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Pope John Paul II

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                  John Paul II
    Birth name  Karol Józef Wojtyła
   Papacy began October 16, 1978
   Papacy ended April 2, 2005
   Predecessor  John Paul I
    Successor   Benedict XVI
       Born     May 18, 1920
                Wadowice, Poland
       Died     April 2, 2005
                Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
   Other Popes named John Paul
   Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother
   of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion
   Enlarge
   Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother
   of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion
             Styles of
   Pope John Paul II
   Reference style  His Holiness
   Spoken style     Your Holiness
   Religious style  Holy Father
   Posthumous style Servant of God

   Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II), ( Italian: Giovanni
   Paolo II), born Karol Józef Wojtyła  ( May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005)
   reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October 16, 1978
   until his death more than 26 years later, making his the second-longest
   pontificate in modern times after Pius IX's 31-year reign. He was the
   first (and only) Polish Pope and the first non- Italian Pope since the
   Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s. According to the Time 100, he is one of
   only four people in history to have shaped both the 20th century and
   the early 21st.

   His early reign was marked by his opposition to communism, and he is
   often credited as one of the forces which contributed to its collapse
   in Eastern Europe. In the later part of his pontificate, he was notable
   for speaking against consumerism, unrestrained capitalism, war,
   dictatorship, fascism, abortion, relativism and what he deemed the "
   culture of death". During his reign, the pope traveled extensively,
   visiting over 100 countries, more than any of his predecessors. As part
   of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he canonized
   a great many people. He was Pope during a period in which Catholicism's
   influence declined in developed countries but expanded in the Third
   World.

   John Paul II was fluent in numerous languages: his native Polish and
   also Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Croatian, Portuguese,
   Russian and Latin.

   In 1992, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. On 2 April 2005 at
   9:37 p.m. local time, Pope John Paul II died in the Papal Apartments
   while a vast crowd kept vigil in Saint Peter's Square below. Millions
   of people flocked to Rome to pay their respects to the body and for his
   funeral. The last years of his reign had been marked by his fight
   against the various diseases ailing him, provoking some concerns that
   he should abdicate. On May 9, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul II's
   successor, waived the five year waiting period for a cause for
   beatification to be opened.

Overview

   Pope John Paul II blessing faithful while visiting Brazil in 1997.
   Enlarge
   Pope John Paul II blessing faithful while visiting Brazil in 1997.

   John Paul II emphasized what he called the " universal call to
   holiness" and attempted to define the Catholic Church's role in the
   modern world. He spoke out against ideologies and politics of
   communism, Marxism, Socialism, feminism, imperialism, hedonism,
   relativism, materialism, fascism (including Nazism), racism and
   unrestrained capitalism. In many ways, he fought against oppression,
   secularism and poverty. Although he was on friendly terms with many
   Western heads of state and leading citizens, he reserved a special
   opprobrium for what he believed to be the corrosive spiritual effects
   of modern Western consumerism and the concomitant widespread secular
   and hedonistic orientation of Western populations.

   John Paul II affirmed traditional Catholic teachings by opposing
   abortion, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning,
   euthanasia, in vitro fertilisation ( IVF), and unjust wars. He also
   defended traditional teachings on marriage and gender roles by opposing
   divorce, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women. His
   conservative views were sometimes criticized as regressive. John Paul
   II called upon followers to vote according to Catholic teachings. John
   Paul II became known as the "Pilgrim Pope" for traveling greater
   distances than had all his predecessors combined. According to John
   Paul II, the trips symbolized bridge-building efforts (in keeping with
   his title as Pontifex Maximus, literally Master Bridge-Builder) between
   nations and religions, attempting to remove divisions created through
   history.

   He beatified 1,340 people, more people than any previous pope. The
   Vatican asserts he canonized more people than the combined tally of his
   predecessors during the last five centuries, and from a far greater
   variety of cultures. Whether he had canonized more saints than all
   previous popes put together, as is sometimes also claimed, is difficult
   to prove, as the records of many early canonizations are incomplete,
   missing, or inaccurate. However, it is known that his abolition of the
   office of Promotor Fidei ("Promoter of the Faith" and the origin of the
   term Devil's advocate) streamlined the process.

   In February, 2004 Pope John Paul II was nominated for a Nobel Peace
   Prize honoring his life's work in opposing Communist oppression and
   helping to reshape the world.

   Pope John Paul II died on 2 April 2005 after a long fight against
   Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. Immediately after his death,
   many of his followers demanded that he be elevated to sainthood as soon
   as possible, shouting "Santo Subito" (meaning "Saint immediately" in
   Italian). Both L'Osservatore Romano and Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John
   Paul II's successor, referred to John Paul II as "Great".

   John Paul II was succeeded by the Dean of the College of Cardinals,
   Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany, the former head of the
   Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who had led the Funeral Mass
   for John Paul II.

Biography

Early life

   Karol Wojtyła as a student, 1938
   Enlarge
   Karol Wojtyła as a student, 1938

   Karol Józef Wojtyła was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice in southern
   Poland. His mother, Emilia Kaczorowska, died in 1929, when he was just
   age nine and his father supported him so that he could study. His
   brother, who worked as a doctor, died when Karol was twelve. His youth
   was marked by extensive contacts with the then thriving Jewish
   community of Wadowice. He played football often, mostly as a
   goalkeeper. [Sunday Times 2002]

   Karol enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He worked as a
   volunteer librarian and did compulsory military training in the
   Academic Legion. In his youth he was an athlete, actor and playwright
   and he learned as many as twelve languages during his lifetime,
   including Latin, Ukrainian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, French,
   Italian, German, English, and of course his native Polish. He also had
   some facility with Russian.

   During the Second World War academics of the Jagiellonian University
   were arrested and the university suppressed. All able-bodied males had
   to have a job. He variously worked as a messenger for a restaurant and
   a manual labourer in a limestone quarry.

   His father also died when Karol was 20.

Church career

   Karol Wojtyła as a priest in Niegowić, Poland, 1948
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   Karol Wojtyła as a priest in Niegowić, Poland, 1948

   In 1942 he entered the underground seminary run by the Archbishop of
   Kraków, Cardinal Sapieha. Karol Wojtyła was ordained a priest on 1
   October 1946, by the same bishop who confirmed him. Not long after, he
   was sent to study theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas
   Aquinas, commonly known as the Angelicum, where he earned a licentiate
   and later a doctorate in sacred theology. This doctorate, the first of
   two, was based on the Latin dissertation Doctrina de fide apud S.
   Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith According to Saint John of the
   Cross). Even though his doctoral work was unanimously approved in June
   of 1948, he was denied the degree because he could not afford to print
   the text of his dissertation (an Angelicum rule). In December of that
   year, a revised text of his dissertation was approved by the
   theological faculty of Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and Wojtyła
   was finally awarded the degree. He earned a second doctorate, based on
   an evaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the
   ethical system of phenomenologist Max Scheler (An Evaluation of the
   Possibility of Constructing a Christian Ethics on the Basis of the
   System of Max Scheler), in 1954. As was the case with the first degree,
   he was not granted the degree upon earning it. This time, the faculty
   at Jagiellonian University was forbidden by communist authorities from
   granting the degree. In conjunction with his habilitation at Catholic
   University of Lublin, Poland, he finally obtained the doctorate in
   philosophy in 1957 from that institution, where he had assumed the
   Chair of Ethics in 1956.

   On 4 July 1958 Pope Pius XII named him titular bishop of Ombi and
   auxiliary to Archbishop Baziak, apostolic administrator of the
   Archdiocese of Kraków. Karol Wojtyła found himself at 38 the youngest
   bishop in Poland.

   In 1962 Bishop Wojtyła took part in the Second Vatican Council, and in
   December 1963 Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków. On 26
   June 1967, Paul VI announced Archbishop Wojtyła's elevation to the
   Sacred College of Cardinals with the title of Cardinal Priest of San
   Cesareo in Palatio.

A Pope from Poland

   Statue of Pope John Paul II, Catedral de la Almudena, Madrid
   Enlarge
   Statue of Pope John Paul II, Catedral de la Almudena, Madrid

   In August 1978 following Paul's death, he voted in the Papal Conclave
   that elected Pope John Paul I, who at 65 was considered young by papal
   standards. However, John Paul I was in poor health and he died after
   only 33 days as pope, thereby precipitating another conclave.

   Voting in the second conclave was divided between two particularly
   strong candidates: Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the Archbishop of Genoa; and
   Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, the Archbishop of Florence and a close
   associate of Pope John Paul I. In early ballots, Benelli came within
   nine votes of victory. However, Wojtyła secured election as a
   compromise candidate, in part through the support of Franz Cardinal
   König and others who had previously supported Cardinal Siri.

   He became the 264th Pope according to the chronological List of popes.
   At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope elected since Pope
   Pius IX in 1846. Like his immediate predecessor, Pope John Paul II
   dispensed with the traditional Papal coronation and instead received
   ecclesiastical investiture with the simplified Papal inauguration on
   October 22, 1978. During his inauguration, when the cardinals kneel
   before him, take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as the
   Polish primate Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski knelt down, stopped him from
   kissing the ring and hugged him (SABC2 "The Greatest souls" documentary
   2005). As Bishop of Rome he took possession of his Cathedral Church,
   the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on November 12, 1978.

Assassination attempts

   On 13 May 1981 John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet
   Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square to address
   an audience. He was then rushed into the Vatican complex, then to the
   hospital. It was at this time en route to the hospital that he lost
   consciousness. Ağca was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. Two
   days after Christmas 1983, John Paul II visited the prison where his
   would-be assassin was being held. The two spoke privately for 20
   minutes. John Paul II 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 also states that the
   Our Lady of Fatima helped keep him alive throughout his ordeal.

   On March 2, 2006, an Italian parliamentary commission concluded that
   the Soviet Union was behind the attempt, in retaliation for John Paul
   II's support to Solidarity, the Polish workers' movement, a thesis
   which had already been supported by Michael Ledeen and the CIA at the
   time. The report stated that certain Bulgarian security departments
   were utilized to prevent the Soviet Union's role from being uncovered.
   However, alternative theories also exist, and the Pope himself declared
   during a May 2002 visit to Bulgaria that this country had nothing to do
   with the assassination attempt. The failed assassin was also a member
   of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Grey Wolves, who were allegedly
   infiltrated by Gladio, a NATO sponsored paramilitary organization
   created in order to counter a potential Soviet invasion . Bulgaria and
   Russia disputed the Italian commission's conclusions, pointing out that
   the Pope denied the Bulgarian connection. .This thesis was also central
   to Tom Clancy's novel " Red Rabbit", published in 2002.

   Another assassination attempt took place on 12 May 1982, just a day
   before the anniversary of the last attempt on his life, in Fatima,
   Portugal when a man tried to stab John Paul II with a bayonet, but was
   stopped by security guards. The assailant, an ultraconservative and
   right wing Spanish priest named Juan María Fernández y Krohn, former
   cleric of the diocese of Madrid and expelled ex-member of the Society
   of St. Pius X, reportedly opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican
   Council and called the pope an agent of communist Moscow. Fernández y
   Krohn subsequently left the Roman Catholic priesthood and the Church
   and served a six-year sentence, was treated for mental illness and was
   expelled from Portugal afterwards, only to become a lawyer in Belgium,
   where he would try to assassinate King Juan Carlos.

   Pope John Paul II was also one of the targets of the Al Qaeda-funded
   Operation Bojinka during a visit to the Philippines in 1995.

Health

   The ailing pope John Paul II on 22 September 2004
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   The ailing pope John Paul II on 22 September 2004

   When he became pope in 1978, John Paul II was an avid sportsman,
   enjoying hiking and swimming. In addition, John Paul II travelled
   extensively after becoming pope; at the time, the 58-year old was
   extremely healthy and active, jogging in the Vatican gardens (to the
   horror of Vatican staff, who informed him that his jogging could be
   seen by tourists climbing to the summit of the dome of St. Peter's
   Basilica. The pope's response, according to media reports, was "so
   what?"), weightlifting, swimming and hiking in mountains. When the cost
   of installing a swimming pool in his summer residence was queried by
   cardinals, John Paul joked that it was "cheaper than another conclave".

   John Paul's obvious physical fitness and looks earned much comment in
   the media following his election, which compared his health and trim
   figure to the poor health of John Paul I and Paul VI, the portliness of
   John XXIII and the constant claims of ailments of Pius XII. The only
   modern pope with a keep-fit regime had been Pope Pius XI (1922-1939)
   who was an avid mountain climber. An Irish Independent article in the
   1980s labeled John Paul the "the keep-fit pope."

   In 1981, though, John Paul II's health suffered a major blow after the
   first failed assassination attempt. After being shot, John Paul II was
   rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic in Rome, where he
   received extensive emergency surgery. The bullet-wound caused severe
   bleeding, and the Pope's blood pressure dropped. Due to intestinal
   damage, a colostomy was also performed. He nevertheless managed to
   recover, and in his speeches from the hospital window, which would
   always attract large crowds, he defined "the Gemelli" as "the third
   Vatican" (the first being St Peter, and the second the papal summer
   residence). He went on to a full recovery, and sported an impressive
   physical condition throughout the 1980s.

   Starting about 1992, John Paul II's health slowly declined. He began to
   suffer from an increasingly slurred speech and difficulty in hearing.
   In addition, the Pope rarely walked in public. Though not officially
   confirmed by the Vatican until 2003, most experts agreed that the frail
   pontiff suffered from Parkinson's disease. The contrast between the
   athletic John Paul of the 1970s and the declining John Paul of later
   years was striking. From being strikingly fitter than his predecessors,
   he had declined physically to far more ill health than was the norm
   among more elderly popes.

   In February 2005 John Paul II was taken to the Gemelli hospital with
   inflammation and spasm of the larynx, the result of influenza. Though
   later released from the hospital, he was taken back after a few days
   because of difficulty breathing. A tracheotomy was performed, which
   improved the Pope's breathing but limited his speaking abilities, to
   his visible frustration. In March 2005, speculation was high that the
   Pope was near death; this was confirmed by the Vatican a few days
   before John Paul II died.

Death

   John Paul II‘s statue in Košice, Slovakia. The statue was unveiled by
   Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, a former private secretary to Pope John
   Paul II.
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   John Paul II‘s statue in Košice, Slovakia. The statue was unveiled by
   Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, a former private secretary to Pope John
   Paul II.

   On 31 March 2005 the Pope developed a very high fever and profound low
   blood pressure, but was not rushed to the hospital, but rather offered
   medical monitoring and support by a team of consultants at his private
   residence. This was taken as an indication that the pope and those
   close to him believed that he was nearing death; it would have been in
   accordance with his wishes to die in the Vatican. Later that day
   Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been given the
   Anointing of the Sick by his friend and secretary Stanisław Dziwisz.
   During the final days of the Pope's life, the lights were kept burning
   through the night where he lay in the Papal apartment on the top floor
   of the Apostolic Palace.

   Thousands of people rushed to the Vatican, filling St. Peter's Square
   and beyond, and held vigil for two days. At about 15:30 CEST, John Paul
   II spoke his final words, "Let me go to the house of the Father", to
   his aides in his native Polish and fell into a coma about four hours
   later. He died in his private apartment, at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) on 2
   April, 46 days short of his 85th birthday. The mass of the vigil of the
   Second Sunday of Easter, that is, Divine Mercy Sunday which was put
   into the Church's calendar by him on the occasion of the canonization
   of St. Faustina on 30 April 2000 , had just been celebrated at his
   bedside. Several aides were present, along with several Polish nuns of
   the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of
   Jesus, who ran the papal household.

   A crowd of over two million within Vatican City, over one billion
   Catholics world-wide, and many non-Catholics mourned John Paul II. The
   Poles were particularly devastated by his death. The public viewing of
   his body in St. Peter's Basilica drew over four million people to
   Vatican City and was one of the largest pilgrimages in the history of
   Christianity. Many world leaders expressed their condolences and
   ordered flags in their countries lowered to half-mast. Numerous
   countries with a Catholic majority, and even some with only a small
   Catholic population, declared mourning for John Paul II.

   On his death certificate, (refractory) septic shock was listed as a
   primary cause of death along with profound arterial hypotension leading
   to complete circulatory collapse. In cases of fatal sepsis, the normal
   cause of death is complete circulatory collapse; its listing here is
   somewhat redundant.

Funeral

   The tomb of John Paul II
   Enlarge
   The tomb of John Paul II

   The death of Pope John Paul II set into motion rituals and traditions
   dating back to medieval times. The Rite of Visitation took place from 4
   April through 22:00 CET (20:00 UTC) on 7 April at St. Peter's Basilica.
   On 8 April the Mass of Requiem was conducted by the Dean of the College
   of Cardinals, Joseph Ratzinger, who would become the next pope. It has
   been estimated to have been the largest attended funeral of all time.

   John Paul II was interred in the grottoes under the basilica, the Tomb
   of the Popes. He was lowered into the tomb that had been occupied by
   the remains of Blessed Pope John XXIII, but which had been empty since
   his remains had been moved into the main body of the basilica after his
   beatification by John Paul II in 2000.

   "For the last time the world came together in an historical gathering
   to honour a man who touched them all. Five kings, four queens, 70
   presidents and prime ministers, 164 cardinals. The poor and the
   privileged".

   The funeral of Pope John Paul II saw the single largest gathering of
   heads of state in history who had come together to pay their respects.
   A rare solar eclipse at sunset throughout Central and South America
   closed the day of John Paul II's burial.

Posthumous recognition

   Since the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and
   laymen throughout the world have been referring to the late pontiff as
   "John Paul the Great"—only the fourth pope to be so acclaimed, and the
   first since the first millennium. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI,
   referred to him as "the great Pope John Paul II" in his first address
   from the loggia of St Peter's Church. Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal
   Ratzinger, stirred excitement by some devotees of the pope when in his
   published written homily for the Mass of Repose, he referred to Pope
   John Paul II as "the Great." Since giving his homily at the funeral of
   Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict XVI has continued to refer to John Paul
   II as "the Great." At the 2005 World Youth Day in Germany, Pope
   Benedict XVI, speaking in Polish, John Paul's native language, said,
   "As the great Pope John Paul II would say: keep the flame of faith
   alive in your lives and your people." In May of 2006, Pope Benedict XVI
   visited John Paul's native Poland. During that visit he repeatedly made
   references to "the great John Paul" and "my great predecessor." In
   addition to the Vatican calling him "the great," numerous newspapers
   have also done so. For example the Italian newspaper Corriere della
   Sera called him "the Greatest" and the South African Catholic
   newspaper, The Southern Cross, has called him "John Paul II The Great."

   The adjective "Great" allegedly used by Pope Benedict XVI is probably
   (at least in most of the cases) a simplified and quite wrong
   translation from Italian, used by the English language media. Pope
   Benedict XVI most often pronounces his speeches in Italian, and he
   usually refers to John Paul II as "nostro amato papa" or "nostro
   amatissimo papa", which would literally be translated as "our beloved
   pope" or "the pope that we love". In any case this express the concept
   of popularity, rather that greatness.

   Scholars of Canon Law say that there is no official process for
   declaring a pope "Great"; the title establishes itself through popular,
   and continued, usage. The three popes who today commonly are known as
   "Great" are Leo I, who reigned from 440– 461 and persuaded Attila the
   Hun to withdraw from Rome, thus saving Christianity and Catholicism in
   Europe from destruction; Gregory I, 590– 604, after whom the Gregorian
   Chant is named; and Nicholas I, 858– 867, who also withstood a siege of
   Rome (in this case from Carolingian Christians, over a dispute
   regarding marriage annulment).
   One of many John Paul II statues
   Enlarge
   One of many John Paul II statues

   On 9 May 2005 Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his
   predecessor, John Paul II. Normally five years must pass after a
   person's death before the beatification process can begin. However, in
   an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Camillo Cardinal Ruini cited
   "exceptional circumstances" which suggested that the waiting period
   could be waived. As Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal
   Ruini is responsible for promoting the cause for canonization of any
   person who dies within that diocese. In all other dioceses it would be
   the Bishop himself. The "exceptional circumstances" presumably refer to
   the people's cries of "Santo Subito!" ("Saint now!") during the late
   pontiff's funeral. Therefore the new Pope waived the five year rule "so
   that the cause of Beatification and Canonization of the same Servant of
   God can begin immediately." The decision was announced on 13 May 2005,
   the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the 24th anniversary of the
   assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square. . John
   Paul II often credited Our Lady of Fatima for preserving him on that
   day. Cardinal Ruini inaugurated the diocesan phase of the cause for
   beatification in the Lateran Basilica on 28 June 2005.

   In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a
   possible miracle associated with John Paul II. A French nun, confined
   to her bed by Parkinson's Disease, is reported to have experienced a
   "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for
   the intercession of Pope John Paul II".

   On May 28, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said Mass before an estimated
   900,000 people in John Paul II's native Poland. During his homily he
   encouraged prayers for the early canonization of John Paul II and
   stated that he hoped canonization would happen "in the near future."

Life's work

Teachings

          Main article: Teachings of Pope John Paul II

   As pope, John Paul II's most important role was to teach people about
   Christianity. He wrote 14 papal encyclicals ( List of Encyclicals of
   Pope John Paul II) that many observers believe will have long-lasting
   influence on the church.

   A notable achievement of John Paul II's was the publication of a
   newly-written Catechism of the Catholic Church (under the
   responsibility of Cardinal Schönborn), the first complete rewrite of
   the document in centuries, which became an internationalworld
   bestseller. Its purpose, according to the Pope's Apostolic Constitution
   Fidei Depositum was to be "a statement of the Church's faith and of
   Catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the
   Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." His first encyclical
   letters focused on the Triune God; the very first was on Jesus the
   Redeemer (" Redemptor Hominis").

   In his Apostolic Letter At the beginning of the third millennium ( Novo
   Millennio Ineunte), he emphasized the importance of "starting afresh
   from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person."
   In what he calls a "program for all times," he placed "sanctity" as the
   single most important priority of all pastoral activities in the entire
   Catholic Church. He canonized many saints around the world as exemplars
   for his vision and he supported the prelature of Opus Dei, whose aim is
   to spread the message of the universal call to holiness and the
   sanctification of secular activities, which he said is a "great ideal"
   and a "characteristic mark" of the Second Vatican Council.

   In The Splendour of the Truth ( Veritatis Splendor) he emphasized the
   dependence of man on God and his law ("Without the Creator, the
   creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth". He
   warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and skepticism, goes
   off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself".

   In Fides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason) John
   Paul promotes a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous
   pursuit for Truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different
   sources (such as Thomism), he describes the mutually supporting
   relationship between faith and reason, and emphasizes why it is
   important that theologians should focus on the relationship. John Paul
   proposes that philosophy has lost its meaning (e.g., the pursuit for
   objective truth), and that restoring it will ultimately help cure the
   nihilistic condition of our current age; and, moreover, lead to the
   Truth of sacred scripture.

   John Paul II also wrote extensively about workers and the social
   doctrine of the Church, which he discussed in three encyclicals.
   Through his encyclicals, John Paul also talked about the dignity of
   women and the importance of the family for the future of mankind, and
   many Apostolic Letters and Exhortations.

   Other encyclicals include The Gospel of Life ( Evangelium Vitae) and
   Orientale Lumen (Light of the East). Often accused of inflexibility
   through misunderstanding of the office of the papacy in asserting
   Church Teaching, he explicitly reiterated and asserted unchanged
   2,000-year old Catholic teaching on moral matters like murder,
   euthanasia and abortion. These, like all statements on faith and
   morals, according to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
   when asserted in the official papal capacity possess the quality
   referred to as infallibility.

   John Paul II, who was present and very influential at the Vatican II
   (1962-65), affirmed the teachings of that Council and did much to
   implement them. Nevertheless, his critics often wished aloud that he
   would embrace the so-called "progressive" agenda that some hoped would
   evolve as a result of the Council. In fact, the Council did not
   advocate "progressive" changes in these areas, e.g., still condemning
   the taking of unborn human life through abortion as an "unspeakable
   crime". John Paul II continued to declare that contraception, abortion,
   and homosexual acts were gravely sinful, and, with Cardinal Ratzinger
   (future Pope Benedict XVI), opposed Liberation theology.

   He affirmed the Church's exaltation of the marital act of sexual
   intercourse between a baptized man and woman within sacramental
   marriage as proper and exclusive to the sacrament of marriage that was,
   in every instance, profaned by contraception, abortion, divorce
   followed by a 'second' marriage, and by homosexual acts. Often
   mistakenly assumed to be a rejection against women, he definitively
   explained and asserted in 1994 for all time the Church's lack of
   authority to ordain women to the priesthood, without such authority
   such ordination is not legitimately compatible with fidelity to Christ.
   This was also called rejection of calls to break with the constant
   tradition of the Church by ordaining women to the priesthood. (
   Apostolic Letter 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis') In addition, John Paul II
   chose not to end the discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy,
   although in a small number of unusual circumstances, he did allow
   certain married clergymen of other Christian traditions who later
   became Catholic to be ordained as Catholic priests.

   John Paul II, as a writer of philosophical and theological thought, was
   characterized by his explorations in phenomenology and personalism. He
   is also known for his development of the Theology of the Body.

Pastoral trips

   Map indicating countries Pope John Paul II visited.
   Enlarge
   Map indicating countries Pope John Paul II visited.
   Millions cheer Pope John Paul II during his first visit to Poland as
   pontiff in 1979
   Enlarge
   Millions cheer Pope John Paul II during his first visit to Poland as
   pontiff in 1979

   During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II made 104 foreign trips, more
   than all previous popes put together. In total he logged more than 1.1
   million km (725,000 miles). He consistently attracted large crowds on
   his travels, some amongst the largest ever assembled in human history.
   While some of his trips (such as to the United States and the Holy
   Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI (the first pope
   to travel widely), many others were to places that no pope had ever
   visited before. 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 Poland, in June
   1979. In 1981, Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to visit Japan. In
   1982 he became the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom,
   where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of
   England.

   Throughout his trips, he stressed his devotion to the Blessed Virgin
   Mary through visits to various shrines to the Virgin Mary, notably
   Knock in Ireland, Fátima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico and Lourdes
   in France.

   In 1984 John Paul II became the first Pope to visit Korea and Puerto
   Rico. In 1988 he made a trip to Lesotho to beatify Joseph Gerrad. On 15
   January 1995 he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between four and
   eight million in Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, the largest ever
   papal crowd, and considered the largest single event in human history.
   On January 20, 1998, Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to
   visit Cuba. During his visit, John Paul sharply criticized Cuba's
   stance on religious expression, as well as US sanctions against Cuba.
   In 1995 he took a trip to South Africa, on which he met the former
   President Nelson Mandela. On 22 March 1998 he paid a second visit to
   Nigeria. Also in 1999 John Paul II made another of his multiple trips
   to the United States. In 2000 he became the first modern Catholic pope
   to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope and the Greek
   Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. In May 2001 the Pontiff took a
   pilgrimage that would trace the steps of his co-namesake, Saint Paul,
   across the Mediterranean, from Greece to Syria to Malta.

   Pope John Paul II was greeted by U.S. President Clinton and then-First
   Lady Hillary Clinton, for his Papal visit to St. Louis, MO in 1999.

   He was the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque,
   in Damascus, Syria. He visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist
   is believed to be interred.

   In September 2001 amid post-September 11 concerns, he travelled to
   Kazakhstan, with an audience of largely Muslims, as well as Armenia, to
   participate in the celebration of the 1700 years of Christianity in
   that nation.

Relations with other religions

   Pope John Paul II travelled extensively and came into contact with
   believers from many divergent faiths. He constantly attempted to find
   common ground, both doctrinal and dogmatic. At the World Day of Prayer
   for Peace, held in Assisi on October 27, 1986, more than 120
   representatives of different religions and Christian denominations
   spent a day together with fasting and praying.

Judaism

   Relations between Catholicism and Judaism improved during the
   pontificate of John Paul II. He spoke frequently about the Church's
   relationship with Jews.

   As a child, Karol Wojtyła had played sports with his many Jewish
   neighbors. In 1979 he became the first Pope to visit Auschwitz
   concentration camp in Poland, where many of his countrymen (mostly
   Polish Jews) had perished during the German Nazi occupation. He also
   became the first pope known to have made an official papal visit to a
   synagogue, when he visited the Synagogue of Rome on 13 April 1986.

   In March 2000, John Paul II visited Yad Vashem, (the Israeli national
   Holocaust memorial) in Israel and later made history by touching the
   holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, placing a
   letter inside it (in which he apologised for the Church's actions
   against Jews in the past). In October 2003 the Anti-Defamation League
   (ADL) issued a statement congratulating John Paul II on entering the
   25th year of his papacy.

   Immediately after the pope's death, the ADL issued a statement that
   Pope John Paul II had revolutionized Catholic-Jewish relations, saying
   that "more change for the better took place in his 27 year Papacy than
   in the nearly 2,000 years before." (Pope John Paul II: An Appreciation:
   A Visionary Remembered).

Eastern Orthodox Church

   In May 1999, John Paul II visited Romania on the invitation from
   Patriarch Teoctist of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This was the first
   time a pope had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since
   the Great Schism in 1054. On his arrival, the Patriarch and the
   President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, greeted the Pope. The
   Patriarch stated, "The second millennium of Christian history began
   with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this
   millennium has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity."

   John Paul II visited other heavily Orthodox areas such as Ukraine,
   despite lack of welcome at times, and he said that an end to the Schism
   was one of his fondest wishes.

   The Pope had also said throughout his pontificate that one of his
   greatest dreams was to visit Russia, but this never occurred. He had
   made several attempts to solve the problems which arose over a period
   of centuries between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches,
   like giving back the icon of Our Lady of Kazan in August 2004. However,
   the Orthodox Church never expressed much enthusiasm, making statements
   to the effect of: "The question of the visit of the Pope in Russia is
   not connected by the journalists with the problems between the
   Churches, which are now unreal to solve, but with giving back one of
   many sacred things, which were illegally stolen from Russia." (
   Vsevolod Chaplin).

Buddhism

   Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and the spiritual leader of Tibetan
   Buddhism, visited Pope John Paul II eight times, more than any other
   single dignitary. The Pope and the Dalai Lama often shared similar
   views and understood similar plights, both coming from peoples affected
   by communism.

Islam

   On May 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II became the first Roman Catholic pope
   to enter and pray in an Islamic mosque. He visited Umayyad Mosque in
   Damascus, Syria, where John the Baptist is believed to be interred, and
   gave a speech including the statement: "For all the times that Muslims
   and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness
   from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness." He also
   famously kissed the Quran in Syria , an act which made him popular
   amongst Muslims.

The Pope for youth

   Priest Karol Wojtyła on kayak trip
   Enlarge
   Priest Karol Wojtyła on kayak trip

   John Paul II had a special relationship also with Catholic youth and is
   known by some as The Pope for Youth. Before he was pope he used to camp
   and mountain hike with the youth. He still went mountain hiking when he
   was pope. He was a hero to many of them. Indeed, at gatherings, young
   Catholics, and conceivably non-Catholics, were often fond of chanting
   the phrase "JP Two, We Love You", and occasionally John Paul would
   retort "No. JP Two, He Loves YOU!" He was particularly concerned with
   the education of young future Priests, and made many early visits to
   Roman seminaries, including to the Venerable English College in 1979.

   He established World Youth Day in 1984 with the intention of bringing
   young Catholics from all parts of the world together to celebrate their
   faith. These week-long meetings of youth occur every two or three
   years, attracting hundreds of thousands of young people, who go there
   to sing, party, have a good time and deepen their faith. His most
   faithful youths gathered themselves in two organizations: "papaboys"
   and "papagirls."

Apologies

   Over the later parts of his reign, John Paul II made several apologies
   to various peoples that had been wronged by the Catholic Church through
   the years. Even before he became the Pope, he was a prominent supporter
   of initiatives like the Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops
   to the German Bishops from 1965. During his reign as a Pope, he
   publicly made apologies for over 100 of these wrongdoings, including:
     * The persecution of the Italian scientist and philosopher Galileo
       Galilei in the trial in 1633 ( 31 October 1992).
     * Catholic involvement with the African slave trade ( 9 August 1993).
     * The Church Hierarchy's role in burnings at the stake and the
       religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation (May 1995,
       in the Czech Republic).
     * The injustices committed against women in the name of Christ, the
       violation of women's rights and for the historical denigration of
       women ( 10 July 1995, in a letter to "every woman").
     * Inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust
       ( 16 March 1998).
     * For the execution of Jan Hus in 1415 ( 18 December 1999 in Prague).
       When John Paul II visited Prague in 1990s, he requested experts in
       this matter "to define with greater clarity the position held by
       Jan Hus among the Church's reformers, and acknowledged that
       "independently of the theological convictions he defended, Hus
       cannot be denied integrity in his personal life and commitment to
       the nation's moral education." It was another step in building a
       bridge between Catholics and Protestants.
     * For the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating "the
       rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and [for showing] contempt for
       their cultures and religious traditions". ( 12 March 2000, during a
       public Mass of Pardons).
     * For the sins of the Crusader attack on Constantinople in 1204. ( 4
       May 2001, to the Patriarch of Constantinople).
     * For missionary abuses in the past against indigenous peoples of the
       South Pacific ( 22 November 2001, via the Internet).
     * For the massacre of Aztecs and other Mesoamericans by the Spanish
       in the name of the Church.

Social and political stances

   John Paul II was a considered a conservative on doctrine and issues
   relating to reproduction and the ordination of women. No pope, however,
   has strayed from the Catholic Church's unbroken moral teachings on
   artificial contraception and the ordination of women.

   A series of 129 lectures given by John Paul during his Wednesday
   audiences in Rome between September 1979 and November 1984 were later
   compiled and published as a single work entitled " Theology of the
   Body," an extended meditation on the nature of human sexuality and
   masculinity in human life. He also extended it to condemnation of
   abortion, euthanasia and virtually all uses of capital punishment,
   calling them all a part of the " culture of death" that is pervasive in
   the modern world. He campaigned for world debt forgiveness and social
   justice.

Relations with dictatorships

   Illegal "postage stamps" with Pope John Paul II of Solidarność Walcząca
   ("Fighting Solidarity") - underground anticommunistic organization in
   Poland (est. 1982). Used not for letters, but as share sold for
   financial support the organization.
   Enlarge
   Illegal "postage stamps" with Pope John Paul II of Solidarność Walcząca
   ("Fighting Solidarity") - underground anticommunistic organization in
   Poland (est. 1982). Used not for letters, but as share sold for
   financial support the organization.

   In 1984 and 1986, through the voice of Cardinal Ratzinger, leader of
   the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, John Paul II officially
   condemned the Liberation theology which had many followers in South
   America. Oscar Romero's attempt, during his visit to Europe, to obtain
   a Vatican condemnation of El Salvador's regime, denounced for
   violations of human rights and its support of death squads, was a
   failure. In his travel to Managua, Nicaragua in 1983, John Paul II
   harshly condemned what he dubbed the "popular Church" (i.e. " ecclesial
   base communities" (CEBs) supported by the CELAM) and, against
   Nicaraguan clergy tendencies to support the leftist Sandinistas,
   insisted on Vatican's sole and only authority. John Paul II was also
   criticized for visiting Augusto Pinochet in Chile. He invited him to
   restore democracy, but, critics claim, not in as firm terms as the ones
   he used against communist countries. John Paul also allegedly endorsed
   Pío Cardinal Laghi, who critics say supported the " Dirty War" in
   Argentina and was on friendly terms with the Argentinean generals of
   the military dictatorship, allegedly playing regular tennis matches
   with general Jorge Rafael Videla. However, the Pope has been linked to
   the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier's dictatorship in Haiti. He is also
   critical of the Chinese government and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic
   Association running the church and appointing bishops without the
   consent of the Holy See, and maintained strong ties with underground
   Catholic groups.
   Lech Wałęsa, leader of Solidarność, received by Pope John Paul II in
   the Vatican in January 1981
   Enlarge
   Lech Wałęsa, leader of Solidarność, received by Pope John Paul II in
   the Vatican in January 1981

   The pope, who began his papacy when the Soviets controlled his native
   country of Poland, as well as the rest of Eastern Europe, was a harsh
   critic of communism, and supported the Polish Solidarity movement.
   Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev once said the collapse of the Iron
   Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II.

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   In later years, after having harshly condemned Liberation theology,
   John Paul II criticized some of the more extreme versions of
   capitalism.

Jubilee 2000 campaign

   In 2000 he publicly endorsed the Jubilee 2000 campaign on African debt
   relief fronted by Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono. It was reported
   that during this period, U2's recording sessions were repeatedly
   interrupted by phone calls from the pope, wanting to discuss the
   campaign with Bono.

Iraq war

   In 2003 John Paul II also became a prominent critic of the 2003 US-led
   invasion of Iraq. In his 2003 State of the World address the Pope
   declared his opposition to the invasion by stating, "No to war! War is
   not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity." He sent
   former Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States Pío Cardinal Laghi to
   talk with American President George W. Bush to express opposition to
   the war. John Paul II said that it was up to the United Nations to
   solve the international conflict through diplomacy and that a
   unilateral aggression is a crime against peace and a violation of
   international law.

European Constitutional Treaty

   In European Union negotiations for a new European Constitutional Treaty
   in 2003 and 2004, the Vatican's representatives failed to secure any
   mention of Europe's "Christian heritage"—one of the Pope's cherished
   goals.

Sex issues

   The pope was also a leading critic of homosexual marriage. In his last
   book, Memory and Identity, he referred to the "pressures" on the
   European Parliament to permit homosexual marriage. In the book, as
   quoted by Reuters, he wrote: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask
   oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps
   more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against
   the family and against man."

   The Pope also reaffirmed the Church's teaching on gender in relation to
   transsexuals, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which
   he supervised, made clear that the condition must be seen as a mental
   illness and that transsexuals could not serve in church positions.

Theory of evolution and the interpretation of Genesis

   In an October 22, 1996 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences,
   Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the Church's openness to the theory of
   evolution:

          "In his encyclical Humani Generis (1950), my predecessor Pius
          XII has already affirmed that there is no conflict between
          evolution and the doctrine of the faith regarding man and his
          vocation, provided that we do not lose sight of certain fixed
          points....Today, more than a half-century after the appearance
          of that encyclical, some new findings lead us toward the
          recognition of evolution as more than an hypothesis. In fact it
          is remarkable that this theory has had progressively greater
          influence on the spirit of researchers, following a series of
          discoveries in different scholarly disciplines. The convergence
          in the results of these independent studies -- which was neither
          planned nor sought -- constitutes in itself a significant
          argument in favour of the theory." (John Paul II, Message to the
          Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution)

   In the same address, the Pope rejected any theory of evolution that
   provides a materialistic explanation for the human soul:

          "Theories of evolution which, because of the philosophies which
          inspire them, regard the spirit either as emerging from the
          forces of living matter, or as a simple epiphenomenon of that
          matter, are incompatible with the truth about man."

   John Paul II also wrote to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on the
   subject of cosmology and how to interpret Genesis:

          "Cosmogony and cosmology have always aroused great interest
          among peoples and religions. The Bible itself speaks to us of
          the origin of the universe and its make-up, not in order to
          provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to state the
          correct relationships of man with God and with the universe.
          Sacred Scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was
          created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expresses
          itself in the terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the
          writer. The Sacred Book likewise wishes to tell men that the
          world was not created as the seat of the gods, as was taught by
          other cosmogonies and cosmologies, but was rather created for
          the service of man and the glory of God. Any other teaching
          about the origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the
          intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how heaven
          was made but how one goes to heaven." (Pope John Paul II, 3
          October 1981 to the Pontifical Academy of Science, "Cosmology
          and Fundamental Physics")

Criticisms

   Pope John Paul II had many critics from many perspectives, both inside
   and outside the Church.

   When the Cold War ended, some argued that the Pope moved too far left
   on foreign policy, and had pacifist views that were too extreme. His
   opposition to the war in Iraq was criticized for this reason.

   John Paul II was criticized from the left for his support of the Opus
   Dei prelature and the canonization of its founder, Jose María Escrivá,
   whose detractors call him an admirer of Spanish dictator Francisco
   Franco. Other prelatures and congregations went decidedly under his
   wing ( Legion of Christ, Catecumenos, Schoenstatt, Carismáticos, etc.)
   and he was accused repeatedly of waving a soft hand on them, especially
   in the case of Rev. Marcial Maciel, leader of the Legion of Christ, in
   spite of blatant accusations of child abuse.

   John Paul II's steadfast defense of the moral teachings of the Catholic
   Church regarding gender roles, sexuality and artificial contraception
   came under attack. Some feminists criticized his positions on the roles
   of women. Many gay-rights activists criticized him for his
   uncompromising fidelity to the unchanged Catholic teaching on
   homosexual practices and its modern-day application to the concepts of
   same-sex marriage. Claims were made that John Paul II's papacy spread
   an unproven belief that condoms do not block the spread of HIV; many
   critics have blamed this for contributing to AIDS epidemics in Africa
   and elsewhere in which millions have died. Critics have also claimed
   that large families are caused by lack of contraception and exacerbate
   Third World poverty and problems such as street children in South
   America.

   In addition to all the criticism from those demanding modernization,
   Traditional Catholics were at times equally vehement in denouncing him
   from the right, demanding a return to the Tridentine Mass and
   repudiation of the reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council,
   such as the use of the vernacular language in the formerly Latin rite
   Mass, ecumenism, and the principle of religious liberty. He was also
   accused by these critics as allowing and appointing liberal bishops in
   their sees and thus silently promoting Modernism, which was firmly
   condemned as the "synthesis of all heresies" by his predecessor Pope
   St. Pius X. In 1988, the controversial traditionalist Archbishop Marcel
   Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X (1970), was declared to
   be excommunicated after the unapproved ordination of four bishops,
   which was called by the Holy See a "schismatic act". The International
   Peace Prayer Conference John Paul II held in Assisi, Italy, in 1986 was
   heavily criticized as giving the impression that syncretism and/or
   indifferentism were openly embraced by the papal magisterium. When the
   second instance the Conference was held, in 2002, it was condemned as
   confusing the laity and compromising to "false religions". Likewise
   criticized were his kissing of the Quran in Damascus, Syria, on one of
   his travels on May 6th, 2001 - ( a thorough analysis). His call for
   religious freedom was not always supported; bishops like Antônio de
   Castro Mayer promoted religious tolerance, but at the same time
   rejected the Vatican II principle of religious liberty as being
   liberalist and already condemned by Pope Pius IX in his Syllabus
   errorum ( 1864) and at the First Vatican Council.

   John Paul II was also criticized for failing to respond quickly enough
   to the sex abuse crisis, and for recentralizing power back to the
   Vatican following what some viewed as a decentralization by Pope John
   XXIII. As such he was regarded by some as a strict authoritarian.
   Conversely, he was also criticized for spending far too much time
   preparing for and undertaking foreign travel. The frequency of his
   trips, it was said, not only undermined the "specialness" of papal
   visits, but took him away from important business at the Vatican and
   allowed the Church, administratively speaking, to drift.

   There was some criticism of the pope for the controversy surrounding
   the alleged use of charitable social programs as a means of converting
   people to in the Third World to Catholicism. The Pope created an uproar
   in the Indian subcontinent when he suggested that a great harvest of
   faith would be witnessed on the subcontinent in the third Christian
   millennium.

   Because of the many criticisms he received during this lifetime,
   including many assassination attempts, and due to the downfall of many
   of his detractors in contrast with his posthumous fame and respect,
   John Paul II has been called by some theologians a sign of
   contradiction (a sign that is spoken against), a term which John Paul
   II suggests in his book of the same title as "a distinctive definition
   of Christ and of his Church."

Trivia

   Pope John Paul II appears on the Vatican's €1 coin.
   Enlarge
   Pope John Paul II appears on the Vatican's €1 coin.
     * In 1988, when the Pope delivered a speech to the European
       Parliament, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian
       Paisley, shouted "Antichrist, I denounce you and your false
       teaching!" and held up a poster reading "Pope John Paul II
       Antichrist". The Pope continued with his address after Paisley was
       ejected from the auditorium.
     * John Paul II's apostolic motto was Totus Tuus ("totally yours"); he
       borrowed the motto from the Marian consecrating prayer of Saint
       Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort.
     * According to a New York Post article of 19 February 2002, John Paul
       II personally performed three exorcisms during his tenure as pope.
       The first exorcism was performed on a woman in 1982. His second was
       in September 2000 when he performed the rite on a 19 year-old woman
       who had become enraged in St Peter's Square. A year later, in
       September 2001, he performed an exorcism on a 20 year-old woman.
     * The John Paul II International Airport ( IATA: KRK), in Balice,
       Poland, near Kraków where he served as Archbishop before being
       elected Pope, was named in his honour.
     * In 2004 he received an extraordinary Charlemagne Award of the city
       of Aachen, Germany.
     * The Harlem Globetrotters visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
       in November of 2000 and named the Pontiff an Honorary Harlem
       Globetrotter.
     * The action-thriller novel, Red Rabbit (2002) by Tom Clancy,
       detailed a fictional KGB attempt to assassinate a newly appointed
       Polish Pope, who, though not mentioned by name, is obviously
       supposed to be John Paul II.
     * On 23 March 1999, John Paul II released his debut CD " Abbà Pater".
     * John Paul II has been featured on at least seven popular albums in
       his native Poland. Most notably singer/songwriter Stanislaw Sojka’s
       2003 album, “Jan Pawel II -- Tryptyk Rzymski”, a ten-track
       collection of the Pope's poems set to music, reached No. 1.
     * In 2003, his death was incorrectly announced by CNN when his
       pre-written obituary (along with those of several other famous
       figures) was inadvertently published on CNN's web site due to a
       lapse in password protection.
     * A popular story in chess circles states that a certain Karol
       Wojtyła had published a chess problem in 1946. Although the young
       Wojtyła was indeed an accomplished chess player, the story of this
       publication appears to be a hoax whose roots were uncovered by
       Tomasz Lissowski.
     * In 2004 John Paul II met members of the Polish National Football
       Team. It was at this time he told Liverpool Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek
       that he was a keen fan of his and followed Liverpool whenever they
       played.
     * John Paul II is the eighth most admired person in the 20th century,
       according to Gallup.
     * John Paul II was an avid football player in his youth and later
       became an honorary member of FC Barcelona and Schalke 04. He was a
       goalkeeper.
     * John Paul II is the only Pope that appears as a main character in
       his own comic book and animation feature.

Films about Pope John Paul II

     * " Pope John Paul II: The Movie", directed by Herbert Wise, starring
       Albert Finney, Nigel Hawthorne, Alfred Burke, John McEnery, Patrick
       Stewart.
     * " Pope John Paul's Third Pilgrimage to His Homeland", a documentary
       on John Paul's June 1987 visit to Poland.
     * " From a Far Country (1981)", directed by Krzysztof Zanussi.
     * " The Millennial Pope: John Paul II (1999) (TV), a documentary
       directed by Helen Whitney.
     * " Karol: A Man Who Became Pope" , polish title: Karol. Człowiek,
       który został papieżem, 2005, a documentary, directed by Giacomo
       Batiatto, based upon the book Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of
       John Paul II by Gian Franco Svidercoschi.
     * " Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II" (2005) , a two-hour
       movie based on the life of Pope John Paul, shot on location in Rome
       and Lithuania, was broadcast on Thursday, December 1, 2005
       (8:00-10:00 PM,ET/PT).
     * " Pope John Paul II" (2005) , , , a new four-hour mini-series event
       based on the remarkable life of Pope John Paul II, shot on location
       in Krakow, Poland and in Italy, was broadcast Sunday, 4 December
       (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) and Wednesday, 7 December (8:00-10:00 PM,
       ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Cary Elwes portrays Karol
       Wojtyła in his adult years prior to being elected Pope on 16
       October 1978, and Academy Award winner and multiple Golden Globe
       Award winner Jon Voight portrays him during his extraordinary
       26-year reign that ended with his death on April 2, 2005. It was
       approved and blessed by the Pope Benedict XVI.
     * "A Time Remembered - The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland"
       (2005), a film produced by Radio Telefís Éireann ( RTÉ), the
       national broadcaster of Ireland, showing footage from the three day
       visit in 1979.
     * " Karol: The Pope, The Man" world debut was on Easter Sunday and
       Monday of 2006, and is the continuation of " Karol: A Man Who
       Became Pope." It stars the same actors as the first mini-series.
     * "The Life of Pope John Paul II", a 4 chapter series by NBC News
     * " John Paul II - The Friend of All Humanity" 60-minute cartoon
       available on multilingual DVD by Cavin Cooper Productions

Honours

   Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland
   Islands, Antarctica is named for Pope John Paul II in recognition of
   his outstanding contribution to world peace and understanding among
   people.

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