John Paul the 2nd's Life and Death

Pope John Paul II, had been the leader of the Roman Catholic Church since 1978. Before his death he had assumed a greater political role in world affairs than any other Pope in recent history. He was fluent in eight languages, and was a frequent traveler of the world and was the first Pope in over 60 years to visit an Islamic country. Pope John Paul II has extended his influence in farthest reaches of the world. He became the most influential promoter for peace and human rights in the last two decades. Through his life and death no one man has had more influence in more people's life then John Paul II.

John Paul II was know by many names: The Pope, The Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of St. Peter, Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, he was know to his parents as Karol Jozef Wojtyla. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. He was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, a town small town of 8,000 other Catholics families. There was also a fairly high Jewish population in Wadowice which would later lead to John Pauls improving relations between Catholics and Jews

His father was a retired army officer and his mother was a teacher. A week before his 9th birthday his mother passed away just before giving birth to a third child due to heart and kidney problems. Three years later his older passed away at the age of 26 because of scarlet fever, a skin infection like strep throat that causes rashes that's rarely fatal. For most of his life he lived with his father in a one room apartment behind a church in Spartan. His father devoted himself to raising his son a catholic and putting him through college. He tried to develop the same discipline in his son that was nstilled in him when he was a soldier.

In 1938 a young John Paul II enrolled at Jafiellonian University to study literature and philosophy. He was an excellent student and seemed to gravitate towards poetry and theater in college. He was also very athletic, he hiked and regularly skied and played soccer regularly. Two years into his college career the Nazis invaded Poland, so in order to avoid being forced into going to war for the Third Reich he took a job at a stone quarry. While working as a stone cutter he still attended college. Things didn't get better for him though because a year later his father died at the age of 62. In the last conversation John Paul had with is father before he died his father told him, "I will not live long and would like to be certain before I die that you will commit yourself to God's service." (People Magazine).

After his father passed away he started taking theology courses in college and began to study to become ordained. However it wasn't that easy, in 1944 the Nazis began to round of polish men to fight for them. It was then that took up refuge in the archbishop of Krakow's residence, and hid out there until the end of the war. While he was there he continued his studies of theology and philosophy. He became ordained in 1946 but still remained in college and earned two masters degrees and a doctorate. Luckily for him his first foray into priesthood put him as a priest at St. Florians church in Krakow, which was right next to Jagiellonian University, where he was working on a second doctorate.

As if going to school and working as a clergy member at St. Florians he also taught at the Catholic University of Lublin. Which was the only Catholic university in the communist world, and taught there as a professor of ethics for free. He also founded and ran a service that dealt with marital problems, the first of its kind in Poland. Due to all of his work he was appointed to the Chair of Ethics at Catholic University of Lublin band was named the auxiliary bishop of Krakow by 1958, and four years later became the archbishop of Krakow when the former archbishop passed away.

During his time as archbishop he had three articles published all denouncing communism. He was opposed to communism but he opposed it quietly. He tried to do his best to honor Catholic beliefs and traditions while accommodating the communist government. Even when he was appointment as cardinal in 1967 by the Pope Paul he was welcomed by the government. He had established himself as a highly influential and intellectual presence, not to mention one of the strongest advocate of human rights. He also already began to travel around Europe giving speeches at colleges and churches ranging from topics about marriage to philosophical discussions of the bible. He was surprised when he got notice that he was nominated by the Sacred College of Cardinals to become the next Pope after the death of John Paul I in 1978. "He reportedly formally accepted his election before the cardinals with tears in his eyes."(CNN).

When he became Pope he was 58 years old and that made him the youngest Pope in more then a century. He was also the first Pope to come from outside of Italy in more than 450 years and was the first Pope to come from Poland. After receiving two master degrees and and two doctorates he was also one of the most well educated Pope in Catholic history. He was young, brilliant and fully committed to his ministry. He earned the nick name the "traveling Pope" because he traveled to over 130 countries around the globe. John Paul the 2nd also made history by being the first Pope to step foot in a synagogue, and the first Pope ever to travel to Israel. As a sign of respect he took the names of his two predecessors: John, Paul, and John Paul and he became John Paul II.

One of John Paul II biggest accomplishments is the role he played in helping to erase communism from Europe during the Cold War. During the Cold War he gave many speeches to people in communist countries especially Poland and urges them to hold on to there faith and not surrender there beliefs easily. His messages had a huge effect in Poland and gave Catholics living behind the iron Curtin the courage they needed to survive communism. His criticism of such dictators in Paraguay, and Chile a encouraged opposition movements that eventually brought them down. But not ever the Pope could denounce communism in Europe and get away with it forever.

A Turkish assassin named Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope twice in an assassination attempt in 1981. Agca was later linked to the Russian KGB organization called the 'Gray Wolfs', but Agca denied it. The pop was struck with two bullets, seriously injuring him. Three weeks after is happened the Pope visited Agca in his cell