire a weapon.[5]

When he was young he met many Jewish people who lived in that area. In 1939, Nazi forces closed the Jagiellonian University. All men, except for the disabled, had to have a job. From 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła worked in a restaurant, in a limestone quarry, and then as a salesman for a chemical factory. He did not want to be sent to Germany where he would be made to join the army.[2] His father died of a heart attack in February 1941.

On 29 February 1944, Wojtyła was knocked down by a German truck. He expected to be badly treated, but the German officers sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there with head and shoulder injuries. It was at this time that he decided that he must become a priest. When he came out of hospital, the young Polish men were being sent to Germany for training. He escaped to the house of the Archbishop and hid there till after the war. On the night of 17 January 1945, the Germans left the city. The priests and teacher and students went back to the seminary, where there was a big clean-up to be done. Wojtyła volunteered to clean out the lavatories.[6]

That month, Wojtyła he found a fourteen-year-old Jewish refugee. The girl, named Edith Zierer, was trying to reach her parents, but had collapsed from hunger.[7] He gave her food and helped her go to the railway station. She did not hear of him again until the day came when he was elected Pope.[8][9][10]

Priest

Karol Wojtyła was ordained as a priest by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha[11] on 1 November 1946.

Bishop

In 1958, Wojtyła then became the youngest bishop in Poland at the age of 38. In 1962 he took part in the Second Vatican Council and helped write two very important documents. One was about Religious freedom and the other one was about the work of the church in the Modern World.

In 1963 Bishop Wojtyła became Archbishop of Kraków.

Cardinal

On 26 June 1967, Pope Paul VI raised Archbishop Wojtyła's to the rank of cardinal.[2]

Pope

Pope John Paul II in 1993

John Paul II became Pope on 16 October 1978. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. He was pope for 27 years, making him the second longest serving pope after Pope Pius IX who held the office for 31 years and seven months.[12] He was also the first and only Slavic pope. John Paul II was the most traveled pope in history with 104 international trips.

During his lifetime he learned many foreign languages. He spoke Polish as his native language, and learned Latin and Ancient Greek in school. On the day that he officially became Pope, he spoke to people in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Czech and Portuguese.[13] He also spoke a little Lithuanian, Hungarian, Russian and Ukrainian.

John Paul II beatified many people. This means that the Pope gave these people the title of "Blessed". One example is the painter Fra Angelico, who lived in the 1400s. After studying his life and teaching, it was decided that he should officially be called "the Blessed Fra Angelico". John Paul II gave more people the title of "Blessed" than any other pope in history. He also made many saints.

In 1984 John Paul II started World Youth Day which was first held in Rome and attended by about 300,000 people. Since then it has been held in a different country every year. It encourages young people to be faithful to God, and to live together in peace. Many millions of people have attended.

Pope's travels

Countries that John Paul II visited, showing the number of visits.

The first pope who traveled a lot was Pope Paul VI. Like him, John Paul II liked to travel. While he was pope, he made 105 trips, visiting 117 countries.[14] In total he travelled more than 1.1 million km (725,000 miles). Wherever he went, he attracted large crowds. All these travels were paid by the money of the countries he visited and not by the Vatican.

One of John Paul II's earliest official visits was to his home country of Poland, in June 1979. There, he was always surrounded by happy, cheering crowds.[15] The Pope wanted to bring freedom and human rights to his country. His visit encouraged Poles to oppose the communism, and in 1980 the Solidarity movement was born. On later trips to Poland, he made his message of support stronger. The Soviet Union had controlled Eastern Europe for many years. In 1989, Poland was the first country to begin to break free from the Soviet Union.

John Paul II went to places where other popes before him had already been, such as the United States, or The Holy Land. He also went to many countries that no pope had ever visited before. He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

World Youth Day in 2000

In 1982, the Pope made a visit to Japan, and in 1984 to South Korea and Puerto Rico. He was the first pope to visit Cuba.[16] During his visit in January 1998, he sharply criticized Cuba for not allowing people to freely express their religion.[5] He also criticised the United States embargo against Cuba.[17] In 2000, he became the first modern Catholic pope to visit Egypt,[18] and met with the Coptic Pope,[18] and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.[19] He was the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus, Syria in 2001.[20] He visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist is believed to be buried.[21]

In 1988 he made a trip to Lesotho to beatify Joseph Gerrad.[22] On 15 January 1995, during the 10th World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between four and eight million in Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines. This is considered to be the largest single event in Christian history.

After the attacks on 11 September 2001, even though people were worried about his safety, the Pope traveled to Kazakhstan and spoke to large audiences including many Muslims. He also went to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of the 1700 years of Christianity.[21][23] He said Mass in local languages during some visits, including Kiswahili in Nairobi, Kenya in 1995 and in an Indonesian language in East Timor.[24]

During his trips, the Pope always showed his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.[25] He visited many shrines consecrated to her, notably Knock in Ireland, Licheń Stary in Poland, Fátima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico and Lourdes in France.[26]

Attempts on his life

On 13 May 1981, the Pope was shot twice in the abdomen by a Muslim fanatic, Mehmet Ali Ağca. The pope was gravely injured.He barely survived the assassination attempt, and had to be treated in hospital for 20 days. The pope later visited Ağca in prison. He had forgiven him already. Exactly one year later he traveled to Fatima to thank Mary, Mother of God for saving his life.[5]

On this trip there was a second attempt to his life. A follower of the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre tried to hurt the Pope with a bayonet.[27][28][29] He was overpowered by the bodyguards of the Pope. Lefevbre and his followers were against the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. After this the Pope often travelled in a bullet-proof trailer known as the "popemobile." [5]

Death

Pope John Paul II's funeral

John Paul died on Saturday, on the eve of the Divine Mercy Holiday, 2 April 2005. The official time of death on his death certificate was 9:37 pm,[30][31] but a few sources reported 9:33 pm. The death certificate stated that when the Pope died, he had Parkinson's disease, with serious breathing difficulties. The Pope had tracheotomy surgery in mid February but it did not help and he lost lots of weight. He also had an enlarged prostate, urinary infection and other problems. The cause of death were that his kidneys failed, causing blood poisoning and infection brought by septic shock. John Paul II spoke his final words, “pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca”, (“Let me depart to the house of the Father”), to his aides, and fell into a coma about four hours later.

The Pope's medical team used heart-monitoring machinery for more than 20 minutes, so his real and true time of death was around 9:15 PM Vatican time. As tradition demands, his name was called three times. When there was no reply, his papal ring was broken, which meant the end of John Paul II's papacy (reign as pope).[25]

Many people claimed to have been specially blessed by the reign of Pope John Paul II. Many people thought he should be given the title "Blessed". This usually takes at least five years (and may take hundreds of years). On 13 May 2005, Pope Benedict XVI cut short the usual 5 year wait for the beatification process to begin. The only other time (in recent history) that this has happened was for Mother Theresa, who was made Blessed Mother Theresa by John Paul II. It was announced on 14 January 2011, that John Paul II will be beatified on 1 May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday). According to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II's remains (which will not be exhumed and exposed) will be moved from the grotto beneath St. Peter's Basilica, where he is presently buried, to a marble stone monument in Pier Paolo Cristofari's Chapel of St. Sebastian, which is where Blessed Pope Innocent XI is currently buried; Blessed Pope Innocent's remains will likely be moved. This more prominent location, next to the Chapel of the Pieta, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and statues of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII, will increase the number of pilgrims capable of viewing his memorial. “ It will be a great joy for us when he is officially beatified, but as far as we are concerned he is already a Saint. ” —Stanisław Dziwisz [189]

Once John Paul becomes a saint, it has been suggested that 22 May should be the official John Paul II Day on Church Calendar of the Saints. 22 May is 50 days after the death of the Pope. 18 May & 2 July have also been suggested as his official saint day on the church's calendar. 18 May is already Saint Pope John I's Day.[32]

What John Paul II taught

John Paul II was generally against communism. He was also a critic of capitalism that was not controlled and he did not want people's basic rights to be oppressed by world governments. He was against abortion and contraception in general.[33] As head of the largest Christian group, John Paul II taught a conservative theological view of human sexuality. On the subject he wrote 130 topics called the Theology of the Body. He was against homosexuality, and in favour of people starting families as one husband and one wife.[34] On April 30, 2000, John Paul instituted a Divine Mercy Holiday, according to the teachings of Saint Faustyna Kowalska and on that day she was also proclaimed a Saint of the Catholic Church. The Feast of the Mercy of God is continuously growing worldwide. John Paul is also remembered for his devotion to the Consecrated Holy Communion, the Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Child abuse scandals

During John Paul's time as pope, the church was involved in a large number of claims about child sexual abuse by priests. There are many people who believe that the Church, and therefore the Pope, knew about these claims and tried to cover them up. For example in 1996 the Irish bishops decided that priests suspected of child abuse must be reported to the police. The Vatican sent a letter to the bishops that they were not to report such cases.[35] The letter was from future Pope Benedict XVI - who John Paul II had asked to handle such cases.[35] John Paul II is also claimed to have got a cardinal to send a thank you letter to a French bishop who had refused to report a priest to the police.[36] In 2001 John Paul II sent out a special letter saying that the abuse of children by priests was a very serious crime, and should be strictly punished.[37] Some Catholics want the process for making John Paul II a saint stopped, until there is an investigation into his role in keeping secret information about bad priests.[38]

References

The Coat of Arms of John Paul II
  1. ↑ "List of Popes," Catholic Encyclopedia (2009); retrieved 2011-11-02.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Holy See Press Office. ""His Holiness John Paul II: Short Biography"". Holy See Press Office. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  3. ↑ Pentin, Edward - National Catholic Register. ""Faith and Football"". Legion of Christ. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  4. ↑ "Pope John Paul II, The early years: an unhappy childhood". CNN.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "A biogrphy of Pope John Paul II". Retrieved 19-07-2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ↑ Weigel, George. Witness to Hope, HarperCollins (1999, 2001) ISBN 0-06-018793-X.
  7. ↑ Profile of Edith Zierier (1946), Voices of the Holocaust, Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  8. ↑ CNN Live event transcript, CNN.com, Aired 2005-04-08, Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Genevieve., "THE DEATH OF POPE JOHN PAUL II: `He saved my life - with tea, bread'", The Independent, 2005-04-03, Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  10. ↑ Cohen, Roger., " The Polish Seminary Student and the Jewish Girl He Saved", International Herald Tribune, 2005-04-06, Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  11. ↑ "Picture of Adam Stephan Sapieba".
  12. ↑ This does not include St. Peter, who was not an elected pope.
  13. ↑ The Pope's inaugural Homily
  14. ↑ "The Pope's Legacy (1999), at CNN".
  15. ↑ ""1979: Millions cheer as the Pope comes home", from "On This Day", 2 June 1979, BBC News". Retrieved 2005-06-11.
  16. ↑ "Pope gives first mass in Cuba". BBC news. 22 January 1998.
  17. ↑ "Pope picks US embargo as final target". BBC News. 26 January 1998.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Pope pleads for harmony between faiths". © 2000-2009 BBC News. 24 February 2000. Retrieved 11 February 2009. {{cite news}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  19. ↑ "Address of John Paul II to the Melkite Greek Catholics". The Holy See. 12 February 2001.
  20. ↑ "Pope to pray in mosque". BBC News. 5 March, 2001. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Plett, Barbara (7 May 2001). "Mosque visit crowns Pope's tour". © 2001,2009 BBC News. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  22. ↑ "Beatifications During Pope John Paul II's Pontificate, 1988".
  23. ↑ "Pope John Paul II - Address at Omayyad Mosque of Damascus - 6 May 2001". The Catholic Community Forum and Liturgical Publications of St. Louis, Inc . © 2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. Retrieved 2009-01-11. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  24. ↑ "John Paul II's Theology of the Body". Retrieved 19-07-2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "The pope's mission". Retrieved 19-07-2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  26. ↑ "A biography by references.com". {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate 19-07-2009" ignored (help)
  27. ↑ "Pope John Paul 'wounded' in 1982". © 1982-2009 BBC News Channel. Retrieved 27 January 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  28. ↑ "Pope John Paul injured in 1982 knife attack, says aide". © 1982-2009 CBC News. Retrieved 27 January 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  29. ↑ "John Paul was wounded in 1982 stabbing, aide reveals". Reuters News Release. © 1982-2009 Reuters. Retrieved 27 January 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  30. ↑ "After 26-year reign, pontiff dies at 84, at CNN".
  31. ↑ "Pope John Paul II dies in Vatican, at BBC".
  32. ↑ "Patron Saints Calendar, at Catholic Forum".
  33. ↑ "Evangelium Vitae, Encyclica of John Paul II, 1995; Website of the Vatican".
  34. ↑ "Considerations regarding propositions to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons, Congregation of the Docrtrine of the Faith, Vatican, 2003".
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "BBC News - Vatican officials told Irish not to report child abuse". bbc.co.uk. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  36. ↑ Alsema, Adriaan (18 April 2010). "Colombian cardinal: Pope authorized support for pedophile cover-up - Colombia news | Colombia Reports". colombiareports.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  37. ↑ Gallagher, Delia (March 4 2004). "ZENIT - Vatican Study on Sex Abuse; 'The Passion's' Casting Director". zenit.org. Retrieved 17 February 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  38. ↑ Picard, Joseph (January 20 2011). "Sex abuse scandals line John Paul's road to sainthood - International Business Times". ibtimes.com. Retrieved 13 February 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

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