Pope John Paul II#Death and funeral

{{Main|Early life of Pope John Paul II}}

File:Emilia and Karol Wojtyla wedding portrait.jpg

Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła (1879–1941), an ethnic Pole, and Emilia Kaczorowska (1884–1929), who was of distant Lithuanian heritage. Emilia, who was a schoolteacher, died from a heart attack and kidney failure in 1929 when Wojtyła was eight years old.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=11}} His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually led to his death from scarlet fever, a loss that affected Wojtyła deeply.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=11}}

File:Karol Wojtyla-1st comunnion.jpg|left]]

Wojtyła was baptized a month after his birth, made his First Communion at the age of 9, and was confirmed at the age of 18.{{cite web |title=St. Pope John Paul II |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=6996 |website=Saints & Angels |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=11 November 2020}} As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing association football as goalkeeper.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=25}} During his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with the large Jewish community of Wadowice.{{cite news | url = https://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01111997_p-46_en.html | title = The Jewish "Roots" of Karol Wojtyła | access-date = 3 July 2013 | last = Svidercoschi | first = Gian Franco | publisher = Vatican.va}} School football games were often organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=25}} In 2005, he recalled: "I remember that at least a third of my classmates at elementary school in Wadowice were Jews. At secondary school there were fewer. With some I was on very friendly terms. And what struck me about some of them was their Polish patriotism."{{sfn|Pope John Paul II|2005|p=99}} It was around this time that the young Karol had his first serious relationship with a girl. He became close to a girl called Ginka Beer, described as "a Jewish beauty, with stupendous eyes and jet black hair, slender, a superb actress."{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=32}}

In mid-1938, Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków, where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University. While studying such topics as philology and various languages, he worked as a volunteer librarian and though required to participate in compulsory military training in the Academic Legion, he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright. During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as many as 15 languages – Polish, Latin, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Luxembourgish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Slovak, and Esperanto,{{cite book |last=Grosjean |first=François |title=Life With Two Languages |url=https://archive.org/details/lifewithtwolangu0000gros |url-access=registration |access-date=6 July 2013 |year=1982 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=United States |isbn=978-0-674-53092-8 |edition=8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifewithtwolangu0000gros/page/286 286]}} nine of which he used extensively as pope.

In 1939, after invading Poland, Nazi Germany's occupation forces closed the university. Able-bodied males were required to work, so from 1940 to 1944 Wojtyła variously worked as a messenger for a restaurant, a manual labourer in a limestone quarry and for the Solvay chemical factory, to avoid deportation to Germany. In February 1940, he met Jan Tyranowski who introduced him to the Carmelite spirituality and the "Living Rosary" youth groups.Weigel, George. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (p. 44). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. In that same year he had two major accidents, suffering a fractured skull after being struck by a tram and sustaining injuries which left him with one shoulder higher than the other and a permanent stoop after being hit by a lorry in the quarry.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/01/catholicism.religion3 The Guardian, "History of the Pope's health problems", 1 April 2005]. Retrieved 26 March 2015. His father, a former Austro-Hungarian non-commissioned officer and later officer in the Polish Army, died of a heart attack in 1941,{{cite web |url= http://www.catholic.org/pope/jp2/genealogy.php |title=Family Genealogy of Blessed Pope John Paul II |publisher=Catholic Online |year=2012 |quote=Family Genealogy of Blessed Pope John Paul II |access-date=3 February 2012}} leaving the young adult Wojtyła an orphan and the immediate family's only surviving member.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=60}} Reflecting on these times of his life, nearly 40 years later he said: "I was not at my mother's death, I was not at my brother's death, I was not at my father's death. At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved."{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=60}}

File:Baudienst, Kraków, Karol Wojtyła.jpg forced labour work crew during the occupation of Poland (1939–1945), circa 1941]]

After his father's death, he started thinking seriously about the priesthood.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=63}} In October 1942, while World War II continued, he knocked on the door of the Bishop's Palace, and asked to study for the priesthood.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=63}} Soon after, he began courses in the clandestine underground seminary run by the Archbishop of Kraków, the future Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha.{{Cite book |title=Social memory and history: anthropological perspectives |date=2002 |publisher=AltaMira Press |isbn=978-0-7591-0177-7 |editor-last=Climo |editor-first=Jacob |location=Walnut Creek, CA |pages=280 |editor-last2=Cattell |editor-first2=Maria G.}} On 29 February 1944, Wojtyła was hit by a German truck. German Wehrmacht officers tended to him and sent him to a hospital. He spent two weeks there recovering from a severe concussion and a shoulder injury. It seemed to him that this accident and his survival was a confirmation of his vocation. On 6 August 1944, a day known as "Black Sunday",{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|p=71}} the Gestapo rounded up young men in Kraków to curtail the uprising there,{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|p=71}} similar to the recent uprising in Warsaw.{{sfn|Davies|2004|pp=253–254}}{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|pp=71–21}} Wojtyła escaped by hiding in the basement of his uncle's house at 10 Tyniecka Street, while the German troops searched above.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=63}}{{sfn|Davies|2004|pp=253–254}}{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|pp=71–21}} More than 8,000 men and boys were taken that day, while Wojtyła escaped to the Archbishop's residence,{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=63}}{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|p=71}}{{sfn|Davies|2004|pp=253–254}} where he remained until after the Germans had left.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=63}}{{sfn|Davies|2004|pp=253–254}}

On the night of 17 January 1945, the Germans fled the city, and the students reclaimed the ruined seminary. Wojtyła and another seminarian volunteered for the task of clearing away piles of frozen excrement from the toilets.{{sfn|Weigel|2001b|p=75}} Wojtyła also helped a 14-year-old Jewish refugee girl named Edith Zierer, who had escaped from a Nazi labour camp in Częstochowa. Edith had collapsed on a railway platform, so Wojtyła carried her to a train and stayed with her throughout the journey to Kraków. She later credited Wojtyła with saving her life that day. B'nai B'rith and other authorities have said that Wojtyła helped protect many other Polish Jews from the Nazis. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, a Jewish family sent their son, Stanley Berger, to be hidden by a Gentile Polish family. Berger's biological Jewish parents were killed in the Holocaust, and after the war Berger's new Christian parents asked Karol Wojtyła to baptise the boy. Wojtyła refused, saying that the child should be raised in the Jewish faith of his birth parents and nation, not as a Catholic.{{cite news |url=http://ekai.pl/wydarzenia/x9122/jan-pawel-ii-sprawiedliwym-wsrod-narodow-swiata/ |title=Jan Paweł II Sprawiedliwym wśród Narodów Świata? |language=pl |trans-title=John Paul II Righteous Among the Nations? |publisher=Ekai.pl |date=5 April 2005 |access-date=22 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222053631/http://ekai.pl/wydarzenia/x9122/jan-pawel-ii-sprawiedliwym-wsrod-narodow-swiata/ |archive-date=22 December 2014}} He did everything he could to ensure that Berger leave Poland to be raised by his Jewish relatives in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.kosciol.pl/article.php?story=20030926144011902 |title=Papież sprawiedliwym wśród narodów świata |language=pl |trans-title=Pope righteous among the nations of the world |publisher=Kosciol.pl |date=26 September 2003 |access-date=22 October 2014 |archive-date=1 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701052401/http://www.kosciol.pl/article.php?story=20030926144011902 |url-status=dead}} In April 2005, shortly after John Paul II's death, the Israeli government created a commission to honour the legacy of John Paul II. One of the honorifics proposed by a head of Italy's Jewish community, Emmanuele Pacifici was the medal of the Righteous Among the Nations.{{cite web |url=http://m.onet.pl/wiadomosci/swiat,m7r7s |title=Papież otrzyma honorowy tytuł "Sprawiedliwy wśród Narodów Świata"? |language=pl |trans-title=The Pope will receive the honorary title of "Righteous Among the Nations"? |publisher=Onet.pl |date=4 April 2005 |access-date=22 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023061706/http://m.onet.pl/wiadomosci/swiat%2Cm7r7s |archive-date=23 October 2014}} In Wojtyła's last book, Memory and Identity, he described the 12 years of the Nazi régime as "bestiality",{{sfn|Pope John Paul II|2005|p=16}} quoting from the Polish theologian and philosopher Konstanty Michalski.{{cite book |title=Między Heroizmem a Beatialstwem |trans-title=Between Heroism and Bestiality |publisher=Częstochowa |year=1984}}

File:Karol Wojtyla-wikary w Niegowici.jpg

File:Karol Wojtyla image (cropped).jpg

After finishing his studies at the seminary in Kraków, Wojtyła was ordained as a priest on All Saints' Day, 1 November 1946, by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=71}} Sapieha sent Wojtyła to Rome's Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, to study under the French Dominican friar Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange beginning on 26 November 1946. He resided in the Belgian Pontifical College during this time, under rectorship of Maximilien de Furstenberg.{{cite web| url=http://vaticancity.diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/belgen-in-rome| title=Belgen in Rome| date=4 April 2016| access-date=30 March 2017| archive-date=31 March 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331025239/http://vaticancity.diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/belgen-in-rome| url-status=dead}} Wojtyła earned a licence in July 1947, passed his doctoral exam on 14 June 1948, and successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled Doctrina de fide apud S. Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross) in philosophy on 19 June 1948.{{cite news |title= His Holiness John Paul II, Biography, Pre-Pontificate| url = https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_prepontificato_en.html#1948 |access-date=6 October 2012}} Even though his doctoral work was unanimously approved in June 1948, he was denied the degree because he could not afford to print the text of his dissertation in accordance with the Angelicum rules. In December 1948 a revised text of his dissertation was approved by the theological faculty of Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and Wojtyła was finally awarded his doctoral degree. The Angelicum preserves the original copy of Wojtyła's typewritten thesis.{{cite web|url=http://www.pust.it/index.php?start=5&lang=en|title=Karol Wojtyla: A Pope Who Hails from the Angelicum (Città Nuova, Roma 2009)|publisher=Pust.it|access-date=23 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407161736/http://www.pust.it/index.php?start=5&lang=en|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=dead}} Among other courses at the Angelicum, Wojtyła studied Hebrew with the Dutch Dominican Peter G. Duncker, author of the Compendium grammaticae linguae hebraicae biblicae."30Giorni" 11 December 2002, http://www.30giorni.it/in_breve_id_numero_14_id_arg_32125_l1.htm Accessed 19 February 2013

File:Facade of the main entrance of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) (19May07).jpg in Rome, Italy]]

According to Wojtyła's fellow student, the future Austrian cardinal Alfons Stickler, in 1947 during his sojourn at the Angelicum, Wojtyła visited Padre Pio, who heard his confession and told him that one day he would ascend to "the highest post in the Church".{{cite book| last=Kwitny | first=Jonathan | title=Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II | publisher=Henry Holt and Company | date=March 1997 | location=New York City | page=768 | isbn=978-0-8050-2688-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805026887 | url-access=limited}} Stickler added that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal.{{cite news | last=Zahn | first=Paula | author-link=Paula Zahn | title=Padre Pio Granted Sainthood | work=CNN | date=17 June 2002 | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0206/17/ltm.04.html | access-date=19 January 2008}}

Wojtyła returned to Poland in the summer of 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in the village of Niegowić, {{convert|15|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=off}} from Kraków, at the Church of the Assumption. He arrived at Niegowić at harvest time, where his first action was to kneel and kiss the ground.{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=233}} He repeated this gesture, which he adopted from John Vianney,{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=233}} throughout his papacy.

In March 1949, Wojtyła was transferred to the parish of Saint Florian in Kraków. He taught ethics at Jagiellonian University and subsequently at the Catholic University of Lublin. While teaching, he gathered a group of about 20 young people, who began to call themselves Rodzinka, the "little family". They met for prayer, philosophical discussion, and to help the blind and the sick. The group eventually grew to approximately 200 participants, and their activities expanded to include annual skiing and kayaking trips.

In 1953, Wojtyła's habilitation thesis was accepted by the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University. In 1954, he earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology,{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=97}} writing a dissertation titled "Reevaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler"{{cite news |url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_prepontificato_en.html#1948 |title=Highlights on the life of Karol Wojtiła |publisher=Holy See Press Office |access-date=23 June 2013}} ({{langx|pl|Ocena możliwości zbudowania etyki chrześcijańskiej przy założeniach systemu Maksa Schelera}}).{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2QunKUmsM4kC&q=Ocena+&pg=PA153 |title=Destined for Liberty: The Human Person in the Philosophy of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II |publisher=CUA Press |access-date=23 June 2013 |isbn=978-0-8132-0985-2 |year=2000}} Scheler was a German philosopher who founded a broad philosophical movement that emphasised the study of conscious experience. The Polish Communist authorities abolished the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University, thereby preventing him from receiving the degree until 1957. Wojtyła developed a theological approach, called phenomenological Thomism, that combined traditional Catholic Thomism with the ideas of personalism, a philosophical approach deriving from phenomenology, which was popular among Catholic intellectuals in Kraków during Wojtyła's intellectual development. He translated Scheler's Formalism and the Ethics of Substantive Values.{{cite book|last=Walsh |first=Michael |title=John Paul II: A Biography |year=1994 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=978-0-00-215993-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/johnpaulii0000wals/page/20 20–21] |url=https://archive.org/details/johnpaulii0000wals/page/20}} In 1961, he coined "Thomistic Personalism" to describe Aquinas's philosophy.Wojtyla, Karol. "Thomistic Personalism." In Person and Community. Translated by Theresa Sandok, OSM. Pages 165–175. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. Originally published 1961 in Polish

File:Karol Wojtyla-splyw.jpg trip to the countryside with a group of students, circa 1960]]

During this period, Wojtyła wrote a series of articles in Kraków's Catholic newspaper, Tygodnik Powszechny (Universal Weekly), dealing with contemporary church issues. He focused on creating original literary work during his first dozen years as a priest. War, life in the Polish People's Republic, and his pastoral responsibilities all fed his poetry and plays. Wojtyła published his work under two pseudonyms, Andrzej Jawień and Stanisław Andrzej Gruda, to distinguish his literary from his religious writings (issued under his own name), and also so that his literary works would be considered on their own merits. In 1960, Wojtyła published the influential theological book Love and Responsibility, a defence of traditional church teachings on marriage from a new philosophical standpoint.{{sfn|Wojtyła|1981}}

The aforementioned students regularly joined Wojtyła for hiking, skiing, bicycling, camping and kayaking, accompanied by prayer, outdoor Masses, and theological discussions. In Stalinist-era Poland, it was not permitted for priests to travel with groups of students. Wojtyła asked his younger companions to call him "Wujek" (Polish for "Uncle") to prevent outsiders from deducing he was a priest. The nickname gained popularity among his followers. In 1958, when Wojtyła was named auxiliary bishop of Kraków, his acquaintances expressed concern that this would cause him to change. Wojtyła responded to his friends, "Wujek will remain Wujek", and he continued to live a simple life, shunning the trappings that came with his position as bishop. This beloved nickname stayed with Wojtyła for his entire life and continues to be affectionately used, particularly by the Polish people.Witness to Hope; The Biography of Pope John Paul II, by George Weigel. New York: Cliff Street Books/Harper Collins, 1999. p. 992.{{cite news |title=They Call Him "Wujek". |newspaper=St Louis Post-Dispatch |date=24 January 1999 |last=Rice |first=Patricia}}

File:Krakow - 06.jpg in Kraków, Poland, where John Paul II lived as a priest and bishop (now an Archdiocese Museum)]]

On 4 July 1958, while Wojtyła was on a kayaking holiday in the lakes region of northern Poland, Pope Pius XII appointed him as an auxiliary bishop of Kraków. He was consequently summoned to Warsaw to meet the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, who informed him of his appointment.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=103}} Wojtyła accepted the appointment as auxiliary bishop to Kraków's Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak, and he received episcopal consecration (as titular bishop of Ombi) on 28 September 1958, with Baziak as the principal consecrator and as co-consecrators Bishop Bolesław Kominek (titular bishop of Sophene), auxiliary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław, and Franciszek Jop, Auxiliary Bishop of Sandomierz (Titular Bishop of Daulia). Kominek was to become Cardinal Archbishop of Wrocław and Jop was later Auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław and then Bishop of Opole. At the age of 38, Wojtyła became the youngest bishop in Poland.

In 1959, Wojtyła began an annual tradition of saying a Midnight Mass on Christmas Day in an open field at Nowa Huta, the so-called model workers' town outside Kraków that was without a church building.Weigel, George. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (p. 151). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Baziak died in June 1962 and on 16 July, Wojtyła was selected as Vicar Capitular (temporary administrator) of the Archdiocese until an archbishop could be appointed.

From October 1962, Wojtyła took part in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he made contributions to two of its most historic and influential products, the Decree on Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes). Wojtyła and the Polish bishops contributed a draft text to the Council for Gaudium et spes. According to the Jesuit historian John W. O'Malley, the draft text Gaudium et spes that Wojtyła and the Polish delegation sent "had some influence on the version that was sent to the council fathers that summer but was not accepted as the base text".{{cite book|last=O'Malley |first=John W. |title=What Happened at Vatican II |year=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-03169-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/204 204–205] |url=https://archive.org/details/whathappenedatva00omal/page/204}} According to John F. Crosby, as pope, John Paul II used the words of Gaudium et spes later to introduce his own views on the nature of the human person in relation to God: man is "the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake", but man "can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself".{{cite book |last=Crosby |first=John F. |year=2000 |chapter=John Paul II's Vision of Sexuality and Marriage: The Mystery of "Fair Love" |title=The Legacy of Pope John Paul II: His Contribution to Catholic Thought |page=54 |publisher=Crossroad |isbn=978-0-8245-1831-8 |editor-last=Gneuhs |editor-first=Geoffrey}}

Wojtyła also participated in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. On 13 January 1964, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków. On 26 June 1967, Paul VI announced Wojtyła's promotion to the College of Cardinals. Wojtyła was named cardinal priest of the titular church of San Cesareo in Palatio.

File:Karol Wojtyla's cardinal proclamation.jpg imposing the cardinal biretta on Wojtyła in 1967]]

In 1967, he was instrumental in formulating the encyclical Humanae vitae, which dealt with the same issues that forbid abortion and artificial birth control.

According to a contemporary witness, Wojtyła was against the distribution of a letter around Kraków in 1970, stating that the Polish Episcopate was preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Polish–Soviet War.{{cite book |last= Graczyk |first= Roman |date=2011 |title=Cena przetrwania: SB wobec Tygodnika Powszechnego |trans-title= |language=pl |location=Warsaw |publisher=Wydawnictwo Czerwone i Czarne | page =204 |isbn=978-83-7700-015-1}}

In 1973, Wojtyła met philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, the wife of Hendrik S. Houthakker, professor of economics at Stanford University and Harvard University, and member of President Richard Nixon's Council of Economic Advisers{{Cite news|last=Stourton|first=Ed|title = The secret letters of Pope John Paul II – BBC News|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35552997|website = BBC News|access-date = 15 February 2016|date=15 February 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Kirchgaessner|first1=Stephanie|title=Pope John Paul II letters reveal 32-year relationship with woman|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/15/pope-john-paul-ii-letters-reveal-32-year-relationship-with-woman|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=16 February 2016|date=15 February 2016}} Tymieniecka collaborated with Wojtyła on a number of projects including an English translation of Wojtyła's book Osoba i czyn (Person and Act). Person and Act, one of John Paul II's foremost literary works, was initially written in Polish. Tymieniecka produced the English-language version. They corresponded over the years, and grew to be good friends. When Wojtyła visited New England in the summer of 1976, Tymieniecka put him up as a guest in her family home. Wojtyła enjoyed his holiday in Pomfret, Vermont, kayaking and enjoying the outdoors, as he had done in his beloved Poland.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=103}}

During 1974–1975, Wojtyła served Pope Paul VI as consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, as recording secretary for the 1974 synod on evangelism and by participating extensively in the original drafting of the 1975 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi.Moreira Neves, Lucas Cardinal. "EVANGELII NUNTIANDI: PAUL VI'S PASTORAL TESTAMENT TO THE CHURCH". Eternal Word Television Network.

{{Main|October 1978 papal conclave}}

File:Habemus papam Ioannes Paulus II.jpg

In August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Wojtyła voted in the papal conclave, which elected John Paul I. John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering another conclave.

The second conclave of 1978 started on 14 October, ten days after the funeral. It was split between two strong candidates for the papacy: Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, the conservative Archbishop of Genoa, and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, the liberal Archbishop of Florence and a close friend of John Paul I.

File:Coat of arms of Ioannes Paulus II.svg of John Paul II displaying the Marian Cross with the letter M signifying the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus]]

Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected, and in early ballots, Benelli came within nine votes of success. However, both men faced sufficient opposition for neither to be likely to prevail. Giovanni Colombo, the Archbishop of Milan, was considered as a compromise candidate among the Italian cardinal-electors, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that, if elected, he would decline to accept the papacy.{{cite book |title=Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FYMKOgA5lSAC |first=Thomas J. |last=Reese |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-674-93261-6 |pages=91, 99}} Cardinal Franz König, Archbishop of Vienna, suggested Wojtyła as another compromise candidate to his fellow electors. Wojtyła won on the eighth ballot on the third day (16 October).

Among those cardinals who rallied behind Wojtyła were supporters of Giuseppe Siri, Stefan Wyszyński, most of the American cardinals (led by John Krol), and other moderate cardinals. He accepted his election with the words: "With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept".{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=171}} The Pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took the papal name of John Paul II, also in honour of the late Popes Paul VI and John XXIII, and the traditional white smoke informed the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square that a pope had been chosen. There had been rumours that the new pope wished to be known as Pope Stanislaus in honour of the Polish saint of the name, but was convinced by the cardinals that it was not a Roman name. When the new pontiff appeared on the balcony, he broke tradition by addressing the gathered crowd:{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=171}}

"Dear brothers and sisters, we are saddened at the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I, and so the cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land—far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our most Holy Mother. I am speaking to you in your—no, our Italian language. If I make a mistake, please {{sic|corrict}}{{efn|In his speech, John Paul deliberately chose to mispronounce the Italian word for 'correct'.}} me."{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=171}}Agasso, Renzo. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jUkrNOuindcC&pg=PA23 Caro Karol]. Effata Editrice IT, 2011. p. 23.[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1978/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19781016_primo-saluto_it.html First Greetings and First Blessing to the Faithful: Address of John Paul II, Monday, October 16, 1978] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018234821/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1978/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19781016_primo-saluto_it.html |date=18 October 2013}}. Vatican. Vatican.va.

Wojtyła became the 264th pope according to the chronological list of popes, and the first non-Italian in 455 years. At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope since Pope Pius IX in 1846, who was 54. Like his predecessor, John Paul II dispensed with the traditional papal coronation and instead received ecclesiastical investiture with a simplified papal inauguration on 22 October 1978. During his inauguration, when the cardinals were to kneel before him to take their vows and kiss his ring, he stood up as the Polish prelate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński knelt down, stopped him from kissing the ring, and simply embraced him.

{{Main|List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II outside Italy}}

File:Papież Jan Paweł II i kardynał Stefan kardynał Wyszyński w drodze na plac Zwycięstwa w dniu 2 czerwca 1979.jpg

During his pontificate, John Paul II made journeys to 129 countries,{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}} travelling more than {{convert|1100000|km}} while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among the largest ever assembled in human history, such as the Manila World Youth Day 1995, which gathered up to four million people, the largest papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican.{{cite news |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-01-16-1995016078-story.html |title=Biggest Papal Gathering | Millions Flock to Papal Mass in Manila, Gathering is Called the Largest the Pope Has Seen at a Service |agency=The New York Times News Service |work=The Baltimore Sun |year=2012 |access-date=29 January 2012 |archive-date=24 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924125252/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-01-16/news/1995016078_1_pope-philippines-papal |url-status=live}} John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979. While some of his journeys (such as to the United States and the Holy Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope to visit the White House in October 1979, where he was greeted warmly by President Jimmy Carter. He was the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting in 1979 with Mexico and Ireland. He was the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, in 1982, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. While in Britain he also visited Canterbury Cathedral and knelt in prayer with Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the spot where Thomas Becket had been killed,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_4171000/4171657.stm |title=BBC on This Day | 29 | 1982: Pope makes historic visit to Canterbury |work=BBC News |date= 29 May 1982 |access-date=23 June 2013}} as well as holding several large-scale open air Masses, including one at Wembley Stadium, which was attended by some 80,000 people.{{cite web|url=http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/Visit-Background/A-Retrospective-of-the-1982-Visit|title=A Retrospective of the 1982 Visit |website=The Papal Visit|access-date=16 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012084655/http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/Visit-Background/A-Retrospective-of-the-1982-Visit|archive-date=12 October 2016|url-status=dead}}

File:Visita ufficiale del Presidente della Repubblica Sandro Pertini a Sua Santità il Papa Giovanni Paolo II (6).jpg, President of Italy, in 1984]]

He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in Creole to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti", referring to the disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause. In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope, Pope Shenouda III, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in Damascus, Syria, in 2001. He visited the Umayyad Mosque, a former Christian church where John the Baptist is believed to be interred, where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together.

On 15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in Christian history. In March 2000, while visiting Jerusalem, John Paul became the first pope in history to visit and pray at the Western Wall. In September 2001, amid post-11 September concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years of Armenian Christianity.

In June 1979, John Paul II travelled to Poland, where ecstatic crowds constantly surrounded him. This first papal trip to Poland uplifted the nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the Solidarity movement in 1980, which later brought freedom and human rights to his troubled homeland. Leaders of the Polish United Workers' Party intended to use the Pope's visit to show the people that although the Pope was Polish, it did not alter their capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They also hoped that if the Pope abided by the rules they set, the Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the Pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the Pope.Angelo M. Codevilla, "Political Warfare: A Set of Means for Achieving Political Ends", in Waller, ed., Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare (IWP Press, 2008.)

{{blockquote|"The Pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was what Joseph Nye calls 'soft power' — the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to the utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. 'Be not afraid,' he said. Millions shouted in response, 'We want God! We want God! We want God!' The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed to hold on as despots a decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism."

}}

"When Pope John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport he began the process by which Communism in Poland — and ultimately elsewhere in Europe — would come to an end."John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History, p. 193, Penguin Books (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-14-303827-6}}

On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to the Solidarity organisation. These visits reinforced this message and contributed to the collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989 and 1990 with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992).{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}

File:JohnPaulIICardinalSin1995WYD.jpg, Archbishop of Manila (left), addressing the crowd attending the closing Mass of the tenth World Youth Day at Luneta Park, 1995]]

As an extension of his successful work with youth as a young priest, John Paul II pioneered the international World Youth Days. John Paul II presided over nine of them: Rome (1985 and 2000), Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Częstochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), and Toronto (2002). Total attendance at these signature events of the pontificate was in the tens of millions.Weigel, George. The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II – The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy. The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Keenly aware of the rhythms of time and the importance of anniversaries in the Catholic Church's life, John Paul II led nine "dedicated years" during the twenty-six and a half years of his pontificate: the Holy Year of the Redemption in 1983–84, the Marian Year in 1987–88, the Year of the Family in 1993–94, the three Trinitarian years of preparation for the Great Jubilee of 2000, the Great Jubilee itself, the Year of the Rosary in 2002–03, and the Year of the Eucharist, which began on 17 October 2004, and concluded six months after the Pope's death.

John Paul II recorded music albums. In 1979, his album Pope John Paul II sings at the Festival of Sacrosong was recorded by Infinity Records.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916921,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408085903/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916921,00.html|url-status=dead|title=Pope John Paul II|publisher=Time|date=October 15, 1979|archive-date=April 8, 2008|accessdate=October 16, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://archivesspace.library.nd.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/1815735|title=Pope John Paul II sings at the Festival of Sacrosong [Infinity Records INF 9899][for cover see PAVX 70514], 1979|publisher=University of Notre Dame|accessdate=October 16, 2024}} In 1994 he released a music album title The Rosary.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-27-mn-1865-story.html|title=Pope Soaring to Top of Music Charts|agency=Reuters|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 27, 1994|accessdate=October 16, 2024}} In 1999, John Paul II released another music album titled Abba Pater.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-20-me-19179-story.html|title=Newest Music Star: The Pope|first=Larry B.|last=Stammer|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 20, 1999|accessdate=October 16, 2024}}

The Great Jubilee of 2000 was a call to the church to become more aware and to embrace her missionary task for the work of evangelization:

From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelising mission with fresh enthusiasm.Novo Millenio Inuente §2

John Paul II also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the Great Jubilee of 2000. During his visit to the Holy Land, John Paul II visited many sites of the Rosary, including the following locations: Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas), at the Jordan River, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus; Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity in the town of Bethlehem, the location of Jesus' birth; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the site of Jesus' burial and resurrection.

{{Main article|Theology of Pope John Paul II}}

{{Catholic philosophy |expanded=all}}

As pope, John Paul II wrote 14 papal encyclicals and taught regularly in his general audiences.Holy See, [https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences.index.html#audiences John Paul II: Audiences], accessed on 19 February 2025

Some key elements of his strategy to "reposition the Catholic Church" were encyclicals such as Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Reconciliatio et paenitentia and Redemptoris Mater. In his At the beginning of the new millennium (Novo Millennio Ineunte), he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." In The Splendour of the Truth (Veritatis Splendor), he emphasised the dependence of man on God and His Law ("Without the Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth". He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself". In Fides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason) John Paul promoted a renewed interest in philosophy and an autonomous pursuit of truth in theological matters. Drawing on many different sources (such as Thomism), he described the mutually supporting relationship between faith and reason, and emphasised that theologians should focus on that relationship. John Paul II wrote extensively about workers and the social doctrine of the church, which he discussed in three encyclicals: Laborem exercens, Sollicitudo rei socialis, and Centesimus annus. Through his encyclicals and many Apostolic Letters and Exhortations, John Paul II talked about the dignity and the equality of women.{{Cite book|author=Pope John Paul II|title=Mulieris Dignitatem: Apostolic Letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|year=1988|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19880815_mulieris-dignitatem.html}} He argued for the importance of the family for the future of humanity. He taught about sexuality in what is referred as the "Theology of the Body". Other encyclicals include The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) and Ut unum sint (That They May Be One). Though critics accused him of inflexibility in explicitly re-asserting Catholic moral teachings against abortion and euthanasia that have been in place for well over a thousand years, he urged a more nuanced view of capital punishment. In his second encyclical, Dives in misericordia, he stressed that divine mercy is the greatest feature of God, needed especially in modern times.

{{Main|Canon law (Catholic Church)}}

John Paul II completed a full-scale reform of the Catholic Church's legal system, Latin and Eastern, and a reform of the Roman Curia.

On 18 October 1990, when promulgating the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, John Paul II stated

{{blockquote|By the publication of this Code, the canonical ordering of the whole Church is thus at length completed, following as it does...the "Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia" of 1988, which is added to both Codes as the primary instrument of the Roman Pontiff for 'the communion that binds together, as it were, the whole Church'Ap. Const. Sacri Canones. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Canon Law Society of America, 2001), page xxv. Cf. Pastor Bonus n. 2}}

In 1998, John Paul II issued the motu proprio Ad tuendam fidem, which amended two canons (750 and 1371) of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and two canons (598 and 1436) of the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

{{Main|1983 Code of Canon Law}}

On 25 January 1983, with the apostolic constitution Sacrae disciplinae leges John Paul II promulgated the current code of canon law for all members of the Catholic Church who belonged to the Latin Church. It entered into force the first Sunday of the following Advent,Ap. Const. Sacræ Disciplineæ Leges which was 27 November 1983.NYTimes.com, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/27/us/new-canon-law-code-in-effect-for-catholics.html New Canon Law Code in Effect for Catholics]", 27 November 1983, accessed June-25-2013 John Paul II described the new code as "the last document of Vatican II". Edward N. Peters has referred to the 1983 Code as the "Johanno-Pauline Code"[http://www.canonlaw.info/masterpage1983.htm Master Page on the Johanno-Pauline Code of 1983], CanonLaw.info, accessed 17 March 2016 (Johannes Paulus is Latin for "John Paul"), parallelling the "Pio-Benedictine" 1917 code that it replaced.

{{Main|Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches}}

John Paul II promulgated the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO) on 18 October 1990, by the document Sacri Canones.AAS82 (1990) pp. 1033–1063 The CCEO came into force of law on 1 October 1991.Thomas Kuzhinapurath, Salvific Law: Salvific Character of CCEO, An Historical Overview, Malankara Seminary Publications, Trivandrum, 2008, p.79 It is the codification of the common portions of the canon law for the 23 of the 24 sui iuris churches in the Catholic Church that are the Eastern Catholic Churches. It is divided into 30 titles and has a total of 1540 canons.Pete Vere & Michael Trueman, "Surprised by Canon Law, Vol. 2" (Cincinnati, Ohio: Servant Books, 2007); pg. 123

{{Main|Pastor bonus}}

John Paul II promulgated the apostolic constitution Pastor bonus on 28 June 1988. It instituted a number of reforms in the process of running the Roman Curia. Pastor bonus laid out in considerable detail the organisation of the Roman Curia, specifying precisely the names and composition of each dicastery, and enumerating the competencies of each dicastery. It replaced the previous special law, Regimini Ecclesiæ universæ, which was promulgated by Paul VI in 1967.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/is-pope-francis-about-to-rip-up-the-vatican-constitution-12-things-to-know/ |title=Akin, Jimmy. "Is Pope Francis about to "rip up" the Vatican constitution? 12 things to know and share", National Catholic Register, 2 October 2013 |access-date=18 March 2016 |archive-date=8 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408222800/http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/is-pope-francis-about-to-rip-up-the-vatican-constitution-12-things-to-know/ |url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Catechism of the Catholic Church}}

On 11 October 1992, in his apostolic constitution Fidei depositum (The Deposit of Faith), John Paul ordered the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.{{cite web |title=JOHN PAUL II, BISHOP SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD FOR EVERLASTING MEMORY |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19921011_fidei-depositum.html |website=The Holy See |access-date=September 7, 2024}}{{cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church |url=https://ourladyofhopegrafton.org/cathecism-of-the-catholic-church |website=Ourladyofhopegrafton.org |access-date=September 7, 2024}}

He declared the publication to be "a sure norm for teaching the faith … a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms". It was "meant to encourage and assist in the writing of new local catechisms [both applicable and faithful]" rather than replacing them.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

{{Main article|Pope John Paul II's political views}}

{{Main|Holy See–Soviet Union relations}}

File:President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.jpg meeting with Pope John Paul II during a visit to the Vatican City, 1982]]

By the late 1970s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union had been predicted by some observers.{{Cite web|url=http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/80804.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502123923/http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/80804.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 May 2006|title=bailey83221: Anticipations of the Failure of Communism (Scholarly list of those who predicted fall|date=2 May 2006|access-date=24 February 2019}}Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "Will Russia blow up?" Newsweek (19 November 1979): 144,147. John Paul II has been credited with being instrumental in bringing down Communism in Central and Eastern Europe,{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}{{sfn|Domínguez|2005}} by being the spiritual inspiration behind its downfall and catalyst for "a peaceful revolution" in Poland. Lech Wałęsa, the founder of Solidarity and the first post-Communist President of Poland, credited John Paul II with giving Poles the courage to demand change. According to Wałęsa, "Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of Communism. In Warsaw, in 1979, he simply said: 'Do not be afraid', and later prayed: 'Let your Spirit descend and change the image of the land ... this land'."{{sfn|Domínguez|2005}} It has also been widely alleged that the Vatican Bank covertly funded Solidarity.

In 1984, the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration saw opened diplomatic relations with the Vatican for the first time since 1870. In sharp contrast to the long history of strong domestic opposition, this time there was very little opposition from Congress, the courts, and Protestant groups.Andrew M. Essig, and Jennifer L. Moore. "US-Holy See Diplomacy: The Establishment of Formal Relations, 1984." Catholic Historical Review (2009) 95#4, pp. 741-764741-764. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27745671 online] Relations between Reagan and John Paul II were close, especially because of their shared anti-communism and keen interest in forcing the Soviets out of Poland.Gayte, Marie (2011). "The Vatican and the Reagan Administration: A Cold War Alliance?" Catholic Historical Review. 97 (4): 713–736. {{JSTOR|23053064}}. John Paul II and Reagan had earlier confided in the Vatican (in 1982) "their conviction that God had spared their lives" from assassination "for the divine purpose of defeating the communist empire."Paul Kengor, A Pope and A President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century, p. 8, ISI Books (2017), {{ISBN|9781610171434}} Reagan's correspondence with the Pope reveals "a continuous scurrying to shore up Vatican support for U.S. policies. Perhaps most surprisingly, the papers show that, as late as 1984, the Pope did not believe the Communist Polish government could be changed."

"No one can prove conclusively that he was a primary cause of the end of communism. However, the major figures on all sides—not just Lech Wałęsa, the Polish Solidarity leader, but also Solidarity's arch-opponent, General Wojciech Jaruzelski; not just the former American president George Bush Senior but also the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev—now agree that he was. I would argue the historical case in three steps: without the Polish Pope, no Solidarity revolution in Poland in 1980; without Solidarity, no dramatic change in Soviet policy towards eastern Europe under Gorbachev; without that change, no velvet revolutions in 1989."{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/04/catholicism.religion13?INTCMP=SRCH |title=The first world leader |newspaper=The Guardian |date=4 April 2005 |access-date=4 November 2013}}

In December 1989, John Paul II met with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the other. Gorbachev once said: "The collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II." On John Paul II's death, Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us."{{sfn|Domínguez|2005}}

File:John Paul II George W. Bush Medal of Freedom 2004.jpg by US President George W. Bush in 2004]]

On 4 June 2004, U.S. president George W. Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honour, to John Paul II during a ceremony at the Apostolic Palace. The president read the citation that accompanied the medal, which recognised "this son of Poland" whose "principled stand for peace and freedom has inspired millions and helped to topple communism and tyranny".{{cite news |url=http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101303/pag_pope.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404041319/http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101303/pag_pope.shtml |archive-date=4 April 2004 |title=Poles worried, proud of Pope John Paul II 10/13/03 |agency=Associated Press |work=The Topeka Capital-Journal |date=3 April 2012 |access-date=28 January 2012}} After receiving the award, John Paul II said, "May the desire for freedom, peace, a more humane world symbolised by this medal inspire men and women of goodwill in every time and place."

File:Grafiti rijeka 1208.jpg, Croatia]]

In 1983, Poland's Communist government unsuccessfully tried to humiliate John Paul II by falsely saying he had fathered an illegitimate child. Section D of Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), the security service, had an action named "Triangolo" to carry out criminal operations against the Catholic Church in Poland; the operation encompassed all Polish hostile actions against the Pope.{{cite news |url=http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/axis101306.htm |title=Polish secret services played key part in criminal plot to kill John Paul II |newspaper=Canada Free Press |date=13 October 2006 |access-date=23 October 2014}}{{better source needed|date=April 2019}} Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, one of the murderers of beatified Jerzy Popiełuszko, was the leader of section D. They drugged Irena Kinaszewska, the secretary of the Kraków-based weekly Catholic magazine Tygodnik Powszechny where Wojtyła had worked, and unsuccessfully attempted to make her admit to having had sexual relations with him.{{cite news |url=http://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/historia/aktualnosci/artykuly/439582,prowokacja-sluzby-bezpieczenstwa-plotki-o-dziecku-papieza.html |title=Nieślubne dziecko Jana Pawła II. Kulisy esbeckiej prowokacji |language=pl |trans-title=Illegitimate Child of John Paul II. A behind-the-scenes SB provocation |newspaper=Dziennik |date=4 October 2013 |access-date=23 October 2014}}

The SB then attempted to compromise Kraków priest Andrzej Bardecki, an editor of Tygodnik Powszechny and one of the closest friends of Cardinal Wojtyła before he became pope, by planting false memoirs in his dwelling; Piotrowski was exposed and the forgeries were found and destroyed before the SB could say to have discovered them.

John Paul II was variously praisedJonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, p. 592, Henry Holt and Co. (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-8050-2688-7}} and criticized{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/03/world/pinochet-foes-cheered-by-the-pope-s-presence.html |last=Rother |first=Larry |title=Pinochet foes cheered by the Pope's presence |journal=New York Times |date=1987-04-03 |page=3}} for actions which were perceived as both inspiring resistanceDouglas Bond, Christopher Kruegler, Roger S. Powers, and William B. Vogele, Protest, Power, and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage, p. 227, Routledge (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-8153-0913-0}} but also potentially abetting[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/03/world/pinochet-foes-cheered-by-the-pope-s-presence.html?src=pm Pionchet's Foes Cheered by the Pope's Presence] The New York Times, 3 April 1987 dictatorships in Chile, Haiti, and Paraguay.

{{main|Pope John Paul II and ecumenism|Pope John Paul II's relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church}}

John Paul II was publicly committed to improving relationships between Christian communities and engaged in numerous dialogues with leaders of other Christian churches, including the Eastern Orthodox Church,{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1991/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_19910531_relationships-catholics-orthodox.html|title= LETTER TO EUROPEAN BISHOPS ON THE RECENT CHANGES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE}} Oriental Orthodox Church,{{cite web |title=The Common Declaration of Pope John Paul II and His Holiness Karekim I Sarkissian (December 13, 1996) John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1996/december/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19961213_dichiarazione-comune.html |website=www.vatican.va}} Assyrian Church of the East{{cite web |title=Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (November 11, 1994) John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1994/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19941111_dichiarazione-cristologica.html |website=www.vatican.va}} the Lutheran World Federation,{{cite web |title=1997 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification |url=https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-occidentale/luterani/dialogo/documenti-di-dialogo/1999-dichiarazione-congiunta-sulla-dottrina-della-giustificazion/en.html |website=www.christianunity.va}} and the Anglican Communion.{{cite web |title=Common declaration of Pope John Paul II and His Grace Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (October 2, 1989) {{!}} John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1989/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19891002_dichiaraz-comune.html |website=www.vatican.va}}

{{Main|Pope John Paul II and Judaism}}

Relations between Catholicism and Judaism improved dramatically during the pontificate of John Paul II. He spoke frequently about the Catholic Church's relationship with the Jewish faith.

In his book-length interview Crossing the Threshold of Hope with the Italian journalist Vittorio Messori published in 1995, John Paul II draws parallels between animism and Christianity. He wrote:

"... it would be helpful to recall ... the animist religions which stress ancestor worship. It seems that those who practise them are particularly close to Christianity, and among them, the Church's missionaries also find it easier to speak a common language. Is there, perhaps, in this veneration of ancestors a kind of preparation for the Christian faith in the Communion of Saints, in which all believers—whether living or dead—form a single community, a single body? ... There is nothing strange, then, that the African and Asian animists would become believers in Christ more easily than followers of the great religions of the Far East."John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 82, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994 {{ISBN|978-0-307-76457-7}}

In 1985, the Pope visited the African country of Togo, where 60 per cent of the population espouses animist beliefs. To honour the Pope, animist religious leaders met him at a Catholic Marian shrine in the forest, much to the pontiff's delight. John Paul II proceeded to call for the need for religious tolerance, praised nature, and emphasised common elements between animism and Christianity, saying:

"Nature, exuberant and splendid in this area of forests and lakes, impregnates spirits and hearts with its mystery and orients them spontaneously toward the mystery of He who is the author of life. It is this religious sentiment that animates you and one can say that animates all of your compatriots."[https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/10/world/pope-visits-palace-in-togo-then-a-woman-s-mud-hut.html Pope Visits Palace in Togo, Then a Woman's Mud Hut] The New York Times, 10 August 1985

During the investiture of President Thomas Boni Yayi of Benin as a titled Yoruba chieftain on 20 December 2008, the reigning Ooni of Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Olubuse II, referred to John Paul II as a previous recipient of the same royal honour.{{cite web|url=http://theooni.org/soko.htm |title=His Imperial Majesty, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse ll- The Ooni of Ife |publisher=Theooni.org |date=20 December 2008 |access-date=28 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303202401/http://theooni.org/soko.htm |archive-date=3 March 2013}}

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, visited John Paul II eight times. The two men held many similar views and understood similar plights, both coming from nations affected by Communism and both serving as heads of major religious bodies. As Archbishop of Kraków, long before the 14th Dalai Lama was a world-famous figure, Wojtyła held special Masses to pray for the Tibetan people's non-violent struggle for freedom from Maoist China.Levi, Mons. Virgilio and Christine Allison. John Paul II: A Tribute in Words and Pictures, p. 165, William Morrow, 1999 {{ISBN|978-0-688-16621-2}} In 1987, he welcomed participants of the East-West Spiritual Exchanges, an initiative by the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIMMID) and the Institute for Zen Studies in which Buddhist and Christian monks or nuns take turns residing for one month in each other's monasteries.{{cite journal |last1=de Béthune |first1=Pierre-François |title=Bethune Experience of Hospitality |journal=Dilatato Corde |date=2022 |volume=XII |issue=2 July – December |url=https://dimmid.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={2184B240-66D1-41C6-B233-21976A735E16}&DE= |access-date=16 February 2024 |publisher=DIMMID}}{{cite web |title=To the participants in the "East-West Spiritual Exchanges" (September 9, 1987) {{!}} John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1987/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19870909_religiosi-zen.html |website=www.vatican.va |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=16 February 2024}} During his 1995 visit to Sri Lanka, a country where a majority of the population adheres to Theravada Buddhism, John Paul II expressed his admiration for Buddhism. He said:

"In particular I express my highest regard for the followers of Buddhism, the majority religion in Sri Lanka, with its ... four great values of … loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity; with its ten transcendental virtues and the joys of the Sangha expressed so beautifully in the Theragathas. I ardently hope that my visit will serve to strengthen the goodwill between us, and that it will reassure everyone of the Catholic Church's desire for interreligious dialogue and cooperation in building a more just and fraternal world. To everyone I extend the hand of friendship, recalling the splendid words of the Dhammapada: 'Better than a thousand useless words is one single word that gives peace' ... ."{{cite web |url = http://old.usccb.org/comm/archives/1997/97-071a.shtml |title = Text of Bishop Brunett's Greetings |author = Brunett, Mons. Alex |publisher = United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Media Relations |access-date = 30 October 2012 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130416054156/http://old.usccb.org/comm/archives/1997/97-071a.shtml |archive-date = 16 April 2013 |df = dmy-all}}

File:StJohnInUmmayad.jpg, Damascus.]]

John Paul II made considerable efforts to improve relations between Catholicism and Islam.

He officially supported the project of the Mosque of Rome and participated in the inauguration in 1995.

On 14 May 1999, at a meeting with Muslim leaders in Syria, he was gifted and then promptly kissed a Qur'an, an act that was controversial with some Catholics.{{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=Taylor |title=Infiltration: The Plot To Destroy The Church |publisher=Sophia Institute Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-622828-470 |pages=178}}{{Cite web |title=Theologian: John Paul II wanted to show respect by kissing the Koran |url=https://english.katholisch.de/artikel/53269-theologian-john-paul-ii-wanted-to-show-respect-by-kissing-the-koran |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=english.katholisch.de |language=de}}

On 6 May 2001, he became the first Catholic pope to enter and pray in a mosque, namely the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. Respectfully removing his shoes, he entered the former Byzantine-era Christian church dedicated to John the Baptist, who is also revered as a prophet of Islam. He gave a speech including the statement: "For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness."

In 2004, John Paul II hosted the "Papal Concert of Reconciliation", which brought together leaders of Islam with leaders of the Jewish community and of the Catholic Church at the Vatican for a concert by the Kraków Philharmonic Choir from Poland, the London Philharmonic Choir from the United Kingdom, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from the United States, and the Ankara State Polyphonic Choir of Turkey. The event was conceived and conducted by Gilbert Levine, KCSG and was broadcast throughout the world.

John Paul II oversaw the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which makes a special provision for Muslims; therein, it is written, "together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

In 1995, John Paul II held a meeting with 21 Jains, organised by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He praised Mohandas Gandhi for his "unshakeable faith in God", assured the Jains that the Catholic Church will continue to engage in dialogue with their religion and spoke of the common need to aid the poor. The Jain leaders were impressed with the Pope's "transparency and simplicity", and the meeting received much attention in the Gujarat state in western India, home to many Jains.{{cite web |url=http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/1995/04/20/pope-impresses-jain-team-with-personal-warmth-encourages-more-dialogue&post_id=47157 |title=Pope Impresses Jain Team with Personal Warmth, Encourages More Dialogue |publisher=Ucanews.com |date=20 April 1995 |access-date=6 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213182603/http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=%2F1995%2F04%2F20%2Fpope-impresses-jain-team-with-personal-warmth-encourages-more-dialogue&post_id=47157 |archive-date=13 December 2014 |url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II|Juan María Fernández y Krohn|Bojinka Plot}}

As he entered St. Peter's Square to address an audience on 13 May 1981,{{cite news |title=1981 Year in Review: Pope John Paul II Assassination (sic) Attempt |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1981/Pope-John-Paul-II-Assasination-Attempt/12311754163167-6/ |publisher=United Press International (UPI) |year=1981}} John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca,{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}{{sfn|Dziwisz|2001}} an expert Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant fascist group Grey Wolves. The assassin used a Browning 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, shooting the Pope in the abdomen and perforating his colon and small intestine multiple times. John Paul II was rushed into the Vatican complex and then to the Gemelli Hospital. On the way to the hospital, he lost consciousness. Even though the two bullets missed his superior mesenteric artery and abdominal aorta, he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood. He underwent five hours of surgery to treat his wounds.{{sfn|Time Magazine 1982-01-25|p=1}} Surgeons performed a colostomy, temporarily rerouting the upper part of the large intestine to let the damaged lower part heal.{{sfn|Time Magazine 1982-01-25|p=1}} When he briefly regained consciousness before being operated on, he instructed the doctors not to remove his Brown Scapular during the operation. One of the few people allowed in to see him at the Gemelli Clinic was one of his closest friends, philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, who arrived on Saturday 16 May and kept him company while he recovered from emergency surgery.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160216020844/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/12157733/What-really-happened-between-Pope-John-Paul-II-and-his-close-friend-Anna-Teresa-Tymienecka.html What really happened between Pope John Paul II and his close friend, Anna-Teresa Tymienecka?] by Edward Stourton, 15 February 2016, The Telegraph The Pope later stated that the Blessed Virgin Mary helped keep him alive throughout his ordeal.{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}{{sfn|Dziwisz|2001}}{{sfn|Bertone|2000–2009}} He said:

"Could I forget that the event in St. Peter's Square took place on the day and at the hour when the first appearance of the Mother of Christ to the poor little peasants has been remembered for over sixty years at Fátima, Portugal? For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet."{{sfn|Pope John Paul II|2005|p=184}}

Ağca was caught and restrained by a nun and other bystanders until police arrived. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two days after Christmas in 1983, John Paul II visited Ağca in prison. John Paul II and Ağca spoke privately for about twenty minutes.{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}{{sfn|Dziwisz|2001}} John Paul II said, "What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust."{{cite magazine |last=Morrow |first=Lance |date=19 January 1984 |title=Pope John Paul II Forgives His Would-Be Assassin |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,952295-3,00.html |access-date=4 January 2023 |issn=0040-781X}}

Numerous theories were advanced to explain the assassination attempt, some of them controversial. One such theory, advanced by Michael Ledeen and heavily pushed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency at the time of the assassination but never substantiated by evidence, was that the Soviet Union was behind the attempt on John Paul II's life in retaliation for the Pope's support of Solidarity, the Catholic, pro-democratic Polish workers' movement. This theory was supported by the 2006 Mitrokhin Commission, set up by Silvio Berlusconi and headed by {{lang|it|Forza Italia}} senator Paolo Guzzanti, which alleged that Communist Bulgarian security departments were used to prevent the Soviet Union's role from being uncovered, and concluded that Soviet military intelligence (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije), not the KGB, were responsible. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov called the accusation "absurd". The Pope declared during a May 2002 visit to Bulgaria that the country's Soviet-bloc-era leadership had nothing to do with the assassination attempt. However, his secretary, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, alleged in his book A Life with Karol, that the Pope was convinced privately that the former Soviet Union was behind the attack. It was later discovered that many of John Paul II's aides had foreign-government attachments; Bulgaria and Russia disputed the Italian commission's conclusions, pointing out that the Pope had publicly denied the Bulgarian connection.

A second assassination attempt was made on 12 May 1982, just a day before the anniversary of the first attempt on his life, in Fátima, Portugal, when a man tried to stab John Paul II with a bayonet. He was stopped by security guards. Stanisław Dziwisz later said that John Paul II had been injured during the attempt but managed to hide a non-life-threatening wound. The assailant, a traditionalist Catholic Spanish priest named Juan María Fernández y Krohn, had been ordained as a priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of St. Pius X and was opposed to the changes made by the Second Vatican Council, saying that the Pope was an agent of Communist Moscow and of the Marxist Eastern Bloc.{{sfn|Hebblethwaite|1995|p=95}} Fernández y Krohn subsequently left the priesthood and served three years of a six-year sentence.{{sfn|Hebblethwaite|1995|p=95}} The ex-priest was treated for mental illness and then expelled from Portugal to become a solicitor in Belgium.{{sfn|Hebblethwaite|1995|p=95}}

The Al-Qaeda-funded Bojinka plot planned to kill John Paul II during a visit to the Philippines during World Youth Day 1995 celebrations. On 15 January 1995 a suicide bomber was planning to dress as a priest and detonate a bomb when the Pope passed in his motorcade on his way to the San Carlos Seminary in Makati. The assassination was supposed to divert attention from the next phase of the operation. However, a chemical fire inadvertently started by the cell alerted police to their whereabouts, and all were arrested a week before the Pope's visit, and confessed to the plot.

In 2009 Jack Koehler, a journalist and former army intelligence officer, published Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church. Mining mostly East German and Polish secret police archives, Koehler claimed the assassination attempts were "KGB-backed".Publishers Weekly, review of 'Spies in the Vatican', 11 May 2009

{{Main|Apologies by Pope John Paul II}}

John Paul II apologised to many groups that had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church through the years.{{sfn|Pope John Paul II|2005|p=1}} Before becoming pope he had been a prominent editor and supporter of initiatives such as the Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops from 1965. As pope, he officially made public apologies for over 100 wrongdoings, including:{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/13/catholicism.religion |title=Pope says sorry for sins of church |newspaper=The Guardian |date=13 March 2000 | access-date=22 October 2014 |author=Caroll, Rory |location=London}}{{cite news | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/pope/johnpaulii_1.shtml | title= Pope issues apology |work=BBC News | access-date=14 January 2013 | author=BBC News}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/674246.stm | title= Pope apologises for Church sins| work=BBC News |access-date=14 January 2013 | author=BBC News | date=12 March 2000}}{{cite news | url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/popeapo2.htm | title=Apologies by Pope John Paul II | publisher=Ontario Consultants | date=7 March 2000 | access-date=14 January 2013 | author=Robinson, B. A. | archive-date=14 November 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114082949/http://www.religioustolerance.org/popeapo2.htm | url-status=dead}}

• The legal process on the Italian scientist and philosopher Galileo Galilei, himself a devout Catholic, around 1633 (31 October 1992).
• The involvement of Catholics in the Atlantic slave trade (9 August 1993).
• The church hierarchy's role in burnings at the stake and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation (20 May 1995, in the Czech Republic).
• The injustices committed against women, the violation of women's rights and the historical denigration of women (10 July 1995, in a letter to "every woman").
• The inactivity and silence of many Catholics during the Holocaust (see the article Religion in Nazi Germany) (16 March 1998).

The Great Jubilee of the year 2000 included a day of Prayer for Forgiveness of the Sins of the Church on 12 March 2000.

On 20 November 2001, from a laptop in the Vatican, John Paul II sent his first e-mail apologising for the Catholic sex abuse cases, the church-backed Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children in Australia, and to China for the behaviour of Catholic missionaries in colonial times.

{{Main|Pope John Paul II's health}}

File:PapstJPII20040922.jpg in September 2004 in St. Peter's Square]]

When he became pope in 1978 at the age of 58, John Paul II was an avid sportsman. He remained extremely healthy and active especially in his first years of papacy, jogging in the Vatican gardens, weight training, swimming, and hiking in the mountains. He was fond of football, skiing and swimming. The media contrasted the new pope's athleticism and trim figure to the poor health of John Paul I and Paul VI, the portliness of John XXIII and the constant claims of ailments of Pius XII. The only modern pope with a fitness regimen had been Pope Pius XI (1922–1939), who was an avid mountaineer, conquering summits like Monte Rosa, Mont Blanc (the highest of the Alps) and Matterhorn. Media occasionally referred to John Paul II's fitness regimen: for example, an Irish Independent article in the 1980s labelled him the keep-fit pope, and an Italian newspaper called him l'atleta di Dio ("God's athlete") in 2005.{{Cite web |last=Messori |first=Vittorio |date=2005-02-03 |title=Corriere della Sera - La notte dolorosa dell' «Atleta di Dio» |url=https://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2005/02_Febbraio/03/messori.shtml |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=www.corriere.it}}

However, after over 26 years as pope, two assassination attempts, one of which injured him severely, and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health declined. In 2001 he was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson's disease. International observers had suspected this for some time, but it was only publicly acknowledged by the Vatican in 2003. Despite difficulty speaking more than a few sentences at a time, trouble hearing, and severe osteoarthrosis, he continued to tour the world although rarely walking in public.

{{Main|Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II}}

John Paul II was hospitalised with breathing problems caused by a bout of influenza on 1 February 2005.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4228059.stm |title=Europe | Pope John Paul rushed to hospital |work=BBC News |date=2 February 2005 |access-date=17 February 2013}} He left the hospital on 10 February, but was subsequently hospitalised again with breathing problems two weeks later and underwent a tracheotomy.{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/3198/pope-john-paul-resting;-breathing-on-own-following-tracheotomy |title=Pope John Paul resting; breathing on own following tracheotomy |publisher=Catholic News Agency |date=25 February 2005 |access-date=17 February 2013}}

File:Giovanni Paolo II 0013.JPG|243x243px]]

On 31 March 2005, following a urinary tract infection,{{sfn|BBC 2005-04-01}} he developed septic shock, a form of infection with a high fever and low blood pressure, but was not hospitalised. Instead, he was monitored by a team of consultants at his private residence. This was taken as an indication by the Pope, and those close to him, that he was nearing death; it would have been in accordance with his wishes to die in the Vatican.{{sfn|BBC 2005-04-01}} Later that day, Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been given the Anointing of the Sick by his friend and secretary Stanisław Dziwisz. The day before his death, one of his closest personal friends, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, visited him at his bedside. During the final days of the Pope's life, the lights were kept burning through the night where he lay in the Papal apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace. Tens of thousands of people assembled and held vigil in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for two days. Upon hearing of this, the dying pope was said to have stated: "I have searched for you, and now you have come to me, and I thank you."

On Saturday, 2 April 2005, at approximately 15:30 CEST, John Paul II spoke his final words in Polish, "Pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca" ("Allow me to depart to the house of the Father"), to his aides, and fell into a coma about four hours later. The Mass of the vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter commemorating the canonisation of Faustina Kowalska on 30 April 2000, had just been celebrated at his bedside, presided over by Dziwisz and two Polish associates. Present at the bedside was Cardinal Lubomyr Husar from Ukraine, who served as a priest with John Paul in Poland, along with Polish nuns of the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, who ran the papal household. John Paul II died in his private apartment at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) of heart failure from profound hypotension and complete circulatory collapse from septic shock.{{sfn|Navarro-Valls 2 April 2005}} His death was verified when an electrocardiogram that ran for 20 minutes showed a flatline.{{cite news|title=Vatican Releases Official Record of Pope John Paul II's Final Days|date=19 September 2005|author=The New York Times|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/world/europe/vatican-releases-official-record-of-pope-john-paul-iis-final.html|access-date=29 January 2018|author-link=The New York Times}}

He had no close family by the time of his death; his feelings are reflected in his words written in 2000 at the end of his Last Will and Testament.{{sfn|Stourton|2006|p=320}} Dziwisz later said he had not burned the pontiff's personal notes despite the request being part of the will.{{cite news |title=Pope aide 'has not burned papers' |work=BBC News |date=5 June 2005 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4610607.stm |access-date=12 August 2013}}

File:JPII on bier.jpg, Laura Bush, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Andrew Card, US dignitaries paying respects to John Paul II on 6 April 2005 at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City]]

The death of the pontiff set in motion rituals and traditions dating back to medieval times. The Rite of Visitation took place from 4 April 2005 to 7 April 2005 at St. Peter's Basilica. John Paul II's testament, published on 7 April 2005, revealed that he contemplated being buried in his native Poland but left the final decision to the College of Cardinals, which in passing, preferred burial beneath St. Peter's Basilica, honouring the pontiff's request to be placed "in bare earth".

The Requiem Mass held on 8 April 2005 was said to have set world records both for attendance and number of heads of state present at a funeral. (See: List of Dignitaries.) It was the single largest gathering of heads of state up to that time, surpassing the funerals of Winston Churchill (1965) and Josip Broz Tito (1980). Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers, and more than 14 leaders of other religions attended. An estimated four million mourners gathered in and around Vatican City. Between 250,000 and 300,000 watched the event from within the Vatican's walls. In a historical rarity, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox leaders, as well as representatives and heads from Judaism, Islam, Druze[https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/PapalVisit/Pages/Greetings_Pope_Benedict_XVI_religious_leaders_Galilee_14-May-2009.aspx Greetings by Pope Benedict XVI to religious leaders in the Galilee] and Buddhism, offered their own memorials and prayers as a way of sympathising with the grief of Catholics.

The Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, conducted the ceremony. John Paul II was interred in the grottoes under the basilica, the Tomb of the Popes. He was lowered into a tomb created in the same alcove previously occupied by the remains of John XXIII. The alcove had been empty since John XXIII's remains had been moved into the main body of the basilica after his beatification. The remains of John Paul II were moved to the Chapel of St. Sebastian within the main basilica upon his own beatification in 2011.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-25 |title=Pope Francis funeral: A visual guide and timeline |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5w9yzy1vpo.amp |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=BBC News |language=en-gb}}

{{See also|Pope John Paul II in popular culture}}

File:Restos Juan Pablo II.jpg before his beatification]]

Upon the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and laymen began referring to the late pontiff as "John Paul the Great" {{Ndash}}in theory only the fourth pope to be so acclaimed. Cardinal Angelo Sodano specifically referred to John Paul as "the Great" in his published written homily for the Pope's funeral Mass of Repose. The South African Catholic newspaper The Southern Cross has referred to him in print as "John Paul II the Great". Some Catholic educational institutions in the US have additionally changed their names to incorporate "the Great", including John Paul the Great Catholic University and schools called some variant of John Paul the Great High School.

File:Vaticano sightseeing (fc31 – edited).jpg Chapel of Saint Sebastian within St. Peter's Basilica where it has been since 2011]]

Scholars of canon law say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage, as was the case with celebrated secular leaders (for example, Alexander III of Macedon became popularly known as Alexander the Great). The three popes who today commonly are known as "Great" are Leo I, who reigned from 440–461 and persuaded Attila the Hun to withdraw from Rome; Gregory I, 590–604, after whom the Gregorian chant is named; and Pope Nicholas I, 858–867, who consolidated the Catholic Church in the Western world in the Middle Ages.

John Paul's successor, Benedict XVI, did not use the term directly in public speeches, but made oblique references to "the great Pope John Paul II" in his first address from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the 20th World Youth Day 2005 in Germany when he said in Polish: "As the great Pope John Paul II would say: Keep the flame of faith alive in your lives and your people";Susan Crimp, "The Last Wish of Pope John Paul II: The Life and Messages of Saint Faustina", p92 and in May 2006 during a visit to Poland where he repeatedly made references to "the great John Paul" and "my great predecessor".

File:Grób rodziców Jana Pawła II na cmentarzu Rakowickim w Krakowie.jpg in Kraków, Poland]]

• Pope John Paul II High School (Tennessee)
• John Paul II High School (Plano, Texas)
• John Paul the Great Catholic University
• John Paul the Great Catholic High School (Indiana)
• John Paul II Catholic Secondary School (London, Ontario, Canada)
• John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
• Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School (Virginia)
• John Paul II High School, Greymouth
• Karol Wojtyla College, Lima, Peru{{cite web | url=https://kwc.edu.pe/ | title=KWC Home | access-date=19 March 2022 | archive-date=25 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925163640/http://kwc.edu.pe/ | url-status=dead}}
• Scoil Eoin Phóil, Leixlip, Ireland
• John Paul II Gymnasium, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Pope John Paul II High School in Olympia, Washington{{cite web | url=http://www.popejp2hs.org/ | title=JPII Home}}
• Universidad Privada Juan Pablo II, Lima, Peru{{cite web | url=https://unijuanpablo.edu.pe/2019/09/23/celebracion-dia-de-la-enfermera/ | title=UPJPII Celebración día de la enfermera | access-date=19 March 2022 | archive-date=12 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812142417/https://unijuanpablo.edu.pe/2019/09/23/celebracion-dia-de-la-enfermera/ | url-status=dead}}
• Karol Wojtyła building at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia{{cite web |author=Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia |url=https://m.atmajaya.ac.id/web/Info.aspx?gid=info-atma-jaya&cid=peta-denah-kampus-semanggi |title=Campus Map |access-date=30 September 2019 |archive-date=20 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520184627/https://m.atmajaya.ac.id/web/Info.aspx?gid=info-atma-jaya&cid=peta-denah-kampus-semanggi |url-status=dead}}
• St. John Paul II Chapel and Museum at Pakuwon Mall in Surabaya, Indonesia
• St. John Paul II Minor Seminary, Minor Seminary in Antipolo City, Philippines
• St. John Paul II Parish Community (Lake View, NY)
• St. John Paul II High School (Massachusetts)
• Saint John Paul II Academy Boca Raton, FL
• St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Alabama)
• St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Arizona)
• St. John Paul II Seminary (Washington, DC){{cite web | url=https://www.dcpriest.org/welcome-to-saint-john-paul-ii-seminary | title=Welcome to St. John Paul II Seminary | access-date=25 May 2020 | archive-date=28 July 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728073013/https://www.dcpriest.org/welcome-to-saint-john-paul-ii-seminary | url-status=dead}}
• Pope Saint John Paul II Major Seminary Awka (Nigeria){{Cite web|title=Pope John Paul Major Seminary|url=https://pjpsawka.org/|access-date=16 March 2021|website=pjpsawka.org|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413221545/https://pjpsawka.org/|url-status=dead}}
• St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
• Pope John Paul II High School, Royersford Pennsylvania, USA

{{Main|Beatification of Pope John Paul II}}

File:Beatification of John Paul II (1).jpg attendees witness the beatification of John Paul II on 1 May 2011 in Vatican City.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/8486488/Pope-John-Paul-II-beatified-in-front-of-audience-of-1.5-million.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/8486488/Pope-John-Paul-II-beatified-in-front-of-audience-of-1.5-million.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Pope John Paul II beatified in front 1.5 million |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=1 May 2011 |access-date=17 February 2013}}{{cbignore}}]]

Inspired by calls of "Santo Subito!" ("[Make him a] Saint Immediately!") from the crowds gathered during the funeral Mass that he celebrated, Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor, bypassing the normal restriction that five years must pass after a person's death before beginning the beatification process. In an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, who was responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who died within that diocese, cited "exceptional circumstances", which suggested that the waiting period could be waived. This decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square.

In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possible miracle associated with John Paul II. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun and member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards, confined to her bed by

Parkinson's disease, was reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II". {{As of|2008|5}}, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, then 46, was working again at a maternity hospital run by her religious institute.

"I was sick and now I am cured," she told reporter Gerry Shaw. "I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not."

On 28 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass before an estimated 900,000 people in John Paul II's native Poland. During his homily, he encouraged prayers for the early canonisation of John Paul II and stated that he hoped canonisation would happen "in the near future".

File:Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Wiki Loves Pyramids tour 018.jpg, Tepeyac, Mexico City]]

In January 2007, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz announced that the interview phase of the beatification process, in Italy and Poland, was nearing completion. In February 2007, second class relics of John Paul II—pieces of white papal cassocks he used to wear—were freely distributed with prayer cards for the cause, a typical pious practice after a saintly Catholic's death. On 8 March 2007, the Vicariate of Rome announced that the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for beatification was at an end. Following a ceremony on 2 April 2007—the second anniversary of the Pontiff's death—the cause proceeded to the scrutiny of the committee of lay, clerical, and episcopal members of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to conduct a separate investigation. On the fourth anniversary of John Paul II's death, 2 April 2009, Cardinal Dziwisz, told reporters of a presumed miracle that had recently occurred at the former pope's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica. A nine-year-old Polish boy from Gdańsk, who was suffering from kidney cancer and was completely unable to walk, had been visiting the tomb with his parents. On leaving St. Peter's Basilica, the boy told them, "I want to walk," and began walking normally. On 16 November 2009, a panel of reviewers at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that John Paul II had lived a life of heroic virtue. On 19 December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI signed the first of two decrees needed for beatification and proclaimed John Paul II "Venerable", asserting that he had lived a heroic, virtuous life. The second vote and the second signed decree certified the authenticity of the first miracle, the curing of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, from Parkinson's disease. Once the second decree is signed, the position (the report on the cause, with documentation about his life and writings and with information on the cause) is complete. He can then be beatified. Some speculated that he would be beatified sometime during (or soon after) the month of the 32nd anniversary of his 1978 election, in October 2010. As Monsignor Oder said, this course would have been possible if the second decree were signed in time by Benedict XVI, stating that a posthumous miracle directly attributable to his intercession had occurred, completing the positio.

File:John Paul II Monument Gdansk-Zaspa.jpgs around monument to John Paul II in Zaspa, Gdańsk, at the time of his death]]

The Vatican announced on 14 January 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed the miracle involving Sister Marie Simon-Pierre and that John Paul II was to be beatified on 1 May, the Feast of Divine Mercy. 1 May is commemorated in former Communist countries, such as Poland, and some Western European countries as May Day, and John Paul II was well known for his contributions to Communism's relatively peaceful demise. In March 2011 the Polish mint issued a gold 1,000 Polish złoty coin (equivalent to US$350), with the Pope's image to commemorate his beatification.

On 29 April 2011, John Paul II's coffin was disinterred from the grotto beneath St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his beatification, as tens of thousands of people arrived in Rome for one of the biggest events since his funeral.{{Cite news|last=Willey|first=David|date=1 May 2011|title=Celebration as John Paul beatified|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13254148|access-date=11 May 2020}} John Paul II's remains, which were not exposed, were placed in front of the Basilica's main altar, where believers could pay their respect before and after the beatification Mass in St. Peter's Square on 1 May 2011. On 3 May 2011 his remains were interred in the marble altar in Pier Paolo Cristofari Chapel of St. Sebastian, where Pope Innocent XI was buried. This more prominent location, next to the Chapel of the Pietà, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and statues of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII was intended to allow more pilgrims to view his memorial. John Paul II's body is located near the bodies of Pope Pius X and Pope John XXIII, whose bodies were reinterred in the Basilica after their own beatifications and together are three of the five popes beatified in the last century. The two popes who were not exhumed and reinterred after becoming a blessed in the last century were Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I, who both remain entombed in the papal grottos.{{Cite web|title=Visiting the Tomb of John Paul II in St Peter´s Basilica in the Vatican|url=https://www.vaticancityguide.org/visit-tomb-john-paul/|date=23 August 2013|website=Vatican City Travel Guide|language=en-US|access-date=11 May 2020}}{{Cite web|title=Pope Innocent XI's remains make way for John Paul II|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/22313/pope-innocent-xis-remains-make-way-for-john-paul-ii|last=Kerr|first=David|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en|access-date=11 May 2020}}

In July 2012, a Colombian man, Marco Fidel Rojas, the former mayor of Huila, Colombia, testified that he was "miraculously cured" of Parkinson's disease after a trip to Rome where he met John Paul II and prayed with him. Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita, a renowned neurologist in Colombia, certified Fidel's healing. The documentation was then sent to the Vatican office for sainthood causes.{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/25303/healing-of-colombian-man-could-pave-way-for-john-paul-ii-canonization |title=Healing of Colombian man could pave way for John Paul II canonization |publisher=Catholic News Agency |access-date=4 August 2012}}

In September 2020, Poland unveiled a sculpture of him, designed by {{ill|Jerzy Kalina|pl}} and installed outside the National Museum, Warsaw, holding up a meteorite.{{cite web |url=https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/24/new-pope-john-paul-ii-sculpture-unveiled-in-warsaw |title=New Pope John Paul II sculpture unveiled in Warsaw |website=euronews.com |date=24 September 2020}} In the same month, a relic containing his blood was stolen from the Spoleto Cathedral in Italy.{{cite web |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/relic-containing-pope-john-paul-ii-blood-stolen-from-cathedral-in-italy/090f6169-66fc-451e-998a-ce8194a0030d |title=Relic holding Pope John Paul II's blood stolen from Italian cathedral |website=9news.com |date=25 September 2020}}

{{Main|Canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II}}

File:Canonization 2014- The Canonization of Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II (14036852944).jpg

To be eligible for canonisation (being declared a saint) by the Catholic Church, two miracles must be attributed to a candidate.

The first miracle attributed to John Paul was the above mentioned healing of a nun's Parkinson's disease, which was recognised during the beatification process. According to an article on the Catholic News Service (CNS) dated 23 April 2013, a Vatican commission of doctors concluded that a healing had no natural (medical) explanation, which is the first requirement for a claimed miracle to be officially documented.The article by Cindy Wooden cited news reports from Italian news media agencies, and included remarks by the Pope's longtime aide, Kraków's Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, S.J.{{cite news | first = Christopher | last = Livesay | title = John Paul set for sainthood after second miracle okayed | date = 2 July 2013 | publisher = www.ansa.it | url = http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/07/02/-ANSA-John-Paul-set-sainthood-second-miracle-okayed_8965021.html | work = ANSA (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata) | access-date = 2 July 2013}}

The second miracle was deemed to have taken place shortly after the late pope's beatification on 1 May 2011; it was reported to be the healing of Costa Rican woman Floribeth Mora of an otherwise terminal brain aneurysm.[https://www.foxnews.com/world/costa-rican-woman-describes-john-paul-miracle-cure "Costa Rican Woman Describes John Paul Miracle Cure"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311010751/http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/07/06/costa-rican-woman-describes-john-paul-miracle-cure/ |date=11 March 2016}}, Fox News Latino, 6 July 2013 A Vatican panel of expert theologians examined the evidence, determined that it was directly attributable to the intercession of John Paul II, and recognised it as miraculous.{{cite news | title = John Paul II's 2nd miracle approved—report | date = 2 July 2013 | publisher = Rappler.com | url = http://www.rappler.com/world/32751-john-paul-ii-miracle-recognized-report | work = Agence France-Presse (AFP)| access-date = 2 July 2013}} The next stage was for Cardinals who compose the membership of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to give their opinion to Pope Francis to decide whether to sign and promulgate the decree and set a date for canonisation.{{cite news |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301805.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130423192205/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301805.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 April 2013 |title=Italian media report progress in Blessed John Paul's sainthood cause |publisher=Catholic News Service |date=23 April 2013| access-date=12 June 2013}}

On 4 July 2013, Pope Francis confirmed his approval of John Paul II's canonisation, formally recognising the second miracle attributed to his intercession. He was canonised together with John XXIII.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-johnpaul-idUSBRE9640BA20130705/ |title=Popes John Paul II, John XXIII to be made saints: Vatican |work=Reuters |access-date=9 July 2013 |date=5 July 2013 |archive-date=8 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708081533/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/05/us-vatican-johnpaul-idUSBRE9640BA20130705 |url-status=live}} The date of the canonisation was on 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday.{{cite news |first=Elizabetta |last=Povoledo |author2=Alan Cowell |title=Francis to Canonise John XXIII and John Paul II on Same Day |date=30 September 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/world/europe/francis-to-canonize-popes-john-xxiii-and-john-paul-ii-on-same-day.html?_r=0 |access-date=30 September 2013}}{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Easton |title=Date set for Popes John Paul II and John XXIII sainthood |date=30 September 2013 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24330204 |work=BBC News |access-date=30 September 2013}}

The canonisation Mass for Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, was celebrated by Pope Francis (with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), on 27 April 2014 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican (John Paul II had died on vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005). About 150 cardinals and 700 bishops concelebrated the Mass, and at least 500,000 people attended the Mass, with an estimated 300,000 others watching from video screens placed around Rome.{{cite news |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-pope-francis-canonization-vatican-20140427-story.html |first1=Patrick J. |last1= McDonnell |first2=Tom |last2=Kington |date=27 April 2014|location=Los Angeles, CA |title=Canonization of predecessors provides another boost for Pope Francis|quote=An estimated 800,000 people descended on Rome for the dual canonisation, a Vatican spokesman said. That included the half a million around the Vatican and another 300,000 watching the event on giant TV screens set up throughout the city of Rome.}}

John Paul II's remains, considered to be holy relics, were exhumed from their place in the basilica's grotto,{{Cite web |title=John Paul II remains moved in front of St. Peter's tomb |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/22426/john-paul-ii-remains-moved-in-front-of-st-peters-tomb |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}} and a new tomb was established at the altar of St. Sebastian.{{Cite web |title=Pope Francis Prays at John Paul II's Tomb |url=https://www.ncregister.com/news/pope-francis-prays-at-john-paul-ii-s-tomb |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=NCR |date=3 April 2013 |language=en}} His feast is celebrated annually on October 22, the day of his papal inauguration, as the anniversary of his death usually falls during Lent and often during Holy Week.

On 10 October 2019, the Archdiocese of Kraków and the Polish Episcopal Conference approved nihil obstat the opening of the beatification cause of the parents of its patron saint John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła Sr. and Emilia Kaczorowska. It gained approval from the Holy See to open the diocesan phase of the cause on 7 May 2020.{{Cite web|title=St. John Paul II's parents' sainthood cause has officially opened|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/44448/st-john-paul-iis-parents-sainthood-cause-has-officially-opened|access-date=22 November 2020|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en}}

{{Main|Catholic sex abuse cases}}

John Paul II was criticised by representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse for failing to respond quickly enough to the Catholic sex abuse crisis.{{cite web |date=24 April 2014 |title=Clergy sex abuse victims decry sainthood for Pope John Paul II |url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/04/24/43763/some-victims-of-catholic-church-sex-abuse-oppose-p/ |work=Southern California Public Radio}} After decades of inaction, the scandal came to a head when Sinéad O'Connor infamously tore up a photo of John Paul II on a 3 October 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live while performing an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley's "War".{{Cite news |last=Hess |first=Amanda |date=2021-05-18 |title=Sinead O'Connor Remembers Things Differently |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-rememberings.html |access-date=2023-08-27 |issn=0362-4331}}

In response to mounting criticism over the next decade, John Paul II stated in 2002 that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young". The Catholic Church instituted reforms to prevent future abuse by requiring background checks for church employees and, because a significant majority of victims were boys, disallowing ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies". They now require dioceses faced with an allegation to alert the authorities, conduct an investigation and remove the accused from duty.{{cite news |date=15 June 2002 |title=Scandals in the church: The Bishops' Decisions; The Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/15/us/scandals-church-bishops-decisions-bishops-charter-for-protection-children-young.html |access-date=22 October 2014}} In 2008, the church asserted that the scandal was a very serious problem and estimated that it was "probably caused by 'no more than 1 per cent'", or 5,000, of the over 500,000 Catholic priests worldwide.

In April 2002, John Paul II, despite being frail from Parkinson's disease, summoned all the American cardinals to the Vatican to discuss possible solutions to the issue of sexual abuse in the American Church. He asked them to "diligently investigate accusations". John Paul II suggested that American bishops be more open and transparent in dealing with such scandals and emphasised the role of seminary training to prevent sexual deviance among future priests. In what The New York Times called "unusually direct language", John Paul condemned the arrogance of priests that led to the scandals:

"Priests and candidates for the priesthood often live at a level both materially and educationally superior to that of their families and the members of their own age group. It is therefore very easy for them to succumb to the temptation of thinking of themselves as better than others. When this happens, the ideal of priestly service and self-giving dedication can fade, leaving the priest dissatisfied and disheartened."{{cite news |author=Melinda Henneberger |date=21 April 2002 |title=Pope Takes on Scandals |work=Sun Sentinel |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-04-21/news/0204200465_1_confutes-american-cardinals-mandatory-celibacy |url-status=dead |access-date=9 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525055205/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-04-21/news/0204200465_1_confutes-american-cardinals-mandatory-celibacy |archive-date=25 May 2013}}

The Pope read a statement intended for the American cardinals, calling the sex abuse "an appalling sin" and said the priesthood had no room for such men.

In 2002, Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, the Catholic Archbishop of Poznań, was accused of molesting seminarians.{{cite news |date=23 February 2002 |title=Europe | Polish archbishop 'molested students' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1837840.stm |access-date=17 February 2013}} John Paul II accepted his resignation, and placed sanctions on him, prohibiting Paetz from exercising his ministry as bishop.{{cite news |date=19 June 2010 |title=Watykan: Nie zrehabilitowaliśmy Paetza |language=pl |trans-title=Vatican: no rehabilitation for Paetz |work=Fakt |url=http://www.fakt.pl/Watykan-nie-zrehabilitowalismy-Paetza,artykuly,75072,1.html |url-status=dead |access-date=9 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209162445/http://www.fakt.pl/Watykan-nie-zrehabilitowalismy-Paetza%2Cartykuly%2C75072%2C1.html |archive-date=9 February 2012}} It was reported that these restrictions were lifted, though Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi strenuously denied this saying "his rehabilitation was without foundation".

In 2003, John Paul II reiterated that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young". In April 2003, a three-day conference was held, titled "Abuse of Children and Young People by Catholic Priests and Religious", where eight non-Catholic psychiatric experts were invited to speak to near all Vatican dicasteries' representatives. The panel of experts overwhelmingly opposed implementation of policies of "zero-tolerance" such as was proposed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. One expert called such policies a "case of overkill" since they do not permit flexibility to allow for differences among individual cases.

In 2004, John Paul II recalled Bernard Francis Law to be Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Law had previously resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002 in response to the Catholic Church sexual abuse cases after church documents were revealed that suggested he had covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese.{{cite news |year=2004 |title=Abuse in the Catholic Church / Cardinal Law and the laity |work=The Boston Globe |url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/extras/law_timeline.htm |access-date=24 January 2012 |issn=0743-1791}} Law resigned from this position in November 2011.

John Paul II was a firm supporter of the Legion of Christ, and in 1998 discontinued investigations into sexual misconduct by its leader Marcial Maciel, who in 2005 resigned his leadership and was later requested by the Vatican to withdraw from his ministry. However, Maciel's trial began in 2004 during the pontificate of John Paul II, but the Pope died before it ended and the conclusions were known.{{cite web |last=Piekara |first=Marek |date=2014 |title=Co Jan Paweł II wiedział o ks. Macielu? |url=https://kosciol.wiara.pl/doc/1974132.Co-Jan-Pawel-II-wiedzial-o-ks-Macielu |website=wiara.pl}} In an interview with L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis said: "I am grateful to Pope Benedict, who dared to say this publicly (when more facts began to come to light after Degollado's death in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 launched another investigation and on 1 May 2010 announced a declaration about the crimes of the founder of the Legionaries), and to Pope John Paul II, who dared to give the green light to the Legionaries' case".{{cite news |title=Pope John Paul II and Paedophilia |website=jp2online.pl |url=https://jp2online.pl/en/publication/pope-john-paul-ii-and-paedophilia;UHVibGljYXRpb246OTA= |access-date=11 December 2021}}

On 10 November 2020, the Vatican published a report which found that John Paul II learned of allegations of sexual impropriety against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who at the time was serving as Archbishop of Newark, through a 1999 letter from Cardinal John O'Connor warning him that appointing McCarrick to be Archbishop of Washington D.C., a position which had recently been opened, would be a mistake. John Paul II ordered an investigation, which stalled when three of the four bishops tasked with investigating claims allegedly brought back "inaccurate or incomplete information". John Paul II planned on not giving McCarrick the appointment anyway, but relented and gave him the appointment after McCarrick wrote a letter of denial. He created McCarrick a cardinal in 2001. McCarrick would eventually be laicized after allegations surfaced that he abused minors.{{cite news |date=10 November 2020 |title=Vatican admits Pope John Paul II was warned about abusive archbishop Theodore McCarrick, while clearing Francis |work=CNN}}{{cite web |date=10 November 2020 |title=Key findings in Vatican report into ex-Cardinal McCarrick |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/findings-in-vatican-report-into-ex-cardinal-mccarrick/65-f3a47d57-95f4-4368-9945-a7ac909c5a02 |access-date=10 November 2020 |publisher=Associated Press}} George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul II, defended the Pope's actions as follows: "Theodore McCarrick fooled a lot of people ... and he deceived John Paul II in a way that is laid out in almost biblical fashion in [the Vatican's] report".{{cite news |last=Keane |first=James T. |date=10 November 2020 |title=The McCarrick Report and Pope John Paul II: Confronting a saint's tarnished legacy |work=America |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/10/mccarrick-report-saint-john-paul-ii-sex-abuse-legacy |access-date=11 November 2011}}

In a 2019 interview with Mexican television, Pope Francis defended John Paul II's legacy on protecting minors against clerical sexual abuse. He said that John Paul II was "often misled", as in the case of Hans Hermann Groër. Francis said that with respect to the case of Marcial Maciel:

"Ratzinger was courageous, and so was John Paul II. ... With respect to John Paul II, we have to understand certain attitudes because he came from a closed world, from behind the Iron Curtain, where communism was still in force. There was a defensive mentality. We have to understand this well, and no one can doubt the saintliness of this great man and his good will. He was great, he was great."{{cite news |date=19 May 2019 |title=En primicia el Papa en Televisa: "El mundo sin la mujer no funciona" |work=VaticanNews.va |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/es/papa/news/2019-05/papa-francisco-entrevista-televisa-mexico-migrantes-feminicidio.html |access-date=11 December 2021}}{{cite news |last=Bronk |first=Krzysztof T. |date=30 May 2019 |title=Pope Francis Explains the "Anecdote" and Clears John Paul II |work=John Paul II Foundation |url=https://fjp2.com/pope-francis-explains-the-anecdote-and-clears-john-paul-ii/ |access-date=11 December 2021 |archive-date=11 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211114636/https://fjp2.com/pope-francis-explains-the-anecdote-and-clears-john-paul-ii/ |url-status=dead}}

{{Main|1=Criticism of Pope John Paul II|2=Criticism of the Catholic Church}}

John Paul II was widely criticised for a variety of his views. He was a target of criticism from progressives for his opposition to the ordination of women and use of contraception, and from traditional Catholics for his support for the Second Vatican Council and its reform of the liturgy. John Paul II's response to child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has also come under heavy censure.

{{Main|Controversies about Opus Dei}}

John Paul II was criticised for his support of the Opus Dei prelature and the 2002 canonisation of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá, whom he called "the saint of ordinary life". Other movements and religious organisations of the church went decidedly under his wing Legion of Christ, the Neocatechumenal Way, Schoenstatt, the Charismatic Movement, etc. And he was accused repeatedly of taking a soft hand with them, especially in the case of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.{{cite web |url=http://www.pepe-rodriguez.com/Sexo_clero/Casos/Sexo_clero_M_Maciel_Leg_pedof_denuncia_Papa.htm |title=Text of the accusation letter directed to John Paul II |language=es |publisher=Pepe-rodriguez.com |access-date=17 February 2013}}

In 1984 John Paul II appointed Joaquín Navarro-Valls, a member of Opus Dei, as Director of the Vatican Press Office. An Opus Dei spokesman said that "the influence of Opus Dei in the Vatican has been exaggerated".{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4249444.stm |work=BBC News |title=Decoding secret world of Opus Dei |date=16 September 2005 |access-date=30 April 2010}} Of the nearly 200 cardinals in the Catholic Church, only two are known to be members of Opus Dei.Associated Press, "Opus Dei backs new pope", CNN, 19 April 2005.

{{Main|Banco Ambrosiano}}

John Paul II was alleged to have links with Banco Ambrosiano, an Italian bank that collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi, and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due (aka P2). The Vatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder, and the death of John Paul I in 1978 is rumoured to be linked to the Ambrosiano scandal.

Calvi, often referred to as "God's Banker", was also involved with the Vatican Bank, and was close to Bishop Paul Marcinkus, the bank's chairman. Ambrosiano also provided funds for political parties in Italy, and for both the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua and its Sandinista opposition. It has been widely alleged that the Vatican Bank provided money for Solidarity in Poland.

Calvi used his complex network of overseas banks and companies to move money out of Italy, to inflate share prices, and to arrange massive unsecured loans. In 1978, the Bank of Italy produced a report on Ambrosiano that predicted future disaster. On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi had written a letter of warning to John Paul II, stating that such a forthcoming event would "provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage". On 18 June 1982 Calvi's body was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge in the financial district of London. Calvi's clothing was stuffed with bricks, and contained cash valued at US$14,000, in three different currencies.

John Paul II was criticised by some traditionalist Catholics, in addition to those demanding modernisation. Points of contention with traditionalists included demanding a return to the Tridentine Mass, as well as the repudiation of reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council, such as the use of the vernacular language in the formerly Latin-language Roman Rite, ecumenism, and the principle of religious liberty.e.g. Marcel Lefebvre, An Open Letter to Confused Catholics (Herefordshire: Gracewing Publishing, 1986). {{ISBN|9780852440476}}. In 1988, the controversial traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of Saint Pius X (1970), was excommunicated under John Paul II because of the unapproved ordination of four bishops, which Cardinal Ratzinger called a "schismatic act".A discussion of the crucial work of Ratzinger (later pope) to attempt reconciliation between Lefebvre and the Holy See, vide John Thavis, The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church (London: Penguin, 2014), 147–49. {{ISBN|9780143124535}}

The World Day of Prayer for Peace, with a meeting in Assisi, Italy, in 1986, in which the pope prayed only with the Christians, was criticised for giving the impression that syncretism and indifferentism were openly embraced by the Papal Magisterium. When a second Day of Prayer for Peace in the World was held in 2002, it was condemned as confusing the laity and compromising to false religions. Likewise criticised was his kissing of the Qur'an in Damascus, Syria, on one of his travels on 6 May 2001.{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2022}} His call for religious freedom was not always supported; bishops like Antônio de Castro Mayer promoted religious tolerance but at the same time rejected the Vatican II principle of religious liberty as being liberalist and already condemned by Pope Pius IX in his Syllabus errorum (1864) and at the First Vatican Council.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu8E8GNnTIc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/vu8E8GNnTIc| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Jan Paweł II Live at Vatican 1999 |publisher=YouTube |date=28 August 2011 |access-date=17 February 2013}}{{cbignore}}

{{Main|Catholic Church and HIV/AIDS}}

John Paul II continued the tradition of advocating for the culture of life. In solidarity with Pope Paul VI's Humanae vitae, he rejected artificial birth control, even in the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Critics have said that large families are caused by lack of contraception and exacerbate Third World poverty and problems, such as street children in South America. John Paul II argued that the proper way to prevent the spread of AIDS was not condoms but rather "correct practice of sexuality, which presupposes chastity and fidelity". The focus of John Paul II's point is that the need for artificial birth control is itself artificial, and that principle of respecting the sacredness of life ought not be rent asunder to achieve the good of preventing AIDS.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

There was strong criticism of the Pope for the controversy surrounding the alleged use of charitable social programmes as a means of converting people in the Third World to Catholicism. The Pope created an uproar in the Indian subcontinent when he suggested that a great harvest of faith would be witnessed on the subcontinent in the third Christian millennium.

John Paul II endorsed Cardinal Pio Laghi, who critics say supported the Dirty War in Argentina and was on friendly terms with the Argentine generals of the military dictatorship, playing regular tennis matches with the Navy's representative in the junta, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera.{{cite news |title=Argentine military dictator confirms Catholic Church hierarchy was well aware of the 'disappeared' |url=https://en.mercopress.com/2012/07/24/argentine-military-dictator-confirms-catholic-church-hierarchy-was-well-aware-of-the-disappeared |work=MercoPress |date=24 July 2012}}{{cite news |title=Vatican says its ex-envoy is innocent |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/05/23/vatican-says-its-ex-envoy-is-innocent/dfe0ea8f-ee44-4999-85d2-e96e0aa9c694/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=23 May 1997}}{{cite news |title=Former Argentinian dictator says he told Catholic Church of disappeared |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/former-argentinian-dictator-says-he-told-catholic-church-of-disappeared-1.542154 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=24 July 2012}}{{cite news |title=Pio Laghi, Papal Envoy, Dies at 86 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/world/europe/13laghi.html |work=The New York Times |date=13 January 2009}}

In 1988, when John Paul II was delivering a speech to the European Parliament, Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, shouted "I denounce you as the Antichrist!"{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-29179048 |title=Ian Paisley dies: How Paisley made his point |location=Belfast |publisher=BBC Northern Ireland |date=1988 |access-date=12 September 2014}}{{cite news |title=Ian Paisley and politics of peace|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-24-la-ed-paisley24-2010mar24-story.html |access-date=16 February 2012 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=24 March 2010}} from 1:45 m into video He held up a red banner reading "Pope John Paul II ANTICHRIST". Otto von Habsburg (the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary), a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Germany, snatched Paisley's banner, tore it up, and along with other MEPs helped eject him from the chamber. The Pope continued with his address after Paisley had been ejected.

{{see also|Our Lady of Međugorje}}

A number of quotes about the apparitions of Međugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have been attributed to John Paul II.{{cite web |url=http://www.medjugorje.org/pope.htm |title=Quotes From Pope John Paul II On Međugorje |publisher=Medjugorje.org |access-date=4 August 2012}} In 1998, when a certain German gathered various statements that were supposedly made by the Pope and Cardinal Ratzinger, and then forwarded them to the Vatican in the form of a memorandum, Ratzinger responded in writing on 22 July 1998: "The only thing I can say regarding statements on Međugorje ascribed to the Holy Father and myself is that they are [frei erfunden] complete invention".{{sfn|Kutleša|2001|p=283}} Similar claims were also rebuked by the Vatican's Secretariate of State.{{sfn|Kutleša|2001|p=256}}

Some Catholic theologians disagreed with the call for the beatification of John Paul II. Eleven dissident theologians, including Jesuit professor José María Castillo and Italian theologian Giovanni Franzoni, said that his stance against contraception and the ordination of women as well as the church scandals during his pontificate presented "facts which according to their consciences and convictions should be an obstacle to beatification".{{cite web |title=Dissident theologians participate in the canonization process of Pope John Paul II |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/5583/dissident-theologians-participate-in-the-canonization-process-of-pope-john-paul-ii |website=Catholic News Agency |publisher=CNA |access-date=4 March 2020}} Some traditionalist Catholics opposed his beatification and canonisation for his views on liturgy and participation in prayer with enemies of the church, heretics and non-Christians.{{cite news |title=A Statement of Reservations Concerning the Impending Beatification of Pope John Paul II |date=21 March 2011 |author=Michael J. Matt |newspaper=The Remnant |access-date=2 May 2011|url=http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/2011-0331-statement-of-reservations-beatification.htm}}

After the 2020 report about the handling of the sexual misconduct complaints against Theodore McCarrick, some called for John Paul II's sainthood to be revoked.{{cite web| url = https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/11/12/pope-francis-theodore-mccarrick-clergy-sex-abuse-eileen-mcnamara| title = 'The Halo Is Hopelessly Tarnished': Why The Sainthood Of John Paul II Should Be Rescinded| date = 12 November 2020}}

File:Prof.Anna-Teresa_Tymieniecka.JPG maintained a thirty-year friendship with Pope John Paul II]]

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?75377-1/pope-john-paul-ii Presentation by Carl Bernstein on His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time, September 24, 1996], C-SPAN}}

Wojtyła was a Cracovia football team supporter, and the club retired number 1 in his honour.{{cite news|title=Cracovia is about the people – John Paul II|url=https://en.cracovia.pl/football/club/historia/jan_pawel_ii|access-date=4 April 2019|publisher=en.cracovia.pl|date=9 September 2010}} Having played the game himself as a goalkeeper, Wojtyla was a fan of English football team Liverpool F.C., where his compatriot Jerzy Dudek played in the same position.{{cite news|title=Pope supports Liverpool|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/3242602.stm|access-date=16 March 2016|work=BBC Sport|date=27 November 2003}}

In 1973, while still the archbishop of Kraków, Wojtyła befriended a Polish-born, later American philosopher, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. The thirty-two-year friendship (and occasional academic collaboration) lasted until his death. She served as his host when he visited New England in 1976, and photos show them together on skiing and camping trips. Letters that he wrote to her were part of a collection of documents sold by Tymieniecka's estate in 2008 to the National Library of Poland. According to the BBC the library had initially kept the letters from public view, partly because of John Paul's path to sainthood, but a library official announced in February 2016 the letters would be made public.{{cite news|last1=Berendt|first1=Joanna|last2=Chan|first2=Sewell|title=Letters From Pope John Paul II Show Deep Friendship With Woman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/world/europe/letters-from-pope-john-paul-ii-show-deep-friendship-with-woman.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=16 February 2016|date=15 February 2016}} In February 2016, the BBC documentary program Panorama reported that John Paul II had apparently had a close relationship with the Polish-born philosopher.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071flrn Panorama report: The Secret Letters of Pope John Paul II] by Ed Stourton, 15 February 2016 The pair exchanged personal letters over 30 years, and Stourton believes that Tymieniecka had confessed her love for Wojtyła.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/15/pope-john-paul-ii-letters-reveal-32-year-relationship-with-woman Pope John Paul II letters reveal 32-year relationship with woman] by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Rome, 15 February 2016 The Vatican described the documentary as "more smoke than fire", and Tymieniecka denied being involved with John Paul II.[http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/240672,Vatican-denies-JPII-letter-loveaffair-report Vatican dismisses JPII 'letter love-affair' probe:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215094249/http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/240672,Vatican-denies-JPII-letter-loveaffair-report |date=15 February 2016}} 14 February 2016, The Vatican[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pope-john-paul-ii-conducted-7366760 Pope John Paul II 'conducted secret romance with married woman' says new documentary] by John Kelly, Mirror.co.uk News

Writers Carl Bernstein, the veteran investigative journalist of the Watergate scandal, and Vatican expert Marco Politi, were the first journalists to talk to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka in the 1990s about her importance in John Paul's life. They interviewed her and dedicated 20 pages to her in their 1996 book His Holiness.[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/15/did-pope-john-paul-ii-have-a-secret-lover.html Did Pope John Paul II Have a Secret Lover?] by Barbi Latzu Nadeau, 15 February 2016His Holiness: John Paul II & the History of Our Time—Carl Bernstein, Marco Politi (1996) Bernstein and Politi even asked her if she had ever developed any romantic relationship with John Paul II, "however one-sided it might have been". She responded, "No, I never fell in love with the cardinal. How could I fall in love with a middle-aged clergyman? Besides, I'm a married woman."

{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History|Judaism|Poland|Vatican City}}

• Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
• Bolesław Taborski
• Cardinals created by John Paul II
• Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
• Jerzy Kluger
• List of longest-reigning popes
• List of peace activists
• List of places named after Pope John Paul II
• List of popes
• List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II
• Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszynski
• Papal travel
• Peter Le Jacq

{{notelist|30em}}

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/john-paul-ii-9355652 |title=John Paul II Biography (1920–2005) |publisher=A&E Television Networks |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.adl.org/interfaith/JohnPaul_II_Visit.pdf |title=Pope John Paul II's Visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority: A Pilgrimage of Prayer, Hope and Reconciliation |last=Klenicki |first=Rabbi Leon |date=13 April 2006 |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128213732/http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/JohnPaul_II_Visit.pdf |archive-date=28 November 2008}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pg/Galileo_Galilei.html |title=The Religion of Galileo Galilei, Astronomer and Scientist |publisher=Adherents |year=2011 |access-date=12 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629080248/http://www.adherents.com/people/pg/Galileo_Galilei.html |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=usurped}}

{{cite news |url=http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1558425.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011084853/http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1558425.htm |archive-date=11 October 2007 |title=Vatican May Have Found Pope John Paul's 'Miracle' |date=31 January 2006|agency=Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, CNN, BBC World Service |publisher= ABC (Australia) |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/11/pope-john-paul-iis-sainthood-on-fast-track.html |title=Pope John Paul II's Sainthood on Fast Track—The World Newser |work=ABC News |access-date=18 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119103108/http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/11/pope-john-paul-iis-sainthood-on-fast-track.html |archive-date=19 November 2009}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/16/northernireland.northernireland |last=Chrisafis |first=Angelique |title=The Return of Dr No |work=The Guardian |date=16 September 2004 |location=London |access-date=22 October 2014}}

Roberts, Genevieve. {{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20050403/ai_n13509294 |title=The Death of Pope John Paul II: 'He Saved My Life—with Tea & Bread' |access-date=1 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215035053/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20050403/ai_n13509294 |archive-date=15 December 2007}}, The Independent, 3 April 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2007.

{{cite news |url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=2947&dos=48&size=A |title=The Philippines, 1995: Pope Dreams of "The Third Millennium of Asia" |date=4 April 2005 |publisher=AsiaNews |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0795.html |title=John Paul the Great |last=Saunders |first=Fr. William |work=Catholic Herald |year=2005 |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-date=9 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209152018/http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0795.html |url-status=dead}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12191423 |title=Pope Benedict Paves Way to Beatification of John Paul II |work=BBC News |access-date=14 January 2011 |date=14 January 2011}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861027_prayer-peace-assisi-final_en.html |title=Address to the Representatives of the Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities and of the World Religions |date=27 October 1986 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227130309/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861027_prayer-peace-assisi-final_en.html |archive-date=27 December 2008}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4009 |title=India: Hindu Extremists Against Grants to Missionaries |last=Carvalho |first=Nirmala |date=8 December 2005 |publisher=AsiaNews |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620011317/http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4009 |archive-date=20 June 2008}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/ChurchAndMinistry/KarolWojtylaPopeJohnPaulTimeline.aspx |title=Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) Timeline |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Christian Broadcasting Network}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/469kzdxb.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20050409012028/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/469kzdxb.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 April 2005 |title=John Paul the Great |last=Bottum |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Bottum (author) |date=18 April 2005 |work=The Weekly Standard|pages=1–2 |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/ChurchAndMinistry/PopeJohnPaulIITimeline.aspx |title=CBN Pope John Paul II Timeline—CBN.com Spiritual Life |agency=The Associated Press |publisher=Christian Broadcasting Network|year=2011 |access-date=28 June 2011}}

{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/pope/stories/bio1/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406014535/http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/pope/stories/bio1/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 April 2005 |title=CNN Report Pope John Paul II 1920–2005 |work=CNN|access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/26/newsid_4168000/4168803.stm |title=2000: Pope Prays for Holocaust Forgiveness |date=26 March 2000 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/08/se.01.html |title=CNN Live event transcript |date=8 April 2005 |work=CNN|access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/pope/communism_homeland.html |title=Pope Stared Down Communism in His Homeland—and Won |date=April 2005 |author=CBC News Online |publisher=Religion News Service |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630153609/http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/pope/communism_homeland.html |archive-date=30 June 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3255607.stm |title=Orchestra to make Vatican History |date=9 November 2003 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM#-149 |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church |work=Vatican archives |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407052252/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM |archive-date=7 April 2015}}

{{cite news |title="Pope John Paul Injured in 1982 Knife Attack", says Aide |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pope-john-paul-injured-in-1982-knife-attack-says-aide-1.694776 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=16 October 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4257994.stm |title=John Paul's Last Words Revealed |date=18 April 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/08/pope.funeral/index.html |title=Pope John Paul II Buried in Vatican Crypt; Millions around the World Watch Funeral |access-date=1 January 2009 |work=CNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613162604/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/08/pope.funeral/index.html |archive-date=13 June 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4428149.stm |title=City of Rome Celebrates 'Miracle' |last=Holmes |first=Stephanie |date=9 April 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/pope_john_paul_ii_funeral/ |title=Pope John Paul II Funeral |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Outside the Beltway|date=8 April 2005}}

{{cite news|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_20050509_rescritto-gpii_en.html |title=Response of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the Examination of the Beatification and Canonization of The Servant of God John Paul II |date=9 May 2005 |work=Vatican News |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105024819/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_20050509_rescritto-gpii_en.html |archive-date=5 January 2009}}

[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/3878/pope-benedict-forgoes-waiting-period-begins-john-paul-ii-beatification-process "Pope Benedict Forgoes Waiting Period, begins John Paul II Beatification Process"] Catholic News Agency 13 May 2005 Retrieved 1 May 2011

{{cite web|url=http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione/English/HomePage.htm |title=Cause for Beatification and Canonization of The Servant of God: John Paul II |publisher=Vicariato di Roma—III Piano Postulazione Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216024153/http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione/English/HomePage.htm |archive-date=16 December 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3411419.stm |title= Paisley's Exit from Europe |first=Mark |last=Davenport |work=BBC News |date=19 January 2004 |access-date=28 January 2012}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.archive.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000522.shtml |title=Child 'Able to Walk Again' After Praying at Pope's Tomb |work=Catholic Herald |access-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117035241/http://www.archive.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000522.shtml |archive-date=17 January 2012}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=4630 |title=Beatification Looms Closer for John Paul II |publisher=catholicculture.org |access-date=18 November 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1979145,00.html |title=Catholic Church to Ease Ban on Condom Use |date=24 April 2006 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=12 January 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/ocyp/charter.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426023931/http://www.usccb.org/ocyp/charter.shtml |archive-date=26 April 2011 |title=Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People |access-date=8 October 2007 |publisher=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops |year=2005 |author=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.freepres.org/paisley.asp?paisley |title=Free Presbyterian Church—Dr. Ian Paisley |first=David W. |last=Cloud |work=freepres.org |year=2012 |access-date=28 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930182819/http://www.freepres.org/paisley.asp?paisley |archive-date=30 September 2011}}

{{cite web |url=http://voices.iit.edu/Profiles/ziere_p.html |title=Profile of Edith Zierier (1946) |work=Voices of the Holocaust |publisher=2000 Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Institute of Technology |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419140949/http://voices.iit.edu/Profiles/ziere_p.html |archive-date=19 April 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?art=2937&l=en |title=Dalai Lama mourns Pope John Paul II, "A True Spiritual Practitioner" |date=4 March 2005 |publisher=AsiaNews |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite book |author=Pope John Paul II |title=Crossing the Threshold of Hope |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679765615 |url-access=limited |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf, Inc |year=1994 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679765615/page/93 93]–94 |isbn=978-0-679-76561-5}}

{{cite news|url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20020124_assisi-giornata_en.html |title=Day of Prayer for Peace in the World |date=24 January 2002 |work=Vatican archives |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515183234/https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20020124_assisi-giornata_en.html |archive-date=15 May 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.dialog.org/hist/JohnPaulII-EdithZierer.htm |title=John Paul II met with Edith Zierer: The Polish Seminary Student and the Jewish Girl He Saved |first=Roger |last=Cohen |work=International Herald Tribune |year=2011 |access-date=28 January 2012 |archive-date=9 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209190231/http://www.dialog.org/hist/JohnPaulII-EdithZierer.htm |url-status=dead}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html |title=Humanae vitae |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=25 July 1968 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303114045/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html |archive-date=3 March 2011}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4229807.stm |title=Irish Remember the 1979 Papal Visit |date=2 April 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.thenews.pl/news/artykul21561.html |title=A Literary Pope |last=Kuhiwczak |first=Piotr |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Polish Radio |access-date=1 May 2011}}

{{cite book |last=Abbott |first=Elizabeth |title=Haiti: The Duvalier Years |publisher=McGraw Hill Book Company |year=1988 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/haitiduvaliersth00abbo/page/260 260–262] |isbn=978-0-07-046029-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/haitiduvaliersth00abbo/page/260}}

{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/03/pope.gorbachev/index.html |title=Gorbachev: Pope John Paul II was an 'Example to All of Us' |date=4 April 2005 |work=CNN|access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=15239&sec=52&cont=5 |title=Pope John Paul II Meets With Dalai Lama |last=Simpson |first=Victor L. |date=27 November 2003 |publisher=WorldWide Religious News |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014070701/http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=15239&sec=52&cont=5 |archive-date=14 October 2007}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20031108pope1108p1.asp |title=Pittsburgh Symphony to Perform for Pope |last=Pitz |first=Marylynne |author2=Andrew Druckenbrod |date=8 November 2003 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news | title=Soviets 'had Pope shot for backing Solidarity' | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=3 March 2006 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1512012/Soviets-had-Pope-shot-for-backing-Solidarity.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1512012/Soviets-had-Pope-shot-for-backing-Solidarity.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/pope/stories/legacy/index.html |title=John Paul II: A Strong Moral Vision |date=11 February 2005 |work=CNN|access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |title=Pope John Paul 'Wounded' in 1982 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7673443.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=16 October 2008}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/30/world/pope-to-visit-a-mexico-divided-over-his-teachings.html |title=Pope to Visit a Mexico Divided Over His Teachings |last=Thompson |first=Ginger |date=30 July 2002 |work=The New York Times |access-date=22 October 2014}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4462443.stm |title=Text: Benedict XVI's first speech |date=19 April 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009|quote=Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the resurrected Lord, we go on with his help. He is going to help us and Mary will be on our side. Thank you.}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/sodano-suffragio-jp-ii_20050403_en.html |title=Eucharistic Concelebration for the Repose of the Soul of Pope John Paul II: Homily of Card. Angelo Sodano |date=3 April 2005 |publisher=The Holy See |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225040959/https://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/sodano-suffragio-jp-ii_20050403_en.html |archive-date=25 December 2008}}

{{cite book |author=John O. Koehler |title=Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HzlpRQAACAAJ |access-date=4 February 2012 |date=14 February 2011 |publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=978-1-60598-140-6}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/01/catholicism.religion |title=Whatever Happened to … Canonising John Paul II? |last=Hollingshead |first=Iain |author-link=Iain Hollingshead |date=1 April 2006 |work=The Guardian |location=UK |access-date=22 October 2014}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1316812.stm |title=Mosque visit crowns Pope's tour |last=Plett |first=Barbara |date=7 May 2001 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_3092000/3092625.stm |title=BBC on This Day | 1982: 'God's Banker' Found Hanged |work=BBC News |date=19 June 1982 |access-date=27 January 2012}}

{{cite magazine |author=Mark Riebling |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NGE5MTJhYWMzODI0NTZiMWFhZmEzYmQwZmZlYmIyZmM= |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701123311/http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NGE5MTJhYWMzODI0NTZiMWFhZmEzYmQwZmZlYmIyZmM= |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 July 2012 |title=Reagan's Pope: The Cold War Alliance of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II |date=7 April 2005 |magazine=National Review |access-date=12 September 2010}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/29/catholicism.religion |title=Mystery Nun The Key to Pope John Paul II's Case for Sainthood |last=Hooper |first=John |date=29 March 2007 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=1 January 2009 |location=London}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12083308 |title=Perhaps 'Saint John Paul the Great?' |last=Weeke |first=Stephen |date=31 March 2006 |work=NBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |title=900,000 Gather for Mass with Pope Benedict |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/world/europe/28iht-web.0528pope.html |date=28 May 2006 |access-date=22 October 2014 |work=International Herald Tribune}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/world/pope/choosing/html/announcement.stm |title=New Pope Announced |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5927046.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601012524/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5927046.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 June 2010 |title=Hopes Raised for Pope John Paul II's Beatification -Times Online |work=The Times |location=UK |access-date=1 January 2009 |first=Richard |last=Owen}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/world/pope-to-leave-for-kazakhstan-and-armenia-this-weekend.html |title=Pope to Leave for Kazakhstan and Armenia This Weekend |last=Henneberger |first=Melinda |date=21 September 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=22 October 2014}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/454iylel.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130106095645/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/454iylel.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 January 2013 |title=Criticizing John Paul II : Yet Another Thing The Mainstream Press Does Not Understand About The Catholic Church |last=Hewitt |first=Hugh |date=4 June 2005 |work=The Weekly Standard |access-date=10 January 2009}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.indiastar.com/DhiruShah.htm |title=Mother Teresa's Hidden Mission in India: Conversion to Christianity |last=Shah |first=Dhiru |work=IndiaStar |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714130659/http://www.indiastar.com/DhiruShah.htm |archive-date=14 July 2008}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/28/world/italy-s-mysterious-deepening-bank-scandal.html?pagewanted=all |title=Italy's Mysterious Deepening Bank Scandal |first=Paul |last=Lewis |work=The New York Times |date=28 July 1982 |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=25 January 2012}}

{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/millions-mourn-pope-at-historys-largest-funeral-757246.html |title=The Independent:"Millions Mourn Pope at History's Largest Ever Funeral" |access-date=1 January 2009 |location=London |date=8 April 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201121502/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/millions-mourn-pope-at-historys-largest-funeral-757246.html |archive-date=1 December 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_3972000/3972361.stm |title=1979: Millions Cheer as the Pope Comes Home |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=2 June 1979}}

{{cite book |author=Terry, Karen |title=The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests and Deacons |publisher=John Jay College of Criminal Justice |year=2004 |url=http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050425210409/http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/ |archive-date=25 April 2005|display-authors=etal}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=39699 |title=Final Days, Last Words of Pope John Paul II |date=20 September 2005 |publisher=Catholic World News (CWN) |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/article-12691?l=english |title=ZENIT: John Paul II's Last Will and Testament |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Innovative Media, Inc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917184838/http://www.zenit.org/article-12691?l=english |archive-date=17 September 2008}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2009919/Pope-John-Paul-II-on-course-to-become-saint-in-record-time.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2009919/Pope-John-Paul-II-on-course-to-become-saint-in-record-time.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Pope John Paul II on Course to Become Saint in Record Time |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=22 May 2008 |work=Daily Telegraph |location=UK |access-date=1 January 2009}}{{cbignore}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.lpc.org.uk/tour_200401_rome.html |title=Papal Concert of Reconciliation |date=11 January 2005 |publisher=London Philharmonic Choir |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120125830/http://www.lpc.org.uk/tour_200401_rome.html |archive-date=20 November 2008}}

{{cite news |last=MacDonald |first=Susan |title=Paisley Ejected for Insulting Pope |work=The Times |date=2 October 1988}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/x1864535984 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209091254/http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/x1864535984 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 December 2012 |title=John Paul II on Fast Track for Canonisation—Framingham, Massachusetts—The MetroWest Daily News |newspaper=Metrowest Daily News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/654651.stm |title=Pope Pleads for Harmony between Faiths |date=24 February 2000 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/JohnPaulII/JPIInun.asp |title=French nun says life has changed since she was healed thanks to JPII |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Catholic News Service |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090407012845/http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/JohnPaulII/JPIInun.asp |archive-date=7 April 2009}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0901522.htm |title=CNS STORY: For Pope John Paul II, Beatification Process may be on Final Lap |publisher=Catholic News Service |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091005064512/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0901522.htm |archive-date=5 October 2009}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1564061/Clamour-for-free-Pope-John-Paul-II-relics.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1564061/Clamour-for-free-Pope-John-Paul-II-relics.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Clamour for free Pope John Paul II relics |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=25 September 2007 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=1 January 2009 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}

{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Brian |title=Faithful hold key to 'the Great' honour for John Paul |agency=Associated Press |date=5 April 2005}}

{{cite web |url=http://catholic.net/index.php?size=mas&id=2673&option=dedestaca |title=Blessed John Paul II? |publisher=ncregister.com |access-date=7 March 2011}}

{{cite book|first1=Pope |last1=John Paul II |title=Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-57781-6 |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/riseletusbeonour00john}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/conclave/jp_obit_main.htm |title=The Death of the Pope: Analysis of Pope John Paul II's reign |last=Allen |first=John L. Jr. |newspaper=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=12 January 2009}}

{{cite book |author=Lawrence M. Salinger |title=Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXS6jz6AeQ0C |access-date=25 January 2012 |year=2005 |publisher=Sage |isbn=978-0-7619-3004-4}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1671540.stm |title=Pope sends first e-mail apology |work=BBC News |date=23 November 2001 |quote=from a laptop in the Vatican's frescoed Clementine Hall the 81-year-old pontiff transmitted the message, his first 'virtual' apology. |access-date=30 January 2012}}

{{cite news |title=The 1981 Assassination Attempt of Pope John Paul II, The Grey Wolves, and Turkish & U.S. Government Intelligence Agencies |last=Lee |first=Martin A. |date=14 May 2001 |publisher=San Francisco Bay Guardian |pages=23, 25}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110002074 |title=John Paul the Great: What the 12 Million Know—and I Found Out Too |last=Noonan |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Noonan |date=2 August 2002 |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite book |title=Lo Scapolare del Carmelo |language=it |trans-title=The Scapular of Carmel |publisher=Shalom |year=2005 |isbn=978-88-8404-081-7 |page=6}}

{{cite book|last=Noonan |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Noonan |title=John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father |publisher=Penguin Group (USA) |date=November 2005 |isbn=978-0-670-03748-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/johnpaulgreatrem00noon |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/16/weekinreview/headliners-papal-audience.html |title=Headliners; Papal Audience |work=The New York Times |date=16 October 1988 |access-date=22 October 2014}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_breve_en.html |title=His Holiness John Paul II : Short Biography |date=30 June 2005 |work=Vatican Press Office |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230180529/https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_breve_en.html |archive-date=30 December 2008}}

{{cite news |last=O'Reilly |first=David |title=Papal Legacy: Will History use the name John Paul the Great? |publisher=Knight Ridder Newspapers |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |date=4 April 2005 |quote=Pope John Paul the Great was a name suggested by many for Karol Józef Wojtyła. Through all its long history, the Catholic Church has conferred the posthumous title of "Great" on just two popes: Leo I and Gregory I, both of whom reigned in the first thousand years of Christianity}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.americamagazine.org/content/articles/martin-opusdei.cfm |title=Opus Dei in The United States |last=Martin, S.J. |first=James |date=25 February 1995 |publisher=America Press Inc. |access-date=10 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116173841/http://www.americamagazine.org/content/articles/martin-opusdei.cfm |archive-date=16 January 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=docs |title=Historical Documents Reveal Former Pope's Plans |first=Ian R.K. |last=Paisley |work=ianpaisley.org |year=2012 |access-date=28 January 2012}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1944464.stm |title=Profile: Pope John Paul II |work=BBC News |date=February 2005 |access-date=22 October 2014}}

{{cite news |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912229,00.html |title=A "Foreign" Pope |date=30 October 1978 |work=Time magazine |page=1 |access-date=1 January 2009}} {{Subscription required}}

{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1513421/Vatican-hid-Popes-Parkinsons-disease-diagnosis-for-12-years.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1513421/Vatican-hid-Popes-Parkinsons-disease-diagnosis-for-12-years.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Vatican hid Pope's Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis for 12 Years |last=Pisa |first=Nick |date=18 March 2006 |work=Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 January 2009 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912229-4,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104001716/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912229-4,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2007 |title=A Foreign Pope |date=30 October 1978 |work=Time magazine |page=4 |access-date=1 January 2009}} {{Subscription required}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060525_poland-clergy_en.html |title=Pastoral Visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Poland 2006: Address by the Holy Father |date=25 May 2006 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |title=Pope John Paul II's Body Exhumed ahead of Beatification Mass|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-04-29/pope-john-paul-iis-body-exhumed-ahead-beatification-mass |website=Public Radio International|date=29 April 2011|access-date=15 June 2017}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6288165.stm |title=Late Pope 'Thought of Retiring' |date=22 January 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1978/The-Election-of-Pope-John-Paul-II/12309251197005-5/ |title=1978 Year in Review: The Election of Pope John Paul II |publisher=UPI |date=6 December 1978 |access-date=17 February 2013}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A055rcKoran.htm |title=John Paul II kisses the Koran |date=14 May 1999 |publisher=Tradition in Action |access-date=12 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02EED61130EE3ABC4F53DFB4668389639EDE |title=Cardinal Ratti New Pope as Pius XI |date=7 February 1922 |work=The New York Times |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/02/07/98979971.pdf |title=Cardinal Ratti New Pope as Pius XI, Full Article|date=7 February 1922 |work=The New York Times |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |title=John Paul was Wounded in 1982 Stabbing, Aide Reveals |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSTRE49E5RM20081015 |work=Reuters |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=15 October 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1981/Pope-John-Paul-II-Assasination-Attempt/12311754163167-6/ |title=1981 Year in Review: Pope John Paul II Assassination Attempt |publisher=UPI |date=20 June 1981 |access-date=17 February 2013}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5603 |publisher=Catholic Online |title=St. Josemaría Escriva de Balaguer |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite book |author=Gordon Thomas |title=Gideon's Spies—Mossad's Secret Warriors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1ylPwAACAAJ |access-date=15 December 2011|year=2000 |publisher=Pan Books|isbn=978-0-330-37537-5}}

{{cite news |last=Filteau |first=Jerry |title=Report says Clergy Sexual Abuse Brought 'Smoke of Satan' into Church |publisher=Catholic News Service |year=2004 |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/abuse/abuse08.htm |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091004222624/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/abuse/abuse08.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 October 2009 |access-date=10 March 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/specials/911/la-na-plot-1sep01.story|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030412091134/http://www.latimes.com/news/specials/911/la-na-plot-1sep01.story|archive-date=12 April 2003 |title=The Plot |last=McDermott |first=Terry |date=1 September 2002 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861027_san-rufino-assisi_en.html |title=Address to the Representatives of the other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities |date=27 October 1986 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417143557/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861027_san-rufino-assisi_en.html |archive-date=17 April 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.scross.co.za/?s=John+Paul+the+Great |title=The Southern Cross: John Paul the Great |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=The Southern Cross 2008 by Posmay Media}}

{{cite news |last=Owen |first=Richard |title=Pope Calls for Continuous Prayer to Rid Priesthood of Paedophilia |work=Times Online UK edition |date=7 January 2008 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3142511.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109190530/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3142511.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 January 2008 |access-date=31 March 2008|location=London}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=42131 |title=Miracle attributed to John Paul II involved Parkinson's disease |date=30 January 2006 |work=Catholic World News (CWN) |publisher=2009 Trinity Communications |access-date=1 January 2009}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/160242/shame-john-paul-ii-how-sex-abuse-scandal-stained-his-papacy |title=The Shame of John Paul II: How the Sex Abuse Scandal Stained His Papacy |work=The Nation |first=Jason |last=Berry |date=16 May 2011 |access-date=24 January 2012}}

{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article575133.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070326231543/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article575133.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 March 2007 |title=Plea to Pope from 'God's banker' Revealed as Murder Trial Begins |work=The Times |date=6 October 2005|location=London |first=Sadie |last=Gray}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_prepontificato_en.html#1946 |title=His Holiness John Paul II, Biography, Pre-Pontificate |publisher=Holy See |access-date=1 January 2008}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/2000/travels/documents/trav_holyland-2000.html |title=Jubilee Pilgrimage to the Holy Land |publisher=Holy See |access-date=19 November 2020}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2000/jan-mar/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20000321_wadi-al-kharrar.html |title=Visit to Wadi Al-Kharrar, Prayer of the Holy Father |publisher=Holy See |access-date=19 November 2020}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000322_bethlehem.html |title=Homily of John Paul II, Mass in the Manger Square |publisher=Holy See |access-date=19 November 2020}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000326_holy-sepulchre.html |title=Homily of John Paul II, Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre |publisher=Holy See |access-date=19 November 2020}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/comm/popejohnpaulii/biography.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707163440/http://www.usccb.org/comm/popejohnpaulii/biography.shtml |archive-date=7 July 2011 |title=Pope John Paul II: A Light for the World |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=United States Council of Catholic Bishops |year=2003}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/article-6191?l=english |title=John Paul II to Publish First Poetic Work as Pope |date=7 January 2003 |publisher=ZENIT Innovative Media, Inc |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529201813/http://www.zenit.org/article-6191?l=english |archive-date=29 May 2008}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_breve_en.html |title=Short biography |publisher=vatican.va |access-date=25 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230180529/https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_breve_en.html |archive-date=30 December 2008}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_pontificato_en.html |title=Events in the Pontificate of John Paul II |publisher=vatican.va |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=30 June 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028195940/https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/santopadre_biografie/giovanni_paolo_ii_biografia_pontificato_en.html |archive-date=28 October 2011}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2004/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040604_president-usa_en.html |title=Address of Pope John Paul II to the Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States of America |date=4 June 2004 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=19 August 2011}}

{{cite press release|url=http://www.wqed.org/press/papal_concert.shtml |title=WQED/PBS Present 'A Celebration of Faiths: the Papal Concert of Reconciliaton' A 90 Minute Television Special |publisher=WQED |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308093721/http://www.wqed.org/press/papal_concert.shtml |archive-date=8 March 2009}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/john-paul-ii-s-cause-for-beatification-opens |title=John Paul II's Cause for Beatification Opens |date=28 June 2005 |publisher=ZENIT |access-date=22 October 2012}}

Vicariato di Roma:A nun tells her story.... 2009

{{cite news|url=http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1329693.0.no_more_shortcuts_on_pope_john_pauls_road_to_sainthood.php |title=No More Shortcuts on Pope John Paul II's Road to Sainthood |last=Willan |first=Philip |work=Sunday Herald |access-date=1 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210075702/http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1329693.0.no_more_shortcuts_on_pope_john_pauls_road_to_sainthood.php |archive-date=10 February 2008}}

{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6504233.stm |title=Vatican Under Pressure in Pope John Paul II Push |last=Westcott |first=Kathryn |date=2 April 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=22 October 2012}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/03/30/gold_coin_marks_beatification_of_john_paul_ii/ |title=Gold Coin Marks Beatification of John Paul II |work=The Boston Globe |date=30 March 2011 |issn=0743-1791 |access-date=22 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106021948/http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/03/30/gold_coin_marks_beatification_of_john_paul_ii/ |archive-date=6 November 2013}}

{{cite book |last=Walsh |title=John Paul II: A Light for the World |url=https://archive.org/details/johnpaulii00mary |url-access=registration |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/johnpaulii00mary/page/62 62]|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781580511421}}

{{cite news|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html |author=Pope Benedict XVI |publisher=Vatican |year=2005 |title=Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders |access-date=9 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225072042/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html |archive-date=25 February 2008}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/article-9560?l=english |title=Vatican Study on Sex Abuse |first=Delia |last=Gallagher |publisher=Zenit |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316160509/http://www.zenit.org/article-9560?l=english |archive-date=16 March 2012}}

}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Kutleša |first=Dražen |author-link=Dražen Kutleša |date=2001 |title=Ogledalo pravde |trans-title=Mirror of Justice |language=hr |location=Mostar |publisher=Biskupski ordinarijat Mostar }}
• {{cite web |first=Tarcisio |last=Bertone |author-link=Tarcisio Bertone |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html |title=The Message of Fátima |access-date=1 January 2009 |publisher=The Holy See |ref={{sfnRef|Bertone|2000–2009}} |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821235203/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html |archive-date=21 August 2014 }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione/English/HomePage.htm |title=Cause for Beatification and Canonization of The Servant of God: John Paul II |publisher=Vicariato di Roma |access-date=1 January 2009 |ref=Vicariato70 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230032224/http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/beatificazione/English/HomePage.htm |archive-date=30 December 2009 }}
• {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4253415.stm |title='Cured' Pope Returns to Vatican |date=10 February 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=22 October 2014 |ref=BBC71 }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.religion-cults.com/pope/communism.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040406114902/http://www.religion-cults.com/pope/communism.htm |archive-date=6 April 2004 |title=Pope John Paul II and Communism |last=Domínguez |first=Juan |date=4 April 2005 |publisher=religion-cults.com |access-date=1 January 2009 }}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3699&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=441440 |title=13 May 1981 Conference of Bishop Stanisław Dziwisz For Honorary Doctorate |date=13 May 2001 |last=Dziwisz |first=Bishop Stanisław |publisher=CatholicCulture.org |access-date=1 January 2009 |author-link=Stanisław Dziwisz }}
• {{cite book |last=Davies |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Davies |title=Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw |publisher=Viking Penguin |location=London |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-670-03284-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/rising44battlefo00norm }}
• {{cite book |last=de Montfort |first=St. Louis-Marie Grignion|others=Mark L. Jacobson (Translator) |title=True Devotion to Mary |publisher=Avetine Press |location=San Diego, California |date=27 March 2007 |isbn=978-1-59330-470-6 |ref=de Montfort73 |author-link=Louis de Montfort}}
• {{cite book |last=Duffy |first=Eamon |author-link=Eamon Duffy |title=Saints and Sinners, a History of the Popes |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-300-11597-0 |ref=Yale06 |url=https://archive.org/details/00book1593273669 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hebblethwaite |first1=Peter |author-link1=Peter Hebblethwaite |title=Pope John Paul II and the Church |publisher=1995 Rowman & Littlefield |location=London |isbn=978-1-55612-814-1 |year=1995 }}
• {{cite book |last=Maxwell-Stuart |first=P.G. |title=Chronicle of the Popes: Trying to Come Full Circle |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |year=2006 |orig-year=1997 |isbn=978-0-500-28608-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofpopes0000maxw }}
• {{cite book |url=https://www.vatican.va/gpII/bulletin/B0183-XX.01.pdf |title=Il Santo Padre è deceduto questa sera alle ore 21.37 nel Suo appartamento privato |last=Navarro-Valls |first=Joaquin |date=2 April 2005 |publisher=The Holy See |language=it |ref={{sfnRef|Navarro-Valls 2 April 2005}} |trans-title=The Holy Father passed away at 9:37 this evening in his private apartment. }}
• {{cite book |author=Pope John Paul II |title=Memory and Identity—Personal Reflections |publisher=2006 Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-85075-5 |year=2005 |title-link=Memory and Identity }}
• {{cite book |last1=Renehan |first1=Edward |author-link1=Edward J. Renehan Jr. |last2=Schlesinger |first2=Arthur Meier (INT) |title=Pope John Paul II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OT1oHAAACAAJ |access-date=25 February 2010 |date=November 2006 |publisher=Chelsea House |isbn=978-0-7910-9227-9 |ref=Renehan69 }}
• {{cite book |last=Stanley |first=George E |title=Pope John Paul II: Young Man of the Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SD1OPgAACAAJ |access-date=25 February 2010 |date=January 2007 |publisher=Fitzgerald Books |isbn=978-1-4242-1732-8 |ref=Stanley69 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Stourton |first1=Edward |author-link1=Edward Stourton (journalist) |title=John Paul II: Man of History |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |isbn=978-0-340-90816-7 |year=2006}}
• {{cite book |author=The Poynter Institute |author-link=Poynter Institute |title=Pope John Paul II: 18 May 1920 - 2 April 2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXGMNrE015IC |access-date=25 February 2010 |edition=First |date=1 May 2005 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |location=St. Petersburg, Florida |isbn=978-0-7407-5110-3 |ref=Poynter69 }}
• {{cite book |last=Weigel |first=George |author-link=George Weigel |title=Witness to Hope |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |year=2001b |isbn=978-0-06-018793-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/witnesstohopebio00weig }}
• {{cite book |last=Wojtyła |first=Karol |year=1981 |title=Love and Responsibility |publisher=William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-0-89870-445-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/loveresponsibili00john |access-date=1 January 2009 }}
• {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4399189.stm |title=Frail Pope Suffers Heart Failure |date=1 April 2005 |work=BBC News |access-date=22 October 2014 |ref={{sfnRef|BBC 2005-04-01}} }}
• {{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,925231,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210002720/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,925231,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 February 2005 |title=Half Alive: The Pope Vs. His Doctors |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=25 January 1982 |work=Time magazine |ref={{sfnRef|Time Magazine 1982-01-25}} }}{{Subscription required}}
• {{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7022618 |title=Pope Back at Vatican by Easter? It's Possible |access-date=1 January 2009 |date=3 March 2005 |agency=Associated Press |work=NBC News }}
• {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4344923.stm |title=Pope Returns to Vatican after op |access-date=22 October 2014 |date=13 March 2005 |work=BBC News }}
• {{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1538173,00.html |title=Stasi Files Implicate KGB in Pope Shooting |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=22 October 2014 }}
• {{cite news |title=Pope John Paul II's Final Days |url=http://www.americancatholic.org/news/pope/popehospitalized/ |work=St Anthony Messenger Press |publisher=AmericanCatholic.org |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-date=20 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120040029/http://www.americancatholic.org/news/pope/popehospitalized |url-status=dead }}

{{Refend}}

{{Main|Pope John Paul II bibliography}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120122052707/http://www.jpcatholic.com/ John Paul the Great Catholic University]
• [https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en.html The Holy See website – John Paul II]
• [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/lcwa/html/papal/papal-overview.html Papal Transition 2005 Web Archive] from the US Library of Congress
• [http://culture.pl/en/artist/karol-wojtyla Karol Wojtyła] on Culture.pl
• [https://trzeciapielgrzymka.ipn.gov.pl/jp2/introduction/676,Introduction.html Third pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland], Institute of National Remembrance
• [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Altars/StSebastian/StSebastian.htm Tomb of John Paul II in St Peter's]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220256/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19921011_fidei-depositum_en.html Text of the apostolic constitution Fidei Depositum]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111010175944/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_15081997_laetamur_en.html Text of Laetamur magnopere], on the promulgation of the editio typica of the [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm Catechism of the Catholic Church].
• {{C-SPAN|32010}}
• Liturgical texts for the optional Memorial of St. John Paul II, Pope: Celebration of the Eucharist ([https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20110402_colletta_en.html English], [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20110402_colletta_lt.html Latin]); Liturgy of the Hours ([https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20110402_uff-letture_en.html English], [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20110402_uff-letture_lt.html Latin]) from [https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html The Holy See website].
• {{imdb name|0937552}}
• {{discogs artist|His Holiness Pope John Paul II}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-rel|ca}}

{{s-bef|before=Eugeniusz Baziak|as=Apostolic Administrator}}

{{s-ttl |title=Archbishop of Kraków|years=13 January 1964 – 16 October 1978}}

{{s-aft|after=Franciszek Macharski}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Francesco Bracci}}

{{s-ttl |title=Cardinal-Priest of San Cesareo in Palatio|years=26 June 1967 – 16 October 1978}}

{{s-aft|after=Andrzej Maria Deskur}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=John Paul I}}

{{s-ttl|title=Pope|years=16 October 1978 – 2 April 2005}}

{{s-aft|after=Benedict XVI}}

{{s-end}}

{{John Paul II}}

{{Navboxes

|list=

{{Popes}}

{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{History of Catholic theology}}

{{Catholic philosophy footer}}

{{Catholic saints}}

{{World Youth Day}}

{{Charlemagne Prize recipients}}

{{Time Persons of the Year}}

{{James Smithson Medal recipients}}

{{Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century}}

}}

{{Subject bar

|commons=y

|commons-search=Ioannes Paulus II

|q=y

|n=y

|n-search=Category:Pope John Paul II

|s=y

|s-search=Author:John Paul II

|d=y

|d-search=Q989

}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:John Paul 02}}

Category:1920 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:20th-century Polish cardinals

Category:20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century Polish male writers

Category:20th-century Polish non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century Polish philosophers

Category:20th-century popes

Category:21st-century venerated Christians

Category:21st-century popes

Category:Academic staff of Jagiellonian University

Category:Academic staff of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

Category:Anti-apartheid activists

Category:Archbishops of Kraków

Category:Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI

Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica

Category:Canonizations by Pope Francis

Category:Cardinals created by Pope Paul VI

Category:Catholic Church and ecumenism

Category:Catholic Mariology

Category:Catholic philosophers

Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients

Category:Deaths from sepsis

Category:Deaths from circulatory collapse

Category:Divine Mercy (Catholic devotion)

Category:Infectious disease deaths in Vatican City

Category:Jagiellonian University alumni

Category:John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin alumni

Category:Members of the underground Labor Party

Category:Nonviolence advocates

Category:Papal saints

Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council

Category:Patrons of World Youth Day

Category:People from Wadowice County

Category:People in interfaith dialogue

Category:People of the Cold War

Category:Phenomenologists

Category:Polish anti-communists

Category:Polish anti-fascists

Category:Polish anti-poverty advocates

Category:Polish anti-war activists

Category:Polish beatified people

Category:Polish democracy activists

Category:Polish Esperantists

Category:Polish human rights activists

Category:Polish male dramatists and playwrights

Category:Polish male non-fiction writers

Category:Polish male poets

Category:Polish people of Lithuanian descent

Category:Polish people of World War II

Category:Polish popes

Category:Polish Roman Catholic archbishops

Category:Polish Roman Catholic saints

Category:Polish Roman Catholic theologians

Category:Polish Roman Catholic writers

Category:Polish shooting survivors

Category:Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni

Category:Popes

Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

Category:Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st class

Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)

Category:Sustainability advocates

Category:Thomists

Category:Time Person of the Year

Category:Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI