Pope St. John Paul II

Karol Józef Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920, the third of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. He was nine years old when he received his First Communion and eighteen when he received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Karol was ordained a Priest in Krakow on November 1, 1946. On July 4, 1958, Pope Pius XII appointed Father Wojtyła auxiliary bishop of Krakow. On January 13, 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed Bishop Wojtyła as Archbishop of Krakow and then on June 26, 1967, he was elevated to a Cardinal. On October 16, 1978, Cardinal Wojtyła was elected Pope, taking the name Pope John Paul II.



On May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square, exactly 64 years after the first apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal; Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II four times. The bullets hit Pope John Paul II, two of them lodging in his lower intestine, the others hitting his left hand and right arm. The bullet missed his central aorta by a few millimeters, saving his life. The Pope underwent five hours of emergency surgery at the hospital.

While he was recuperating at the hospital, Pope John Paul asked to see the Church’s documentation on Fatima and the Third Secret of Fatima. He was convinced that Our Lady of Fatima’s maternal hand had saved his life. Following a lengthy stay in the hospital, he forgave the attempted assassin. Believing he had received a great gift, he intensified his pastoral commitments with heroic generosity. Later that year, he had a mosaic of Our Blessed Mother- Mother of the Church, installed on St. Peter’s Square.

As a measure of his gratitude to Our Blessed Mother, Pope John Paul gave the bullet that was extracted from his abdomen to the Fatima Shrine. The bullet forms part of the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. On May 13, 1982, in Fatima, Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to Our Lady of Fatima. Pope John Paul II visited Fatima three times, on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt, May 13, 1982, on the 10th anniversary, May 13, 1991; and finally during the Great Jubilee of 2000, when he beatified the child visionaries, Jacinta and Francisco, on May 13th. They were canonized by Pope Francis on May 13, 2017. During Pope John Paul II’s 2000 visit to Fatima, the third part of the message Our Blessed Mother gave to the three children in 1917 was revealed. It was a description of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II died in the Apostolic Palace at 9:37 p.m. on Saturday, 2 April 2005, the vigil of Sunday in albis or Divine Mercy Sunday, which he had instituted. On April 8th, his solemn funeral was celebrated in Saint Peter’s Square and he was buried in the crypt of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Pope John Paul II was beatified in Saint Peter’s Square on May 1, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Saint Pope John Paul II was canonized on April 27, 2014 (Divine Mercy Sunday) by Pope Francis.

Saint Pope John Paul II is pictured with Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last of the three Fatima visionaries alive in 1991. Recent popes have had a special affection for Our Lady of Fatima, but no pope’s connection can match that of now Saint Pope John Paul II. (CNS photo/Joao Paul Trindade via EPA)