Pope John Paul II
Life, Writings
and Galleries
Pope John Paul II...
Short Biography
Life before Papacy...Gallery
Election as Pope,
October 16, 1978
Life as Pope...Galleries
Pope Shot!...Gallery John Paul II Gallery
Trips... Galleries and Speeches
The Pope and Religions
The Pope and Communism
Youth Day Holy Mass
Virgin Mary-Rosary
Canonizations Gallery
100th
Papal Pilgrimage
25th Anniversary, 2003
Encyclicals, Books, Writings
Death Gallery
Election of a Pope
Only Two More Popes after John Paul II
Prophecies of St. Malachy
on the Last Popes
Links
John Paul
the Great
Many have been calling our dear Pope John Paul II
"the great." Have any other popes had this title?
Enlarge Coat of
Arms:
Signature and Motto... the reason why he became a Priest
John
Paul II - Pope Number 264... the 263rd Successor of Peter:
Karol Józef Wojtyła, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Wadowice, Krakov (Poland) on May 18, 1920.
John Paul II has been credited with helping to bring down communism in eastern Europe by sparking what amounted to a peaceful revolution in his Polish homeland; seeking to heal divisions between Christians and Jews and Muslims and all religions; and working tirelessly for peace in the world, most recently in Iraq.
The 83-year-old pope suffers from Parkinson’s disease since January 2001. His 25th anniversary as Pope, in 2003, highlighted John Paul’s role as one of the most influential religious figures of the last century as he reached a milestone matched by only three of his predecessors.
John Paul is the most-traveled Pope ever, visiting 129 different countries in 102 foreign trips...plus 143 trips within Italy... and as Bishop of Rome he has visited 301 of the 334 parishes, some of them several times.
He made more Saints than any of his predecessors over the past 500 years combined — a total of 476 so far in 2003 — plus 1,315 Blesseds proclaimed, among them, Maximillian Kolbe, Sister Faustina, Father Escriva, Padre Pio, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Juan Diego of Guadalupe, Jacinta and Francisco of Fatima...
Theologian, writer and poet, He published the typically edition of the New-Vulgate Bible... His principal documents include 14 encyclicals , 15 apostolic exhortations , 11 apostolic constitutions and 42 apostolic letters. The Pope has also published three books : "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (October 1994); "Gift and Mystery: On the 50th Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination" (November 1996) and "Roman Tryptych - Meditations", a book of poems (March 2003).
He elected new
201 Cardinals and
coiled the Bishops' Synods.
John Paul
II also
ushered the Vatican into the media age, becoming something of a superstar and
drawing cheering crowds wherever he went, particularly among the young. Over the
course of his pontificate, more than 16.7 million people by Vatican statistics
attended his weekly Wednesday general.
"He is truly the global pope," said
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, Austria and a man
mentioned as a possible successor to John Paul II.
He has tried to create bridges with Orthodox and with all Christian Denominations, starting with the meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch Demetrius I in Constantinople (1979).
This Pope is a friend of the Jewish people because he knows Jewish people... Indeed, he became the first Pope to visit a synagogue and the first to visit the memorial at Auschwitz to victims of the Holocaust. In ending the Catholic-Jewish estrangement, he called Jews "our elder brothers."
Respectfully removing his shoes,
John Paul becomes the first pope to enter a Mosque
when he tours a 1,300-year-old Islamic house of worship in Damascus, Syria...
and in 2000 he meets the
top political leaders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian authority.
John Paul II receives Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat at
the Vatican, provoking criticism from Israel and Jewish groups.
Sept. 15, 1982.
He has also met and established dialogue with many Buddhist and Hindu leaders... and with atheists and Communists as Gorbachev, Fidel Castro...
The Pontiff arranges the first meeting ever between a Pope and a Kremlin chief. He meets Mikhail Gorbachev in the Vatican. They announce the Vatican and Moscow will establish diplomatic ties.
On church doctrine,
John Paul has toed a conservative line: abortion, contraception and euthanasia
are all banned in the church under John Paul II. He ruled out letting priests marry
or allowing women to be ordained, and recently endorsed a worldwide campaign to
keep same-sex unions from receiving legal recognition.
In the 1995 encyclical
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) he reasserted
the church's condemnation of abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment,
calling them all part of the "Culture of Death" that pervades the modern world.
His stands on capital punishment, world debt forgiveness, and poverty issues are
considered liberal, showing that 'conservative' and 'liberal' labels do not ride
easily on religious leaders.
- KAROL JÓSEF WOJTYŁA:
Born in Wadowice, Kraków,
Poland., May 18, 1920.
- Elected
Pope October 16, 1978. He's the first polish Pontiff,
and after 445 Years he's not an Italian Pope (since
Adriano VI).
- He met
the Orthodox Patriarch Demetrius I in Constantinople (1979).
- He has
been Invited to speak to the UN (2/10/79).
- During
the audience in St. Peter Square in Rome he was seriously wounded in a fire
attempt (13/5/81).
- He
summoned the second extraordinary Jubilee Year of Redemption (25/3/83 22/4/84).
- The
18/2/84 he signed the Review of Convention (11 February 29) between the Holy See
and Italy.
- In the
Roman Synagogue he hugged the Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome in a
reconciliation sign (13/4/1986).
- He prayed
for Peace with the world religious representatives in Assisi (27/I0/86).
- He was
present at the European Parliament (I 1/10/88).
- He died on April 2, 2005 in the Vatican, Rome, at
the age of 84
For me, a most
significant fact of his life is that John Paul II goes to Confession every day,
celebrates the Holy Mass daily, and prays at least 3 Rosaries a day...really a
prayer and devout life!... how often do we go to Confession?...
The Popes:
Information Center - Catholic News
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0264vg.htm
click the thumbnail for the full size image
http://www.mexicosiemprefiel... Habemus Papa
Links:
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_breve_en.html
http://members.tripod.com/~cckswong/pope201_264.htm#264
http://www.msnbc.com/news/979491.asp?vts=101620030946
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/30/world/main575864.shtml
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/pope/photo.essay/
http://www.aciprensa.com/papa.htm
http://mexicosiemprefiel.com/galeria/top.php
http://mexicosiemprefiel.com/galeria/
http://www.aciprensa.com/Banco/juanpabloii.htm
http://www.staticfiends.com/pope/pope1.htm
http://my.homewithgod.com/israel/holyfather/
http://www.catholic.net/RCC/POPE/pics/pope.html
http://www.zpub.com/un/pope/
http://www.zamnet.zm/pope8.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
http://www.cbcisite.com/popejohnpaulII.html
http://www.daughtersofstpaul.com/johnpaulpapacy/meetjp/thepope/
http://www.di-forgod.com/rome2003/stpeters.htm
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