Pope John Paul II

Karol Józef Wojtyła was born on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, the youngest of three children of a devout Catholic family. His early life was shaped by loss — his mother died when he was eight, his older brother when he was twelve, and his father when he was twenty. By then, he was alone.

He studied Polish literature at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków until the Nazi occupation of Poland forced the university underground. During the war years he worked in a quarry and chemical factory while secretly studying for the priesthood. He was ordained on November 1, 1946.

His rise through the Church was rapid. He was appointed bishop in 1958, Archbishop of Kraków in 1964, and elevated to cardinal in 1967. On October 16, 1978, he was elected Pope — the first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years and the first Polish pope in history. He took the name John Paul II.

His 26-year pontificate was one of the most consequential in modern history. He traveled to 129 countries — more than any pope before him — and drew millions to World Youth Days he personally founded. His moral and political witness was widely credited as a decisive factor in the peaceful collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. He was shot and nearly killed in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981; he later visited his would-be assassin in prison and publicly forgave him.

He died on April 2, 2005, to an outpouring of grief that drew an estimated four million people to Rome. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011, and canonized by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014, alongside Pope John XXIII.