John Paul II

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was later canonised as Pope Saint John Paul II. In his youth, he also dabbled in stage acting.
Having graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice shortly before the start of the war, in 1938, Karol Wojtyła was highly respected. Coming from the Generation of Columbuses, one in four of all his schoolmates did not survive World War II. During the war, Wojtyła went through struggles of his own. To avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German slave labor camp he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. He was also struck by a German army truck and by a tram and barely…