Pope John Paul: From actor to pontiff grandis

By Dale Tournemille, CTV News Staff

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No other Pope in history has met as many people as Pope John Paul, who is the most travelled pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Church.

To date, more than 16 million pilgrims have participated in his weekly general audiences. Millions more faithful have flocked to his side during the pontiff's visits throughout the world.

The Pope's visit to Toronto for World Youth Day is his 97th official trip, making Canada just one of 68 different countries he's visited over the past 82 years.

Yet, for a man who's done so much for so many, his beginnings were humble.

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Born Karol Joseph Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, he was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla, a non-commissioned administrative officer in the Polish army, and Emilia Kaczorowska, a former schoolteacher.

His parents were strict Catholics, who did not share the anti-Semitic views of many Poles at that time. Wojtyla's early years were filled with tragedy. His mother died when he was just nine and his elder brother, a doctor, died 10 years later.

Despite the early death of his mother, Wojtyla inherited her love of learning. He was a strong student and from an early age he had a great interest in poetry and theatre as well as religion.

While enrolled at Poland's Jagiellonian University in 1938, Wojtyla maintained his keen interest in the theatre by participating in the experimental troupe known as Studio 38.

But his choice between a life on the stage and a life at the pulpit was delayed by the looming threat of the Second World War.

The Nazi occupation forced the university to close in 1939. The young Wojtyla was forced to work in a quarry until 1944 and later in the Solvay chemical factory to earn a living and avoid being deported to Germany.

Despite the oppressive grip of the Nazis on Polish life, Wojtyla blossomed creatively and spiritually. When the university reopened, he continued his efforts with Studio 38 where, by many accounts, he demonstrated a great gift for acting. He also became steadily more involved in the study of the Church's teachings.

After his father's death, Wojtyla set out to fulfill his father's life-long dream for his son to become a priest.

When Russian forces liberated Krakow from Nazi occupation on Jan. 18, 1945, Wojtyla continued his third year of theological studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Jagellonian University.

He was ordained a priest on Nov. 1, 1946, and celebrated his first Mass the next day. Within two weeks, he'd left his native Poland to begin studies at the Angelicum University in Rome. He wrapped up his education quickly, and returned to Poland within a year.

His early years in the priesthood were exhausting but rewarding. He was busy with his university studies, working on a doctorate in philosophy, while finding time to offer chaplain's services to students at the university.

By 1956, Wojtyla had risen to become chair of ethics at the Catholic University and two years later added the job of auxiliary bishop of Krakow.

In 1962, the meetings of the Second Vatican Council led to the selection of Wojtyla as the next Archbishop of Krakow. However, political tensions in communist Poland delayed the appointment for two years. Three years later, he was a cardinal.

Wojtyla almost didn't become the pope. It took eight ballots for Vatican cardinals to choose him. Finally, on Oct. 16, 1978 Karol Joseph Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II, taking the name in honour of his predecessor John Paul I, who had died after serving less than 40 days.

Wojtyla had become the first non-Italian chosen as pope in 456 years and at 58, the youngest in this century.

But his work had just begun and it didn't take long for John Paul to wade into controversy.

His first official visit abroad was to Latin America, where he chastised bishops for attempting to find political accommodation with Marxist political leaders by compromising the church's beliefs.

In 1981, the pontiff survived an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in Rome. For days the 61-year-old pope's survival was in doubt, and millions of people around the world prayed for him. He recovered and eventually visited the shooter, Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, in prison and forgave him.

That same year, the Vatican published a document that would set the tone for his papacy's views on abortion and birth control, and spark a debate within the Roman Catholic Church.

The pontiff emphasized the importance of marriage, family and something he called the "language of love." He condemned birth control as immoral.

John Paul's staunch defense of church doctrine created a great deal of discord, but his most poignant pilgrimage in March 2000 offered a tone of reconciliation.

During a seven-day tour in Jordan, the pontiff visited with Israel's chief rabbi and Jewish political leaders and met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Bethlehem.

Jews have long resented what they see as a lack of leadership from the Catholic church in standing against Nazi aggression during the Second World War.

The pope said the church was "deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place."

Since the start of his pontificate on Oct. 16, 1978, Pope John Paul II has completed 95 pastoral visits outside of Italy and 141 within. As Bishop of Rome, he has visited 301 of the 334 parishes.

His last trip to Canada was in 1987 when he visited Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, a trip the pontiff had intended to make during his previous visit in 1984, but did not make because of poor weather.

After Toronto's World Youth Day, the pope is due in Mexico City for the canonization of Mexican Indian Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, whose visions of the Virgin Mary in the 16th century helped the Catholic Church in its drive to convert indigenous people.