Pope John Paul II Research Paper
Early Life Pope John Paul II was born as Karol Józef Wojtyła on May 18, 1920. He was born in a Polish town called Wadowice, Poland, which is about 35 miles Southwest of Krakow. Wadowice is a town that was 80% Catholic and 20% Jewish. His father, also Karol Wojtyla, was a retired Army officer and tailor, while his mother, Emilia Kaczorowska Wojtyla, was a schoolteacher from Lithuania. Karol had an older brother who was the pride of the family as a Physician and an infant sister that died before Karol was born. Karol’s mother died when he was just 9 years old in 1929 and in 1932 his brother Edmund died at the age of 26 to scarlet fever.
Though his parents were extremely strict and devoted Catholics they were not the normal anti-Semitic Catholics …show more content…
He was elected after the unexpected death of Pope John Paul I who reigned only briefly. It took eight ballots for the College of Cardinals, or “Conclave”, to finally make an agreement to select Karol Wojtyla as the 264th and first Slavic pope in history. Pope John Paul II had many achievements, but I consider his most important success the role he played in ending communism. Shortly after his nomination of pope he would take a 9-day journey back through his home country Poland where he would emphasize human rights during a speech in front of a million people, saying, “You are men. You have dignity. Don’t crawl on your bellies” (Renehan 45). This was a direct aim at the communist party and is said to be the beginning of the end for Soviet communism. He preached about Polish history and theology, and it is said that his visit was the inspiration for all to begin an end to communism. His visit and the events following started to bring worry to communist leaders in Poland and The Soviet. Soviet Satellite communist countries began revolting and falling out of communism until finally in 1991, The Soviet Communism came to an end. Pope John Paul II was very instrumental in his preaching and leadership in the fall to communism and will forever be remembered for
Though his parents were extremely strict and devoted Catholics they were not the normal anti-Semitic Catholics …show more content…
He was elected after the unexpected death of Pope John Paul I who reigned only briefly. It took eight ballots for the College of Cardinals, or “Conclave”, to finally make an agreement to select Karol Wojtyla as the 264th and first Slavic pope in history. Pope John Paul II had many achievements, but I consider his most important success the role he played in ending communism. Shortly after his nomination of pope he would take a 9-day journey back through his home country Poland where he would emphasize human rights during a speech in front of a million people, saying, “You are men. You have dignity. Don’t crawl on your bellies” (Renehan 45). This was a direct aim at the communist party and is said to be the beginning of the end for Soviet communism. He preached about Polish history and theology, and it is said that his visit was the inspiration for all to begin an end to communism. His visit and the events following started to bring worry to communist leaders in Poland and The Soviet. Soviet Satellite communist countries began revolting and falling out of communism until finally in 1991, The Soviet Communism came to an end. Pope John Paul II was very instrumental in his preaching and leadership in the fall to communism and will forever be remembered for