Pope John Paul II

May 18, 1920~ April 2, 2005

Papal legacy

John Paul was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. After his ordination as a priest in November 1946, he rose steadily through the church hierarchy, becoming archbishop of Krakow in 1964.

He was elevated to cardinal in a secret consistory in 1968 and formally installed in a Vatican ceremony days later.

Despite his reputation as a formidable theologian and fearless defender of Catholic interests, his election as pope October 16, 1978 -- the first-ever Slavic pope and the first non-Italian to occupy the post in 455 years -- came as a surprise.

So too did the energy and determination he brought to his papacy, never letting health issues get in the way of his travels.

Not even an attempted assassination in 1981 kept him down. A Turk named Mehmet Ali Agca shot him twice. The pope recovered and later met Agca in prison and personally forgave him.

He re-established the Vatican's diplomatic relations with Great Britain and the United States, as well as with Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

He delivered more than 2,000 public addresses and issued countless numbers of encyclicals and apostolic letters, making him one of the most active men ever to occupy the papal see. He canonized 482 saints, more than any other pontiff, and created 232 cardinals.

His papacy was divided into two distinct halves.

"In the first 10 years his great concern was with communism," said Warsaw-based Catholic commentator Jonathon Luxmore. "Since then his focus has been more on the ills of Western society."

John Paul's role in the fall of communism was a subtle but crucial one. His visit to Poland in 1979 and his support for the Solidarity movement were key in the chain of events that led to the eventual crumbling of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski's regime 10 years later.

His stand against what he saw as the moral failure of Western capitalism, however, was notably less successful.

Although his outspoken views on human rights gained him many admirers, his preaching in such areas as sexual mores, science and the role of women in the church alienated many liberal Catholics.

"He was what you might call a revolutionary conservative," said Giovanni Ferro, editor of the Rome-based Catholic magazine Jesus.

"In some areas he was very forward-minded. In others, however, he was an extremely traditionalist pope. He maintained all sorts of opposing currents in the church, with the result that his successor will probably be faced with a great crisis of direction."

Who that successor will be remains to be decided by the College of Cardinals, which will meet at the Vatican in the coming days to select the next pope.

Whoever it is will struggle to make his mark, succeeding as he does one of the longest-serving and most contentious figures in papal history.

"One thing is for certain," Luxmore said. "[John Paul II] is going to be a terrifically hard act to follow."