John Paul II

„ Someone is great not because of what he posesses, but because of who he is; not because of what he has, but because of what he shares with others”

Early life

• born on 20 May 1920 in a small Polish town called Wadowice • the youngest of three children of Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska • had a hard childhood : early lost his mother and siblings

• an athlete as a teenager, often playing football as a goalkeeper •in mid-1938 Wojtyla and his father left Wadowice and moved to Cracow; there he started studies at Jagiellonian University •studied philosophy and various languages •learned as many as 12 foreign languages •during studies he performed with various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright •after his father’s death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood

Priesthood

• ordained as a priest on all Saints' Day, 1 November 1946, by the Archbishop of Cracow, Cardinal Sapieha •as a priest he studied theology in Rome, where he got a licentiate and later a doctorate in sacred theology •returnd to Poland in the summer of 1948 •he taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and the Catholic Universyty of Lublin

• while teaching he gathered a group of young people and they all began to call themselves the 'little family' They met for prayers, philosophical discussions and to help the blind and sick. The group grew to approximately 200 participants •in 1954 he earned a second doctorate, in philosophy •he fought against the communist authorities

• on 4 July 1958 he was appointed as the bishop of Cracow • on 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archibishop of Cracow

• in October 1978, he was announced the pope and he chose the name John Paul II

Assassination attempts

• on 13 May 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant fascist group Grey Wolves •fortunately two bullets missed the artery and he survived •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 Ağca in prison He 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.″

The Pope forgave the man.

Death

• in 2001 he was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson's disease • on 31 March 2005, following an urinary tract infection Pope John Paul II developed a septic shock, but was not hospitalised

• during the final days of the Pope's life, the lights were kept burning through the night. Tens of thousands of people assembled and held vigil in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for two days • on Saturday 2 April 2005, at about 15:30 , John Paul II spoke his final words,

"Let me depart to the house of the Father",

and fell into a coma about four hours later

He died in his private apartment, at 21:37 of heart failure, 46 days short of his 85th birthday.

Why was he such an extraordinary and unique person?

• he was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century • some say he was instrumental in ending communist party control of our country and eventually all of Europe • he denounced the excesses of capitalism • John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion • the key goal of his papacy was to transform and improve the Catholic Church; his wish was

"to place his Church at the heart of a new religious alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a great religious armada”

• he made VIII pilgrimages to Poland

• he was one of the most-travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate • he beatified 1340 people and cononised 483 saints • he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize honouring his life's work in opposing Communist oppression and helping to reshape the world • during the X World Youth Day, he offered mass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park, Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in Christian history • he was the second-longest serving pope in history (he has been the pope for 27 years) • during his pontificate more of 300 thousand people had converted to catholism