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Top 10 Interesting Facts About Pope John Paul II

For 455 years, the Catholic Church had only Italian Pope鈥檚. Enter Pope John Paul II and this centuries鈥� long tradition changed. Pope John Paul II was the first non- Italian pope in 455 years, also the first from a Slavic country.

Pope John Paul II was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland- he was named Karol J贸zef Wojtyla. He was orphaned at a pretty young age; after his mother鈥檚 death when he was 9, he grew quite close to his father and acknowledges him for his strong Christian faith. He later lost his only brother and father.

Starting out, Wojtyla took secret studies for the priesthood as he worked in a quarry and a chemical factory- 鈥榣aborer by day, a priest by night鈥�. He got ordained in 1946 and did pastoral work in France then proceeded to Rome for graduate studies. Wojtyla returned to Poland and started pastoral work, succeeding in youth ministry. He quickly rose the ranks in the church and was appointed Pope in 1978. He then adopted the name 鈥楯ohn Paul II鈥� honoring two popes of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope John Paul II was an interesting man who accomplished many good things in his lifetime. These top 10 facts about Pope John Paul II will reveal some of them.

1. Pope John Paul II is one of the most traveled world leaders in history

Pope John Paul II- by Jos茅 Cruz/Abr- Wikimedia Commons

The Pope visited more than 129 countries during his pontificate. Some of them hadn鈥檛 been visited by any other Pope before him. The countries include Poland, France, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Germany and Australia, just to mention but a few.

The Pope met presidents and leaders, and sometimes addressed the large crowds gathered for a glimpse of him. His trips were catered for by the host countries, not by the Vatican.

2. The first-ever Pope to visit a mosque

Umayyed Mosque of Damascus- Wikimedia Commons

When he visited the Middle East for the second time in 2001, Pope John Paul II entered the Omayyad Mosque in the center of Damascus. This was a meaningful gesture towards Islam. He called Christians and Muslims to forgiveness to each other and peaceful coexistence.

Omayyad Mosque was a Roman Temple turned Church then Mosque when it was taken over by Islamic believers.

3. The Pope featured in a comic book

Marvel added a new hero to their collection in 1983- Pope John Paul II. The Pope had his own comic book telling of his early life through to the assassination attempt in 1981. Millions of copies have been sold worldwide, and copies still sold on Amazon today.

4. The Pope was a playwright and actor

Pope John Paul II wore many hats prior to his appointment as Pope and even after. Fascinating is his interest in, and love for acting. In his younger years the Pope was an accomplished actor, playwright, poet and attempted theater.

He had a stint at Rhapsodic Theatre (Theatre of the Word) for a year in 1941. This side of the Pope as also visible at the Vatican when his 1999 CD and video, Abba Pater was published- Pope John Paul II recites and sings his poems in the CD.

Poet, dramatist, actor, priest, archbishop, cardinal, philosopher, university professor are all titles that once belonged to Pope John Paul II.

5. He had a close shave with Nazi soldiers

Pope John Paul the II would have had his life take a totally different trajectory had he been captured by Nazi soldiers during the Polish uprising in 1944. The soldiers swept through houses, including the Pope鈥檚. He hid behind a door- right under their noses and they left when they didn鈥檛 find him. The Pope escaped to his Archbishops house, staying there until the war鈥檚 end.

6. Pope John Paul II almost died in his 20鈥檚

The Pope got a confirmation of his calling when he had another close shave with death at the hands of the Nazi鈥檚 albeit unintentionally. Pope John Paul II was walking home from work when he was hit by a Nazi truck. The truck did stop and had him taken to the hospital- he was badly injured and unconscious.

The Pope spent two weeks in the hospital making an unlikely full recovery.

7. He out-canonized and out-beatified all popes before him combined

Pope John Paul II in Pope mobile- by Thalion77- Wikimedia Commons

Pope John Paul II worked overtime in beatification and canonization. He Beatified and canonized more people than his predecessors combined! He did this as a universal call to holiness- wanting ordinary persons to live holy lives aspiring to canonization

Beatification in the Catholic Church is the Pope鈥檚 declaration that a deceased person is in a state of bliss having entered heaven. Beatification honors a dead person for their holiness.

Beatification is a pre- requisite to Canonization, which is the declaration that a person is a Saint and can then intercede on behalf of persons praying in their name.

8. The Pope was an advocate for Human Rights

Pope John Paul II in Polish Paliament- Wikimedia Commons

One of the things Pope John Paul II is remembered for is his advocacy for human rights- often he spoke about suffering in the world, and shared his opposition to capital punishment. The Pope also used his influence on political change. He is responsible for the fall of Communism in Poland.

9. Pope John Paul II survived a shooting

While the Pope had followers and fans, he also had critics and made some unintentional enemies. A Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, shot at him from only a few yards away, when the Pope was greeting visitors from his Popemobile in St. Peter鈥檚 Square. This happened less than three years into his tenure, in 1981.

Fortunately, surgery by Italian doctors saw him survive.

The Pope requested that the shooter is pardoned and the Italian officials did this in 2000. Agca at first claimed to have acted alone but later claimed he did so on orders from Soviet and Bulgarian Secret service.

This shooting incident would not be the only one. A man lunged at the Pope with a 16-inch dagger 鈥� this can be said to have been an attack from the Pope鈥檚 own camp as the assailant was an archconservative Spanish priest retaliating the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

Al Qaeda also had 鈥榩lans鈥� for the Pope- when the Pope visited the Philippines to celebrate World Youth Day, a fire broke out in an apartment and the authorities found incriminating material of a planned attack against the Pope, including bomb-making material courtesy of Al Qaeda.

10. Pope John Paul II had the third-longest tenure

Mourners at Pope John Paul II funeral at St. Peter’s Square- by Eric Draper- Wikimedia Commons

Pope St Peter reigned for 37 years while Pope Pius IX served for 31 years. Pope John Paul II reigned for 26 years, making his tenure the third-longest. He died at age 84 in his Vatican residence. His health failed in his later years- he is confirmed to have suffered Parkinson鈥檚 disease.

One of the largest Christian gatherings in history was the Pope鈥檚 funeral on April 8 2005. An estimated 2-5 million people were in Rome in time to pay their respects, including the highest authorities of many countries.

The Pope is remembered for his successful efforts to end communism, attempting to bring peoples of different faiths together as well as issuing the Catholic Church’s first apology for its actions during World War II and other injustices.

This Times Magazine 1994 Man of The Year was one of the few of his kind to be referred to as 鈥淭he Great鈥�. Only three other Popes in history had the honor of being referred to in this manner. 聽The Pope was beatified and Canonized sooner than the church鈥檚 required waiting period.