Pope John Paul II
Here is an overview of Pope John Paul II's life and papacy.
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Karol Wojtyla is born in Wadowice (Kraków), Poland, to father Karol Wojtyla and mother Emilia Kaczorowska. His only brother Edmund, who is born Aug. 27, 1906, in Kraków, becomes a physician, working at Powszechny Hospital in Bielsko.
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He begins attendance at the elementary school for boys, and then the prep years of secondary school at Marcin Wadowita, during which he achieved the top grades in all his classes.
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He performs his first student theatrical performances in Wadowice. During secondary school, he is president of the Society of Mary. These were also the years of his first pilgrimage to Czestochowa.
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He enrolls in the Faculty of Philosophy - Polish Philosophy course - at Jagellonian University, Kraków.
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He joins the Student Society at the Jagellonian University, Eucharistic and charity section.
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He participates in the underground theater, directed by Tadeusz Kudlinski. During World War II, he earns a living - and forestalls deportation and imprisonment - as a stone cutter in a quarry, at Zakrzówek, Kraków.
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He begins clandestine studies for the priesthood in an underground seminary. He also registers in the Faculty of Theology of the Jagellonian Univ. He secretly studies theology during the Nazi occupation of Poland. By the age of 36, he has two doctorate degrees and is an ethics professor.
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He is hit by an automobile and recovers in the hospital.
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He is ordained as a priest. As on preceding occasions, he receives Holy Orders from the hands of Archbishop Metropolitan Adam Sapieha, in his private chapel.
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With Father Starowieyski, he travels to France, Belgium and Holland. In the area of Charleroi, he carries out his pastoral activities with the Polish workers.
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He defends his thesis "The Problems of Faith in the Works of St. John of the Cross" and earns a doctorate in philosophy.
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He earns a master's degree in theology at the Jagellonian University in Kraków and earns a doctorate in sacred theology in the Faculty of Theology - at the Jagellonian University - with highest marks.
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Archbishop Baziak puts him on leave - until 1953 - to complete his qualifying exams for a university position. Up until now, he serves as a chaplain to the university students in St. Florian's and to health workers
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The faculty of theology at the Jagellonian University is abolished. The faculty is then organized at the Seminary of Kraków, where he continues his studies. Catholic University of Lublin offers him a non-tenured professorship, that he accepts.
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He is ordained bishop in the Cathedral of Wavel.
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After the death of Archbishop Baziak, he is named Vicar Capitular.
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He makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, with various bishops of different nationalities present at the council.
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He receives the Papal Bull for the appointment of Archbishop of Kraków.
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He delivers his Letter of Reconciliation, of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops, containing the famous words: "We forgive and ask forgiveness."
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The Episcopal Commission for the Apostolate of the Laity is established and Archbishop Wojtyla is made president.
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He is consecrated cardinal in the Sistine Chapel, by Pope Paul VI.
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Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, is elected by cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church as successor to Pope John Paul I, who died from a heart attack after a papacy of only 34 days. He takes the name John Paul II.
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Less than eight months after his inauguration, he returns to Poland for the first time as pope, for nine cathartic days, setting off sparks that help establish Solidarity, the first independent labor movement in the Soviet bloc.
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On Good Friday, John Paul hears confessions of the faithful for the first time in St. Peter's Basilica.
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A young Turk, Mehmet Alģ Agca, shoots the pope in the abdomen and hand while he circles St. Peter's Square. The pope is hospitalized for 20 days.
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John Paul II recites the Angelus at Gemelli Hospital: "Pray for the brother who shot me, whom I have sincerely forgiven." He returns to the Vatican after 22 days of recovery at the hospital.
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The pope is hospitalized for an infection linked to his shooting injuries. He undergoes surgery on Aug. 5, and is discharged nine days later.
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John Paul II receives Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat at the Vatican, provoking criticism from Israel and Jewish groups.
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John Paul II becomes the first pope to visit a Jewish synagogue. During his visit, he publicly condemns the persecution afflicted on Jews in the past.
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The pontiff arranges the first meeting ever between a pope and a Kremlin chief. He meets at the Vatican with Mikhail Gorbachev. They announce the Vatican and Moscow will establish diplomatic ties.
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At the Angelus, the pope announces that he will go to Gemelli Hospital that evening for diagnostic tests. On July 15, John Paul II undergoes surgery to remove a benign intestinal tumor. He is released from Gemelli Polyclinic 11 days later.
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While in the Hall of Benediction, the pope dislocates his right shoulder during a fall at the end of the audience. He undergoes operation and spends one day at the hospital. His shoulder is immobilized for one month.
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The pope officiates over the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican. At Jerusalem, he signs an agreement on some basic principles regulating relations between the Holy See and the Israel.
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Following an accidental fall the night before, which caused a fracture of the right femur, John Paul II recovers at Gemelli Polyclinic after undergoing hip replacement surgery. He is released on May 27.
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The pope enters the hospital for surgery to remove an inflamed appendix. His scheduled operation takes place on the morning of Oct. 8. He is released a week later.
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Cuban leader Fidel Castro sheds his customary military attire long enough to formally welcome the pope in a business suit during John Paul II's historic five-day expedition to the communist state.
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Releases a 49-minute gospel music CD with Sony/Columbia, titled ABBĄ PATER. The recording was made in lķAquila at the Church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria by a young people's orchestra.
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As part of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the pope celebrates both the midnight Mass and the traditional Christmas Urbi et Orbi message for the first time ever in St. Peter's Square.
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The pope makes a special pilgrimage to Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, the Jordan River and Nazareth. He visits top political leaders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian authority.
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The pope makes an apostolic visit to Fįtima, Portugal, where it is announced that part of the secret of Fatima involved a prophecy of the 1981 attempt on the pontiff's life.
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The pope canonizes 123 Blesseds, among which, 120 were martyrs in China. The act triggers a critical response from China, which denounces the pope's mass canonization, claiming the foreign missionaries and their followers "committed notorious crimes in China."
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After months of speculation, one of the pope's physicians confirms that the pontiff is suffering from Parkinson's disease. John Paul's left hand visibly trembles and he has a slow, stooped gait all symptoms of Parkinson's.
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Pope John Paul II names a record 37 cardinals who support his conservative teachings on morality.
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Respectfully removing his shoes, John Paul becomes the first pope to enter a mosque when he tours a 1,300-year-old Islamic house of worship in Damascus, Syria.
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The pope offers prayers for America and urges those affected by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to show restraint and commit themselves to peace.
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In a two-paragraph conclusion to his lengthy annual pre-Easter message to priests, the pope refers to the "grave scandal" of priests implicated in sex abuse cases.
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After summoning the 12 American cardinals to the Vatican for a special meeting, the pontiff declares to them that there is no place in the Roman Catholic Church for priests who abuse children.
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The pope arrives in Toronto, Canada, the first stop on an 11-day trip that also includes visits to Guatemala and Mexico.
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The pope embarks on a four-day visit to Poland, his homeland, with plans to limit this trip to the Krakow region because of his failing health.
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The pope begins his landmark 100th pilgrimage: a five-day visit to Croatia, a Roman Catholic stronghold in the Balkans.
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The pope's second visit to Slovakia gets off to a rough start when John Paul, suffering from Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, fails to get through his arrival remarks for the first time in 102 foreign trips. An aide reads most of the rest of the speech.
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The pope was rushed to the hospital suffering complications from the flu.
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The pontiff is released from the hospital. A papal spokesman says he has recovered completely from the breathing crisis and that his general condition continues to improve.
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The pope is hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital for a second time, and undergoes a successful tracheotomy surgery to ease his breathing crisis.
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The pontiff is released from the hospital. He returns to his apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square after reassuring the world's Roman Catholic faithful with his own raspy voice that he is recovering from his latest health crisis.
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For the first time in his 26-year pontificate, a still-ailing pope misses the Good Friday procession in Rome.
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The pope begins receiving nutrition through a feeding tube. A day later, he receives antibiotics to treat a fever and urinary tract infection.
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The 84-year-old pope dies at 9:37 p.m. local time in his Vatican apartment, more than 24 hours after the Vatican announced that his condition had worsened and death was imminent. Outside, crowds were gathered in prayer in St. Peter's Square.
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The Church bids farewell to the pope during an emotional Mass in St. Peter's Square, the Vatican. He is laid to rest at St Peter's Basilica, under the floor of the church's grotto. The funeral service draws scores of dignitaries and millions of the faithful to Rome.
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Credits:
The Associated Press, CBS
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