Polish pontiff elected in times of great change
TODAY marks 43 years since John Paul II was elected Pope — just a year before his famous trip to Ireland.
He was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in the Polish town of Wadowice on May 18, 1920, going on to study philosophy and literature in Krakow.
By 1941, his mother, father, and only brother had all died, leaving him the sole surviving member of his family.
Although he had been involved in the church his whole life, it was not until 1942 that he began seminary training. When the war ended, he returned to school to study theology, becoming an ordained priest in 1946.
On July 4, 1958, at the age of 38, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow by Pope Pius XII. He later became the city’s archbishop, where he spoke out for religious freedom
whi le the church began the Second Vatican Council, which would revolutionise Catholicism.
Hewasmadeacardinalin1967, taking on the challenges of living and working as a Catholic priest in communist Eastern Europe.
Wojtyla was quietly and slowly building a reputation as a powerful preacher and a man of both great intellect and charisma. Still, when Pope John Paul I died in 1978 after only a 34- day reign, few suspected Wojtyla would be chosen to replace him.
Young
But, after seven rounds of balloting, the Sacred College of Cardinals chose the 58- year- old, and on October 16, 1978, he became the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years and the youngest to be chosen in 132 years.
The following year he became the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting with
Mexico and Ireland.
He was canonised in
2014.