He was born on May 18, 1920 to a family living in Wadowice, Poland. He endured a lot of sadness in his life, for example he lost his father, mother and older brother before he was 21 years old.
He started out wanting to be an actor. But his dream stopped abruptly after World War Two began. He decided he wanted to become a priest. So instead of performing at big stages in Europe, he took on the risky task of attending an "underground" seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1946, and not long after, he was ordained an archbishop. Soon, he was made a pope. He was Pope John Paul 2, after the previous pope, Pope John Paul 1.
He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. He made 124 visits to different countries. In 1979, he visited Poland and founded World Youth Day.
But one day, a horrible event happened. An assassination attempt was attempted, but it failed. It was the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. When he got better, he went to the prison where the man who tried to kill him was, and talked and forgave him.
He was pope for 27 years, and in that time, he wrote 14 encyclicals, 5 books, and canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people. He died on April 2, 2005.
Pope John Paul 2 was a brave, courageous man who liked to climb mountains and be funny. He had a great attitude. He forgave like a saint should. He laughed and cried like a real person. Saints are real people and they pray for us.
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