I am about to talk about the life of Pope John Paul II, and how he was the first non-Italian pope in over four hundred years. He has been declared a Saint some people say. He was also one of the vocal advocates for human rights. He spoke for the people he loved and the God he loved.
John Paul II was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920. Growing up he had a hard life, and he suffered a few great losses. He lost his mother when he was only nine years old, following by his older brother when he was at the age of twelve. John Paul II was a very athletic person growing up in life, also he was very smart too. He studied at the Jagiellonian University in 1938. He had very large interests in the studies of poetry and theatre. Unfortunately the University was shut down by german troops during the start of the invasion of Poland. The only thing about that was that John Paul II had other dreams to fulfil. He wanted to become a priest, ...view middle of the document...
Many people say that he helped the Catholic Church find its place in the world. Well loved by his church he was granted a Cardinal in 1976 by Pope Paul IV.
In 1978, John Paul II made history by becoming the first non-Italian Pope in more that 400 years. His dreams had come true finally. he got to travel the world visiting more than 100 countries to spread his message. But where he was in the most danger was in a place where he never thought it would have been. John Paul was shot twice in St. Peter’s square in Vatican City in 1981. Luckily the Pope recovered from his wounds, and later on forgave his attacker.
The Pope was a very large vocal advocate for human rights. He mostly talked about the suffering in the world. They called him the pope of surprises. He had strong positions on lots of different topics. His main opposition was on capital punishment. He brought about political change and helped to end communism in his home country of Poland. Some people said also that he was not always nice to people that disagreed with him. He had issues with many things, but the most issues he had was with was contraception.
As the Pope got older most people could tell that his health was gradually failing. when he made his public appearances he moved around slowly kinda staggering around. Once people saw him trembling he went and saw a doctor. Sadly he found out the bad news in 2001 that he had a disease called Parkinson’s disease. Nobody knew back then whether this was a severe or minor disease. There was never an official announcement about his illness from the Vatican.
Sadly Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84 on April 5, 2005 at his home in Vatican City. More than 3 million people showed up at the Pope’s funeral to say goodbye to their great religious figure. He was declared a saint years after his death. He was said to be one of the greatest Religious leaders in the history of the Popes. He was a great leader and a great person to the people through his reign as pope. He was the pope for 26 years 5 months and 2 weeks. He was also known as Saint John Paul the Great. He helped do many things such as helping end the communist rule in his Country of Poland.
