Pope John Paul II (Karol Jozef Wojtyla, 1920 - 2005)
-Ordained in 1946
-Elected to the Papacy in 1978
-The Youngest Pope (58) in 132 years.
-First non-Italian Pope in 455 yrs.
-First Slavic Pope
-Made more than 200 visits to more than 125 countries, including Cuba
-First Pope to visit a synagogue
-First Pope to visit the memorial (at Auschwitz) to Jewish victims of the Holocaust
-Total 26 years as Pope
-Total 127 Canonizations during his term, elevating 354 persons to Sainthood (including San Lorenzo Ruiz )
-Authored 14 encyclicals, covering varied topics on the Life & Mission of the Church, Human Work,
Salvation of Man, Human Rights, Dignity of the Sick and Elderly.
-Learned & scholarly
-Holder of Masters Degrees and Doctorates in Theology and Philosophy
-Time Man of the Year, 1994
-Staunch spokesman for Human Rights
-Had charisma and generated electricity "unmatched by anyone else on earth today", attracting private
citizens, catholics and non-catholics by the millions
Pope John Paul II is also dearly remembered by Filipinos in his 1995 visit when he presided over the 10th celebration of World Youth day. An estimated 5 million Filipinos flocked to see the Pope.
(During his visit, there was zero crime rate in Manila !)
He is considered as a great world figure who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom, justice and equality for all races and religions, as well as man's right to independence.
He will be referred to in history books as Pope John Paul the Great.
So much to say and write about him ! Truly a great man !
(Thanks for the info, hon!)
Sniff* ya, and i thought he looked like a cute lolo, too. he reminded me so much of my papa...