Feast day: 22 October
Saint John Paul II
Ioannes Paulus II
Karol Wojtyła, the Polish pope of twenty-seven years who defended human dignity against totalitarianism, travelled to 129 countries and taught the Church a theology of the body and of divine mercy.
- Born
- 18 May 1920, Wadowice (Poland)
- Died
- 2 April 2005, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
- Canonization
- Beatified 1 May 2011 by Benedict XVI; canonized 27 April 2014 by Pope Francis.
- Country
- Poland
Biography
Youth under occupation
Karol Józef Wojtyła lost his mother at nine, his brother at twelve and his father at twenty. Under Nazi occupation he worked in a quarry and a chemical plant while studying in a clandestine seminary in Kraków under Cardinal Sapieha. He was ordained priest on 1 November 1946.
Bishop, philosopher and Council father
A professor of ethics at Lublin, he became auxiliary bishop of Kraków in 1958 and archbishop in 1964, taking part in all sessions of the Second Vatican Council and contributing to Gaudium et Spes and the declaration on religious freedom. Paul VI created him cardinal in 1967.
The pontificate
Elected on 16 October 1978, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, he opened with the cry 'Be not afraid!'. He survived the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981 and forgave his attacker. His pilgrimages to Poland strengthened Solidarity and helped bring down communism without violence. He promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) and the revised Code of Canon Law (1983), founded World Youth Day, canonized more saints than all his predecessors together, and bore Parkinson's disease publicly until his death in the Octave of Easter 2005.
Timeline
- 1920 — Born at Wadowice
- 1946 — Ordained a priest in Kraków
- 1964 — Archbishop of Kraków
- 1978 — Elected Pope John Paul II
- 1981 — Survives assassination attempt in Saint Peter's Square
- 2000 — Great Jubilee and pilgrimage to the Holy Land
- 2005 — Dies on 2 April, vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday
- 2014 — Canonized by Pope Francis
Dates marked ~ are traditional or debated among historians.
Symbols
Crozier with the crucified Christ — His pastoral staff, carried on every continent.
Letter M and the motto Totus Tuus — Total consecration to the Virgin Mary.
Virtues & spiritual lessons
Courage before totalitarian power, forgiveness of his would-be assassin, tireless prayer, and the offering of illness and old age as a final catechesis on human dignity.
Importance in the Church
He gave the post-conciliar Church a confident interpretation of Vatican II, defended the gospel of life, opened dialogue with Judaism, Islam and the Orthodox Churches, and established Divine Mercy Sunday for the universal Church.
Miracles
Two healings were approved by the Holy See: the French religious Marie Simon-Pierre, cured of Parkinson's disease in 2005, and the Costa Rican Floribeth Mora Díaz, healed of a cerebral aneurysm in 2011.
Quotes
“Be not afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ!”
Homily at the inauguration of his pontificate, 22 October 1978
“Man cannot live without love.”
Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, n. 10, 1979
“The future starts today, not tomorrow.”
Address to young people
Writings
Redemptor Hominis (1979) — His first encyclical, on Christ as the redeemer of the human person.
Evangelium Vitae (1995) — The gospel of life against abortion and euthanasia.
Man and Woman He Created Them (Theology of the Body) — 129 Wednesday catecheses on human love in the divine plan.
Prayers
Act of entrustment: Totus Tuus
I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother.
Latin: Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria.
His papal motto, drawn from Saint Louis de Montfort's act of consecration.
Places
Wadowice, Poland — His birthplace, now a museum beside the parish church.
Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican — His tomb at the altar of Saint Sebastian.
Kraków, Poland — Where he was ordained and served as archbishop.
Entries are drawn from the Roman Martyrology, the General Roman Calendar, canonization records of the Holy See, and the saints' own writings. Where a date, quotation or attribution is uncertain, it is marked as such. (63 saints)