The Venerable Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II), born Karol Józef Wojtyła (18 May 1920 -- 2 April 2005), reigned as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005. His was the second-longest documented pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer (St. Peter the Apostle is reputed to have served for more than thirty years as the first pontiff, but documentation is too sparse to definitively support this). He has been the only Slavic or Polish Pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI in 1522.[1] John Paul II has been acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century.[2] It is widely held that he was instrumental in ending Communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] as well as significantly improving the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism,[1][7][8] Islam,[9][10] the Eastern Orthodox Church,[1] and the Anglican Communion.[1][11] Though criticised[1][7][12] for his opposition to contraception and the ordination of women, as well as his support for the Second Vatican Council and its reform of the Liturgy,[1][13][14] he has also been praised[1][12] for his firm, orthodox Catholic stances in these areas. He was one of the most-travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate.[5] He spoke the following languages: Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Esperanto, Ancient Greek and Latin as well as his native Polish.[15] As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 people and canonised 483 saints,[16][17][18] more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the last five centuries.[18][19][20][21][22][23] On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed "Venerable" by his papal successor Pope Benedict XVI[24][25][26][27] and is set to be beatified on 1 May 2011. During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II made trips to 129 countries,[5] and logged more than 1.1 million km (725,000 miles). He consistently attracted large crowds on his travels, some amongst the largest ever assembled in human history like the Manila World Youth Day, which gathered around 5 million people.[66] Some have suggested that it may have been the largest Christian gathering ever, although this is not certain.[67] Two of John Paul II's earliest official visits were to Mexico in January, 1979 and Poland in June 1979, where he was constantly surrounded by ecstatic crowds.[68] This first trip to Poland uplifted the whole nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement in 1980, which brought freedom and human rights to his troubled country.[7] On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to the organization.[7] Successive trips reinforced this message and Poland began the process that would finally defeat the domination of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe in 1989.[2][3][4][5][6][68] While some of his trips (such as to the United States and the Holy Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope to visit the White House during his October 1979 U.S. trip, where he was greeted warmly by then-President Jimmy Carter. He also travelled to countries that no pope had ever visited before. He was the first pope to visit Mexico in January, 1979,[69] before his initial trip to Poland as Pope, as well as to Ireland later that year.[70][71] He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, in 1982,[72] where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.[72] He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in Creole to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti", referring to the disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause.[73] In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt,[74] where he met with the Coptic pope, Pope Shenouda III[74] and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.[74][75] He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus, Syria in 2001. He visited the Umayyad Mosque, a former Christian church where John the Baptist is believed to be interred,[9] where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to work together.[9][10]

• published: 17 Jan 2011
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