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Interesting facts about pope john paul ii
Pope john paul ii real name
How old was pope john paul ii when he died

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Pope John Paul II

On October 16, 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, was elected the 263rd successor to Saint Peter and chose the name John Paul II in honor of the late John Paul I. Pope John Paul II was the first ever Slavic pope elected, and at 58-years-old, he was youngest pope in over a century. During his twenty-six-year pontificate, he visited over 129 countries, which included seven visits to the United States. He died on April 2, 2005, beatified in St. Peter's Square on May 1, 2011, by Pope Benedict XVI, and canonized on April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis. His feast day is October 22. Read his full biography on the on the Vatican website.

Vatican Website

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Karol Józef Wojtyła, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941. A sister, Olga, had died before he was born.

He was baptized on June 20, 1920 in the parish church of Wadowice by Fr. Franciszek Zak, made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, run by C

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Pope John Paul II

Head of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see John Paul II (disambiguation), Pope John Paul II (disambiguation), Saint John Paul II (disambiguation), JP2 (disambiguation), and Karol Wojtyla (disambiguation).

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Polish:[ˈkarɔlˈjuzɛvvɔjˈtɨwa];^[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skill