The Holy Father - originally known as Karol Wojtyła - was born in 1920 in the small town of Wadowice near Kraków. His early puberty and teenage years were marked by the death of the boy's family. When Karol was 9 years old, his mother died and three years later - in December 1932 the same fate met his brother. All these painful experiences moved Wojtyła closer to the God to whom he prayed regularly since childhood - in a small room of hi family house at number 7 on Kościelna street, near Wadowice market (today this site is a museum devoted to the Pope).

In his junior high days, Wojtyła became an altar boy and also began to exhibit a deeper interest in theatre at that time. As an aspiring actor and writer, he moved to Kraków, where he began his studies at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University. A year later, the war broke out, which interfered with Karol's educational plans. In 1941 another another personal tragedy befell Karol - the death of his father.

Wojtyła's parting from the theatre happened suddenly - in 1942. For a short period of time the young man was forced to work physically as a labourer in chemical plants and quarries. However later that same year, he joined a secret Metropolitan Seminary in Kraków and began studying theology. As he admitted years later, the horrors of war and a sense of social injustice made him discover his calling and a sense of spiritual mission.

Since the end of war, the future pope actively worked as a teacher and lecturer. In 1946 he became an ordained a priest. It was the beginning of his brilliant career as a spiritual leader. His outstanding erudition (as a 28-year-old Wojtyła received his doctorate in theology), deep faith and simple human kindness, brought him many supporters. In 1958 he was ordained a bishop, six years later, he was nominated Archbishop and Metropolitan of Kraków, and in 1967 was awarded the cardinal's biretta.

Cardinal Wojtyła participated in the two conclaves in 1978. The second one was a life-changing event for him - after the sudden death of Pope John Paul I on October 16, on the third day of the conclave around five in the afternoon, Wojtyła was unexpectedly elected pope, taking the name John Paul II. The choice of an unknown priest from Eastern Europe (he was the first non-Italian Bishop of Rome elected in 455 years) shocked the world public opinion. Many looked for political motives in this decision. A pope from behind the Iron Curtain, provided a good counterbalance to the communist regime's dictate there.

John Paul II, thanks to his unconventional methods, openness and highly dynamic actions, quickly showed that he was a person created exactly to exercise such an important position. As the head of the Catholic Church and the Vatican State, he initiated, continued to this day, a tradition of pastoral visits in different parts of the world. Suffice to say that the Polish Pope was one of the greatest travellers of modern history - he visited more than 900 places in 130 different countries during his 104 pilgrimages! He visited Poland a total of eight times - the first time in June 1979 when he celebrated a famous mass at Warsaw's Plac Zwycięstwa (Victory Square today Piłsudskiego Square), which was a sign of solidarity with the Poles oppressed by the communist regime.

May 13, 1981: the world was rocked the news of the assassination attempt on the life of the Pope. John Paul II was shot by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca. Pope forgave his would be assassin, visiting him in prison. Despite this, the state of health of the Pope gradually worsened - mainly due to the progressing Parkinson's disease.

In 2002 the Polish Pope visited the country for the last time. His last foreign pilgrimage took place two years later - to France. From that moment, the badly ailing Bishop of Rome appeared in public less and less frequently. In March of 2005 as a result of a multiple organ failure, the Holy Father found himself on his deathbed. He died on April 2, 2005 at 9:37pm. He was buried six days later in the Vatican Grottoes. Since 2011, the Pope remains rest in the chapel of St. Sebastian in St. Peter's Basilica.

Shortly after the death of John Paul II, efforts were undertaken to beatify him. The process of beatification was led by the Holy Father Benedict XVI. The Polish Pope earned the title of the Blessed on 1 May 2011. Three years later, on April 27, 2014, under Pope Francis, John Paul II was canonized. Thus he became the quickest canonised saint in the Roman Catholic church – in just nine years since his death.

Do you know?

• In his youth, Karol Wojtyła was an avid football fan. His favourite club was Cracovia Kraków.
• Another youthful passion pope were ... cream cakes. To this day in Wadowice there is a flourishing trade in these cakes.
• In 1941 Wojtyła and his friends founded Teatr Rapsodyczny – an underground theatre with a national-Catholic character. The future Pope volunteered there as an actor.
• In addition to his stage work, Karol Wojtyła wrote literary and poetic works. He specialized in metaphysical poetry. One of his earliest works include a collection of poems Renesansowy psałterz (Renaissance Psalter 1939; published in 1999).
• During his pontificate, John Paul II canonized 482 people, including nine Poles.
• John Paul II wrote 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 13 apostolic constitutions, 45 apostolic letters, 29 motu proprio and thousands of letters written on different occasions, essential for the life of the Catholic Church.
• On the initiative of the Holy Father a Code of Canonical Law, Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church were developed.
• In 1985 the pope initiated World Youth Day. In 2016 they are to be hosted by Kraków's Łagiewniki Sanctuary.
• In the eighties, in the days of Solidarity and martial law, floral crosses were regularly laid out in the Victory Square - the place where the Pope celebrated his first Mass in Poland. Warsaw authorities, in order to put an end to this practice, decided to fence the square in and began endless renovations. Today, the papal Mass of 1979 is commemorated with a symbolic plaque laid in the surface of the square. In 2009 a memorial cross was also placed in the square.
• Number 2 at Wiślana street in Warsaw, in front of the Warsaw University Library, is the house of the Ursuline Sisters. Cardinal Wojtyła stayed here shortly before travelling to the conclave in 1978, the time when he was elected pope.