![]() Karol Wojtyła was elected pope on October 16, 1978, and took the name Pope John Paul II. He remained dedicated to the laity and youth, working with them on a personal level to deepen relationships with God. He moved through the hierarchy of the Church with a fierce commitment to the power of Christianity and moral ethics to lift up the vulnerable-all while living and working in a communist Poland where freedom of speech and religion were not easy to come by. He became the spiritual leader and mentor of a group of young adults, whom he often joined on kayaking or camping trips. Karol was also a chaplain for university students and later a professor of moral philosophy and social ethics. He later earned a second doctorate focused on Christian ethics. ![]() Priestly LifeĪs a priest, Karol focused heavily on intellectual studies, earning his first doctorate with a thesis on the theology of St. His was ordained a priest on November 1, 1946, once World War II had ended and the seminary had reopened. He later recalled that the examples set by these priests showed him the real meaning of the priesthood. Christ was calling me to serve him as a priest… Nothing means more to me or gives me greater joy than to celebrate Mass each day and to serve God’s people in the Church.”ĭuring the war, he witnessed countless horrors, including the deportation and murder of priests who spoke out against the Nazi regime. “How does one explain the ways of God? Yet, I know that, at a certain point in my life, I became convinced that Christ was saying to me what he had said to thousands before me: ‘Come, follow me!’ There was a clear sense that what I heard in my heart was no human voice, nor was it just an idea of my own. He later said this about discerning his vocational calling: He decided to follow his vocational call to the priesthood and began courses in 1942 at an underground seminary in Krakow, run by the archbishop at the time. Karol made ends meet and avoided deportation by working in a quarry and later a chemical factory throughout the war. However, just one year later in 1939, the Nazi occupation of Krakow forced the university to close. He lost his father in 1941, prior to his entering into the priesthood.īefore hearing his vocational call, Karol studied drama and the arts at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He was then raised by his father, who passed along a sense of self-discipline and strong Catholic faith. He lost his mother when he was nine years old, and his older brother passed away when Karol was 12. The second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska, young Karol had a difficult childhood. Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, located just outside of Krakow, on May 18, 1920. ![]()
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