Foto karol wojtyla biography

Head of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see John Paul II (disambiguation), Pope John Paul II (disambiguation), Saint John Paul II (disambiguation), JP2 (disambiguation), and Karol Wojtyla (disambiguation).

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Polish:[ˈkarɔlˈjuzɛvvɔjˈtɨwa]; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha, he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kraków and then a cardinal, both positions held by his mentor. Wojtyła was elected pope on the third day of the second papal conclave of 1978, and became one of the youngest popes in history. The conclave was called after the death of John Paul I, who served only 33 days as pope. Wojtyła adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him.

John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history after Pius IX and St. Peter. John Paul II attempted to improve the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the spirit of ecumenism, holding atheism

Pope John Paul II,  canonised as Pope Saint John Paul II

Family

Karol Wojtyła's father - Karol senior  - was born in Lipnik near Biała on 18 July 1879. At the age of 21, he was called up to the Imperial Army and began his military service in the 56th Infantry Regiment stationed in Wadowice (56 Galizisches Infanterieregiment 'graf Daun') and then, with the rank of senior private (gefreiter), was transferred to the Lvov Infantry Cadet School as an instructor. In 1904, platoon sergeant (zugsführer) Wojtyla returned to his home barracks in Wadowice.

Two years later, on 10 February 1906, at the Garrison Church of St Peter and St Paul in Kraków, Karol married Emilia Kaczorowska (1884-1929). Being an account officer, the father of the future Pope worked for the next few years in the regimental command, and the young couple's life went on between Wadowice and Kraków. In Kraków, Edmund Antoni, the Wojtyła's first son, was born on 28 August 1906. The family of the future saint moved permanently to Wadowice in 1913.

During the First World War, when Karol senior was temporarily evacuated to Hranice in Moravia, on 7 July 1916 in Biała, the only daughter of the Wojtyła's, Olga Maria, was born and died on the same day.

Wadowice

'[- -] here, in this city everything started. And life began, and school began, and study began, and theatre began. And the priesthood began'

(John Paul II, homily during his pilgrimage to his hometown, 16 June 1999)

Karol Józef Wojtyła - the future pope and saint - was born just after 5 p.m. on 18 May 1920 in a small flat rented by the Wojtyła family on the first floor of a tenement owned by the Jewish merchant Chiel Bałamuth. One entered the two-room flat at 7/4 Kościelna Street through the kitchen. First, however, one had to climb a winding staircase leading from a small courtyard to the balcony, where the front door was located. Looking out of the kitchen window onto Kościelna Street, one could see the cobbled

Long before he became Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978, Karol Józef Wojtyła was born on May 18, 1920,  in the small town of Wadowice, Poland, which is 50 kilometers from Krakow. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. His father, was a non-commissioned army officer and his mother was a school teacher.

When Karol was conceived, Emilia was warned by her doctor that her life was at risk, due to her severe heart-condition. He not only thought that she had no chance of giving birth to a live child but recommended an abortion to save her life.  But Emilia would have none of it and trusted in God.  Nevertheless, Karol was born healthy and was baptized in the parish church of Wadowice, on June 20, 1920, by Fr. Franciszek Zak.   In 1929, when he was 8, he received his First Holy Communion. Tragically, later that year, his mother died with the next pregnancy.

His father was a devout man and had great influence in Karol’s life.  Soon after his mother died, his father took him to the St. Florian Retreat Centre, brought Karol to the chapel, then before the Marian Shrine of the Black Madonna, he told Karol: “She is your mother now”.  His closeness to Our Lady grew from there, eventually becoming his Papal motto: “Totus Tuus”, which means “All Yours!” which is similar to our Lady’s “Fiat!”, “Let what you have said be done to me!”

Throughout his life, Karol was healthy and athletic and loved many different sports, but particularly loved being the goalie,when playing soccer.  There were many Jewish students among his classmates whom he considered friends.  To balance the team, he frequently played as goalie on the Jewish sports team.  For a short time, he even had a Jewish girlfriend.

Despite their age difference, Karol looked up to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, and was very close to him.  After Edmund graduated from the Jagiellonian University

Karol Jozef Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city fifty kilometres from Krakow, on 18 May 1920. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941. A sister, Olga, had died before he was born.

He was baptised on June 20, 1920 in the parish church of Wadowice by Fr Franciszek Zak, made his First Holy Communion at the age of nine and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Krakow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic Theatre," also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha in Krakow on November 1, 1946.

Shortly afterwards, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the subject of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross (Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce). At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

In 1948 he returned to Poland a