Pope John Paul II
STUDY SKILLS PRESENTATION
Pope John Paul II made history in 1978 when he became the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years
and the very first Slavic pope. Throughout his life he was also a poet, dramatist, actor, priest, archbishop,
cardinal, philosopher, and university professor who spent the majority of his life living under totalitarian
regimes, first with the Nazis occupation of Poland and later under the Communism of the Soviet Union.
Born Karol Józef Wojtyla on May 18th, 1920 in Wadowice Poland, Wojtyla was the third child of Emilia
and Karol Wojtyla Senior. His youth was riddled with tragedy, his mother died in 1929 when he was
barely 9 years old. He had an older sister, Olga, who died as an infant before he was born as well as an
older brother, Edmund, a physician, who died in 1932 after contracting scarlet fever from the hospital
where he worked. Following the death of his mother he became much closer with his father, a deeply
religious army sergeant whom Wojtyla accredits as the source of his faith.
Wojtyla completed his schooling at a local school in Wadowice, upon graduating he enrolled at the
University of Krakow in 1938. During this time he also became quite involved with the local theatre.
When the Nazi forces closed the university in 1939, Wojtyla co-founded the Rhapsodic Theatre of
Krakow, an underground theatre group which served as a type of resistance against the Nazis with the
aim of maintaining Polish culture through drama and poetry. He performed in many of the theatre’s
illegal productions which were held in homes. From 1939-40 he also wrote 3 plays based on the Bible,
inspired by the books of Job, Jeramiah, and David, respectively. This period of Nazi occupation lasted
from 1940 until 1944, during which he publicly worked at a quarry and then at a chemical factory both
to make a living and avoid deportation to Germany. However, Wojtyla secretly continued to pursue his
university studies among 800 other of his peers as 136 professors from his university risked their lives
to continue delivering their lectures in secret, usually at night within private homes.
At just 22 years old, following the death of his father in 1941, Wojtyla joined an underground seminary,
thus commencing his studies towards priesthood. During this time he both lived and took secret classes
at the residence of the Archbishop of Krakow, disguised as a cleric. Once the war was over Wojtyla
was ordained as a priest on All Saints Day, 1946 and soon after was sent to Rome where he received
his doctorate in Theology. He then went on to become bishop of Umbi in 1958 and archbishop of
Krakow in 1964.
Wojtyla was elected Pope on the 16th of October 1978, where he took the name John Paul II. Throughout
the remainder of his life he undertook 104 foreign trips, visiting close to 130 countries. He is known for
his promotion of understanding between nations and his opposition of political oppression. In the year
1981 at attempt on his life was made by a Turkish political extremist, fortunately he recovered and
famously visited the would-be assassin in prison to personally forgive him
Pope John Paul II died on the 2nd of April 2005. The usual 5 year waiting period was waivered by
Pope Benedict XVI, and he was canonized on the 27th April 2014.