Pope john paul ii languages

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE

JOHN PAUL II
(1920-2005)

 

Karol Józef Wojtyła, elected Pope on 16 October 1978, was born in Wadowice, Poland, on 18 May 1920.

He was the third of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska, who died in 1929. His elder brother Edmund, a physician, died in 1932, and his father, Karol, a non-commissioned officer in the army, died in 1941.

He was nine years old when he received his First Communion and eighteen when he received the Sacrament of Confirmation. After completing high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in the Jagellonian University of Krakow in 1938.

When the occupying Nazi forces closed the University in 1939, Karol worked (1940-1944) in a quarry and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn a living and to avoid deportation to Germany.

Feeling called to the priesthood, he began his studies in 1942 in the clandestine major seminary of Krakow, directed by the Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha. During that time, he was one of the organizers of the "Rhapsodic Theatre", which was also clandestine

POPE JOHN XXIII

1958-1963

 

When on October 20, 1958 the cardinals, assembled in conclave, elected Angelo Roncalli as pope many regarded him, because of his age and ambiguous reputation, as a transitional pope, little realizing that the pontificate of this man of 76 years would mark a turning point in history and initiate a new age for the Church. He took the name of John in honor of the precursor and the beloved disciple—but also because it was the name of a long line of popes whose pontificates had been short.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, the third of thirteen children, was born on November 25, 1881 at Sotto il Monte (Bergamo) of a family of sharecroppers. He attended elementary school in the town, was tutored by a priest of Carvico, and at the age of twelve entered the seminary at Bergamo. A scholarship from the Cerasoli Foundation (1901) enabled him to go on to the Apollinaris in Rome where he studied under (among others) Umberto Benigni, the Church historian. He interrupted his studies for service in the Italian Army but returned to the seminary, completed his work

Pope John XXIII

Head of the Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963

For the 15th-century Pisan antipope, see Antipope John XXIII.

PopeSaint


John XXIII

Official photograph, 1958–1963

ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began28 October 1958
Papacy ended3 June 1963
PredecessorPius XII
SuccessorPaul VI
Previous post(s)
  • Titular Archbishop of Areopolis (1925‍–‍1934)
  • Official to Bulgaria (1925‍–‍1931)
  • Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria (1931‍–‍1934)
  • Titular Archbishop of Mesembria (1934‍–‍1953)
  • Apostolic Delegate to Turkey (1934‍–‍1944)
  • Apostolic Delegate to Greece (1934‍–‍1944)
  • Apostolic Nuncio to France (1944‍–‍1953)
  • Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca (1953‍–‍1958)
  • Patriarch of Venice (1953‍–‍1958)
Ordination10 August 1904
by Giuseppe Ceppetelli
Consecration19 March 1925
by Giovanni Tacci Porcelli
Created cardinal12 January 1953
by Pius XII
RankCardinal-Prie

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