St. John Paul II Birth Anniversary

St. John Paul II, born on 18 June 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, was beautified on 1 May 2011; canonized 27 April 2014: and has his feast day on 22 October, a day chosen to remember the anniversary of the liturgical inauguration of his Papacy in 1978.

Of Polish nationality, and born, Karol Józef Wojtyła, he was the third longest serving pope and the first non-Italian for 455 years he held office from 1978 to his death in 2005, aged 84. As part of his effort to promote greater understanding between nations and between religions, he undertook numerous trips abroad, traveling far greater distances than had all other popes combined, and he extended his influence beyond the church by campaigning against political oppression and criticizing the materialism of the West. He also issued several unprecedented apologies to groups that historically had been wronged by Catholics, most notably Jews and Muslims. His unabashed Polish nationalism and his emphasis on nonviolent political activism aided the Solidarity movement in communist Poland in the 1980s and ultimately contributed to the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. More generally, John Paul used his influence among Catholics and throughout the world to advance the recognition of human dignity and to deter the use of violence. His centralized style of church governance, however, dismayed some members of the clergy, who found it autocratic and stifling. He failed to reverse an overall decline in the numbers of priests and nuns, and his traditional interpretations of church teachings on personal and sexual morality alienated some segments of the laity.