John Paul II (1920-2005)
Karol Wojtyła - the future Pope John Paul II - was born on 18 May 1920 in Wadowice, a small town near Cracow. His father, a retired army officer, was a clerk at the regional draft centre while his mother looked after the children (Karol had a brother Edmund 14 years his senior). When she died on 13 April 1929 of heart disease, both boys and their father took it very hard. Four years later another tragedy happened; Edmund, who was a physician, was infected with scarlet fever in a hospital in Bielsko and died soon thereafter. The father, trying to compensate little Karol for this double loss, often took him to the mountains, passing on to the boy his love for the countryside. Together, they went on hikes across the Small Beskid and Tatra Mountains.
In 1938 Karol Wojtyła completed his grammar school education at the Marcin Wadowita School in Wadowice and moved with his father to Cracow. He had passed his school-leaver's examination with flying colours and enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University to read Polish Philology. At University he continued to pursue his interest in drama and literature, which had begun while he was still at school, when he had performed in school productions. During his first year at University, Wojtyła joined a literary group and made his debut on 15 October 1938 during a poetry evening. He also enrolled in drama classes and Studio 39, a student theatre group. In June 1939, during the Festival of Cracow, Studio 39 gave an immensely popular performance of a comedy by Niżyński, based on a Cracovian legend about a magician named Twardowski, and Karol Wojtyła played one of the main parts.
The Second World War broke out on 1 September 1939. In November 1939, the Gestapo arrested the senior faculty of the Jagiellonian University, which was officially closed down by the Nazis, so Karol WojtyÅ‚a was forced to interrupt his studies. He wrote "Job", a dramatic poem based on the Old Testament. For four years, from October 1940 until August 1944, he worked as a labourer in a quarry in Zakrzówek and in the Solvay chemical plant, thereby avoiding forced deportation to work in Germany. He did not stop his literary and theatrical work. Together with his friend Juliusz KydryÅ„ski, he organised secret concerts and drama performances, recitals and foreign-language classes in private houses. They set up the Teatr Rapsodyczny, a clandestine theatre company directed by MieczysÅ‚aw Kotlarczyk, which managed to stage 10 plays before the end of Poland's wartime occupation.
Karol Wojtyła first thought about entering a seminary in 1941, after the death of his father. In October 1942 he joined the undercover archdiocesan seminary in Cracow and enrolled in the clandestine Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University. Because of the persecution of Polish priests by the Germans, for the first two years he was forced to keep his vocation a secret, especially after "Black Sunday", 6 August 1944, when the Gestapo arrested nearly seven thousand priests. He lived in the ulica Tyniecka and continue to work as before.
After the end of the war the seminary came out of hiding. While still in the seminary Karol Wojtyła held classes on the history of dogma. On 1 November 1946 he was ordained by Cardinal Sapieha, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cracow. His first mass was celebrated in St. Leonard's Crypt in Wawel Cathedral. Within the month he left for Rome, where he continued his studies at the Angelicum Pontifical University and lived in the Belgian College. After a year of study, during the summer holidays, he worked as a priest among Polish workers in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. Father Wojtyła embarked on his doctoral dissertation on the question of faith according to St. John of the Cross; he defended it on 19 June 1948. It was later published in a beautiful volume in Latin.
In 1948 Father Wojtyła returned to Poland and became a curate in the small country parish of Niegowić. He taught religious instruction to local children, celebrated morning masses and assisted Father Kazimierz Buzała the parish priest. In the evenings, however, he continued his literary work, which he never gave up. He inspired the young people of the parish, and they established an amateur theatre workshop. In March 1949 Father Wojtyła was transferred to Cracow to the Parish of St. Florian. At St. Florian's he established a choir for Gregorian chant, which performed the Missa De Angelis (the Mass of the Angels). He instilled his passion for the mountains in the young members of his choir; they journeyed together through the Gorce, Bieszczady and Beskid Mountains. They also organised kayaking trips in Masuria. During this period Father Karol Wojtyła published his poetry in the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" under the pen-names Andrzej Jawień and Stanisław Andrzej Gruda.
The doctor's degree in Theology was conferred on Father Wojtyła on 16 December 1948 in the Jagiellonian University of Cracow. Between 1951 and 1953 he obtained leave to write a scholarly work and began his habilitation dissertation. In spite of the fact that it was approved by the Council of the Faculty of Theology at Cracow, it was rejected by the Ministry of Education and Karol Wojtyła could not be appointed a docent (senior fellow), and was not granted this status until 1957. In 1956 he assumed the Chair of Ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin. On 28 September 1958 he was was appointed an auxiliary bishop at Wawel Cathedral in Cracow. This was the time when he created his most famous works, for which he became renowned among theologians: "Love and Responsibility"(1960), and "The Acting Person" ("Osoba i czyn", 1969). In 1962 and 1963 he participated in the works of the first and second sessions of the Second Vatican Council. In January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him to the Metropolitan See of Cracow as its Archbishop, and in November he took part in the third session of the Vatican Council. At that time he received a private audience with the Pope, and was in close contact with him during the following years. They worked together on the encyclical Humanae Vitae, and in 1976 Paul VI invited him to give the Lenten retreat in the Vatican.
On 29 September 1978, Paul VI's successor, John Paul I, died after just thirty-one days in office. On 13 October 111 cardinals gathered in the Vatican for another conclave, to elect a new pope. After three days of voting, on 16 October 1978 Karol Wojtyła became the first non-Italian pope in 400 years. Announced by Cardinal Pericle Felici with the words "Habemus Papam", John Paul II (which was the name he chose) for the first time appeared in the window of St. Peter's Basilica and gave his first Urbi et Orbi blessing.
John Paul II is often called the Pilgrim Pope. For the first time in the history of the Church he held prayer meetings attended by representatives of all the major religions. He established a dialogue with members of the Judaic religion and has made 100 overseas apostolic visits, a number of times to Poland. Under the leadership of the Polish Pope, the Church achieved significant changes: he reformed Canon Law (1984), compiled a new Catholic Catechism (1992), reorganised the Rome Curia, has published numerous encyclicals, and carried out several hundred canonisations and beatifications. The most important messages of John Paul II's pontificate are respect for human life from conception to natural death, for human rights and the working-man's rights, the struggle for peace, opposition to totalitarianism, a new evangelisation and worldwide renewal, especially among young people.
On 13 May 1981 he was severely wounded in an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square but survived and recovered.
The most famous works of Karol Wojtyła are "Love and Responsibility" (1960), "The Active Person" (1969), and "Issues on the Subject of Morality" (1991). His literary works include the plays "The Jeweller's Shop" and "Our God's Brother" (authorised English translations of his dramatic works by Bolesław Taborski), and his poetry ("Easter Vigil" etc., authorised English translations by Jerzy Peterkiewicz), with a collected volume of his poetic and dramatic works in 1980. His most recent book of poetry, "Roman Triptych", was published in 2003.
He died on Saturday, Apr 2nd, 2005, at 21:37.
