Who he was
Born in Wadowice in Poland, he had lost his mother, brother and father by the age of twenty-one. Under the Nazi occupation he worked in a quarry and a chemical factory and studied for the priesthood in secret, and was ordained in 1946. A professor of ethics, he became Archbishop of Kraków and a cardinal, took part in the Second Vatican Council, and in October 1978 was elected pope.
What he is remembered for
He made 104 journeys abroad and met more people than any pope before him. He gave the Church the Catechism of the Catholic Church and new Codes of Canon Law, began World Youth Day, and instituted Divine Mercy Sunday; after he was shot in St Peter's Square in 1981 he forgave his attacker. Benedict XVI beatified him in 2011, and Pope Francis canonised him on 27 April 2014.
He is honoured by the Church as Saint. Read his page in the dictionary of saints.
Sources
All popes · Home · All saints