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John Paul II: Interfaith Relations and Legacy

Saint John Paul II was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005. He was the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years. As Pope, he sought to improve relations with other faiths and spread a message of peace that helped undermine the Soviet Union. His life was nearly cut short by an assassination attempt in 1981 but he survived and later forgave his attacker.

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212 views7 pages

John Paul II: Interfaith Relations and Legacy

Saint John Paul II was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005. He was the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years. As Pope, he sought to improve relations with other faiths and spread a message of peace that helped undermine the Soviet Union. His life was nearly cut short by an assassination attempt in 1981 but he survived and later forgave his attacker.

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SAINT JOHN PAUL II

John Nicotra
DESCRIPTION

• Saint John Paul II lived from May 18,


1920 to Apr 2, 2005
• He is the patron saint of World Youth
Day.
• The feast day of Saint John Paul II is
on October 22
• From October of 1978 to April 2, 2005
John Paul II was Pope of the
Catholic Church.
EARLY LIFE

• Saint John Paul II or Karol Józef Wojtyla,


which was his original name, grew up in
Wadowice, Poland.
• He lost his mother and older brother when
he was young
• Later he went to study at Jagiellonian
University in Warsaw until Germany
invaded Poland in 1939.
• As the war waged on, John Paul II joined
and underground seminary and he
eventually became ordained to
priesthood.
RISE TO PAPACY

• In 1958 Karol was anointed as archbishop


of Kraków
• Later he was anointed as a Cardinal in
1967.
• Then in October 16, 1978 Karol became
Pope John Paul II and the first non-Italian
Pope in 450 years.
DESTROYING AN EMPIRE
• Saint John Paul II’s message of peace
and faith to many and this caused
problems for the Soviet Union during the
Cold War.
• When he stepped out of his plane in
Poland and kissed the ground he set off a
fire that would destroy the Soviets Union.
• “You are not who they say you are, so let
me remind you who you are.”
–Saint John Paul II
• “I have had a feeling, particularly in the
pope’s visit to Poland, that religion may
turn out to be the Soviets’ Achilles’ heel”
–Ronald Reagan
• Eventually, all the Soviet puppet states
drift away from the Soviet Union and led
to the collapse of it.
IMPROVING RELATIONS

• He sought to improve relations between


the Catholic church and the other
Abrahamic religions, Islam and Judaism.
• For Judaism, he improved relations by
recognizing Israel, making anti-Semitism a
sin, and becoming the first Pope to visit a
synagogue (the Great Synagogue of
Rome).
• He improved relations with Islam by
becoming the first Pope to visit a mosque
(the Great Mosque of Damascus) and
kissed the Koran, the Muslim holy book
etc.
END OF LIFE
• John Paul II’s life could have been cut short
on May 13, 1981 when a man named
Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate
the Pope, but a miracle saved the Pope’s life
as the bullet grazed his organs.
• After recovering, John Paul II did the last thing
anyone would ever expect and that was
visiting his assassin in prison and forgave him
for trying to kill him.
• He died on Apr 02, 2005 at the age of 84 from
Parkinson’s disease. Pope Francis canonized
him on April 27, 2014.

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