Pope John Paul II
pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX. In addition to this, he was an important philosopher and theologian of the 20th century.
In his youth, Wojtyła worked occasionally as a stage actor. He graduated from an all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland in 1938, shortly before World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent to a German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish in university. During his studies, he was encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kraków and then to cardinal, both positions held by his mentor.
The public source identifies “Pope John Paul II” as pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pope, John and Paul.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q989. VIAF identifies the subject as 35605. The Library of Congress control number is n78078345. 3 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 2005, 1978 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pope John Paul II” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.