His Holiness John Paul II

Pope John Paul II
1920 - 2005



• Birth Name: Karol Józef Wojtyła
• Date of Birth: May 18, 1920
• Place of Birth: Wadowice, Poland
• The second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska.
• Ordained to priesthood on November 1, 1946.
• Became a cardinal on June 26, 1967.
• Elected to the papacy on October 16, 1978.
• First Slavic and non-Italian pope in 455 years.
• The youngest pope at 58 in 132 years.
• The most traveled pope in history going to 170 visits to over 115 countries over the past 20 years.
• Multi-lingual, speaking 8 languages.
• In 1983, Marvel Comics published a Pope biography. He may be the only pope whose life was portrayed in a comic book.
• Before his ordination as a priest, he was a member of an experimental theater group, a stonecutter, a published poet, and a chemical company boiler-tender.
• May be the most atheletic pope who played soccer as a goal-keeper, took daring swims in the flooded Skawa River, and enjoyed skiing, hiking, mountain climbing and kayaking in his youth.


"This world is not capable of making man happy. Prayer and faith can."
- Pope John Paul II