Pope john paul ii biography timeline report
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He begins lecturing at the Kraków Theological Seminary and Jagiellonian University as well as the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL), 170 miles away.
JULY 28, 1958: At the age of 38, Father Wojtyla becomes Poland’s youngest bishop and is given the post of auxiliary bishop of the Kraków Archdiocese.
1959: Bishop Wojtyla heads KUL’s Ethics Chair, where his lectures attract crowds of students.
His international apostolic journeys numbered 104 and were expressions of the constant pastoral solicitude of the Successor of Peter for all the Churches.
His principal documents include 14 Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions and 45 Apostolic Letters. He will be co-canonized with Pope John XXIII.
1978
10.16.1978 Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave. |
11.12.1978 As Bishop of Rome Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. |
1979
6.2.1979 Pope John Paul II first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. |
9.29.1979 Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland. |
1981
5.13.1981 Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. Karol takes part in the activities of the now underground Rhapsodic Theater. On 4 July 1958, Pope Pius XII appointed Father Wojtyła auxiliary bishop of Krakow, with the titular see of Ombi. John Paul II timeline: from boyhood to sainthood Compiled by Robert Strybel MAY18, 1920: Emilia née Kaczorowska Wojtyla gives birth to a baby boy against the advice of her doctor who said the infant didn’t have a chance to survive and should be aborted. It was there that his literary and acting inclinations began emerging. Father Wojtyła was then sent by Cardinal Sapieha to Rome, where he attained a doctorate in theology (1948). During the funeral banners and chants of “Santo subito” (immediate sainthood) go up. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being an "agent of Moscow". |
1984
5.6.1984 103 Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul |
1987
5.1.1987 Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. |
1998
1.25.1998 During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country. |
3.16.1998 Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust. |
1999
5.7.1999 Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. |
2001
6.10.2001 Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa. |
2003
2004
11.27.2004 Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church. |
2006
1.12.2006 Turkey releases Mehmet Ali Ağca from jail after he served 25 years for shooting Pope John Paul II. |
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
JOHN PAUL II
(1920-2005)
Karol Józef Wojtyła, elected Pope on 16 October 1978, was born in Wadowice, Poland, on 18 May 1920.
He was the third of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska, who died in 1929.
On 8 April, his solemn funeral was celebrated in Saint Peter's Square and he was buried in the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica.
John Paul II was beatified in Saint Peter's Square on 1 May 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI, his immediate successor and for many years his valued collaborator as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He was canonised on 27 April 2014, together with Pope John XXIII, by Pope Francis.
From the Booklet for the Celebration of the Canonization of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, 27 April 2014
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Like people all over Poland, Karol is not sure whether Poland is being liberated or whether one totalitarian occupation will be replaced by another.NOVEMBER 1, 1946: After successfully completing his studies, on All Saints Day Karol Wojtyla is ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Sapieha and celebrates his first mass at St Leonard’s Crypt in Wawel Cathedral.
NOVEMBER 15, 1946: Father Wojtyla is sent to Rome to study at Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas.
This does not include any of the other special audiences and religious ceremonies (more than 8 million pilgrims in the Great Jubilee Year of 2000 alone). The regime buses in people for all over the country to heckle John Paul and drown out his sermons about “godless communism” with their revolutionary chants and songs.
AUGUST 16, 1983: The Polish Pontiff arrives in his homeland for his second papal pilgrimage and uplifts the spirits of his downtrodden countrymen following the regime’s 1981 crackdown to crush Solidarity.
Saved by the maternal hand of the Mother of God, following a lengthy stay in the hospital, he forgave the attempted assassin and, aware of having received a great gift, intensified his pastoral commitments with heroic generosity.
Pope John Paul II also demonstrated his pastoral concern by erecting numerous dioceses and ecclesiastical circumscriptions, and by promulgating Codes of Canon Law for the Latin and the Oriental Churches, as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
20, 1994: The pope’s autobiographical book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” is published.
MAY 22, 1995: During an Apostolic Visit to the Czech Republic, the pope pays a brief several-hour visit to the neighboring Polish town of Skoczków, where he canonizes St John Sarkander.
OCTOBER 8, 1996: The Holy Father undergoes an appendectomy.
MAY 31, 1997: The Polish Pontiff makes another pilgrimage to his homeland, whose theme is “Christ yesterday, today and forever.” It includes celebrations of the 1000th anniversary of St Adalbert’s (Wojciech’s) martyrdom.
The Vatican reveals that the Third Secret of Fatima foretold the 1981 attempt on the pope’s life.
AUGUST 16, 2002: John Paul II manages to make his ninth and last trip to Poland. Their discussion includes the question of religious freedom in the USSR.
JANUARY 15, 1991: In separate letters to US President Bush and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the pope seeks do avert a war in the Persian Gulf.
JUNE 1, 1991: During his first papal pilgrimage to free Poland, John Paul elaborates on the subject of freedom and expresses alarm at the “anything goes” interpretation of that concept.
Its highpoint is the consecration of Kraków’s Church of Divine Providence, a major religious center. There he has good rapport with the parish youth for whom he organizes excursions, theater outings, discussion circles and Gregorian Chant practice. His life is saved by prompt medical attention at Rome’s Gemelli Clinic, but he will never fully regain his former robust state of health.
MAY 28, 1981: In Poland, Cardinal Wyszynski dies following a long and debilitating bout with cancer.
Labus is believed to have suggested that Karol study for the priesthood. Karol attends a religious retreat where he meets tailor Jan Tyranowski, an expert on the teachings of st John of the Cross and St Theresa of Avila, who helps him find his religious vocation. Right after the funeral, his father Lieutenant Karol Wojtyla senior, an army administrative official and devout Catholic, took him and his elder brother to the Marian shrine in nearby Kalwaria Zebrzydowska to pray for the repose of her soul.
SEPTEMBER 1930: Karol, known to his friends and classmates as Lolek, enrolled in the Wadowice middle school.