APRIL 2005
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II, the spiritual leader of the world's one billion
Catholics, who died 2nd April 2005, will always be remembered with
affection by the Irish people for being the First Pope to visit
Ireland. More than one million people saw him in September 1979,
when he visited Knock, Galway, Dublin, Drogheda and Maynooth.
Karol Wojtyla was born 1920, in the town of Wadowice, Poland. As
a boy Karol was an excellent student who loved sports. Karol's mother
died before his ninth birthday, and he lived with his father until
his death, when Karol was twenty years old. The Germans had invaded
Poland at this stage and he went to an underground seminary in Krakow
and registered for theology courses at the University. When the
Germans began rounding up Polish men, Karol took refuge in the archbishop
of Krakow's residence, where he stayed until the end of the war.
He was ordained in 1946 and he earned two masters degrees and a
doctorate before taking up priestly duties as an assistant pastor
in Krakow in 1949. He became an archbishop in 1964 and cardinal
in 1967. In October 1978 Karol was appointed John Paul II.
In 1981 there was an assassination attempt on the Pope's life by
a Turkish fanatic, an escaped murderer Mehmet Ali Agca. In December
1983 Pope John visited him in prison, prayed for him, showing his
forgiveness.
In recent years the Pope suffered with ill health. He had a tumour
removed from his colon in 1992, dislocated his shoulder in 1993,
broke his femur in 1994 and had his appendix removed in 1996. In
2001 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. March 2004 Pope
John Paul II became the third longest serving pope.
Pope John Paul II brought with him a message of "Peace and
Love" when he visited one hundred and thirty countries during
his time of Head of the Roman Catholic Church. He will be remembered
for his courageous stance against Communism and his strict guardianship
of the traditional moral values of the Catholic Church. He was very
strong in his beliefs on issues such as contraception, priestly
celibacy, woman priests and tolerance towards abortion.
Pope John Paul met with Royalty, Presidents, Politicians, many
celebrities and Religious Orders, when he travelled to different
countries, to spread his message of Peace and Love around the world.
These photographs have been taken from newspapers
and the quality is not the best.
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