Late Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) and his Contributions to World Peace

Abstract

Karol Józef Wojtyla, the youngest of the three children of Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska was born in 1920 in the Polish town of Wadowice. At the age of twenty, he had lost the company of his above siblings and to survive, he started to work as a messenger for a restaurant, manual labourer in a limestone quarry and later at solvay chemical factory to avoid deportation to Germany. He later knocked at the door of the Bishop's palace in krarków in 1942 and asked for permission to study for the sacred priesthood and was ordained a priest on All Saint's Day, November 1, 1946. A strong, passionate and charismatic priest and Bishop who later occupied the chair of St. Peter. Late John Paul II was the first non-Italian and the longest serving pope in 445 years. A pope that neither the church nor the world expected and whose 25 years was characterized by surprises which began on the very night of his election. He was a spiritual protagonist who master-minded the fall of communism in his native country Poland and also ensured the survival of Christianity into the third millennium. Late John Paul II wrote 14 papal encyclicals and taught about sexuality in what was referred to as the Theology of the Body. A conservative on doctrine and issues relating to human sexual reproduction, a strong opponent of homosexuality and ordination of women to sacred priesthood, the most travelled pope in history as he visited 129 countries during his pontificate. Late Pope John Paul II campaigned extensively for world peace, fought against mafia violence in southern Italy and regularly led diplomatic initiatives to negotiate peace in the Middle East. He was in the later part of his life regarded as a living saint. No wonder he was canonized a saint not long after his demise and referred to as Saint John Paul The Great.