SAINT JOHN PAUL II: GLOBETROTTER AND APOSTLE OF RELATIONS.

Pope John Paul II was born in Wadowice, May 18, 1920 and died in Vatican City, April 2, 2005) . He was the 264th pope of the Catholic Church and bishop of Rome, 6th sovereign of the Vatican City State.
He was elected pope on October 16, 1978. Following the cause of beatification, on May 1, 2011 he was proclaimed blessed by his immediate successor Benedict XVI and is celebrated annually on the day of his inauguration, October 22. On April 27, 2014, together with Pope John XXIII, he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis.
The first non-Italian pope after 455 years, that is, since the time of Hadrian VI (1522-1523), he was also the first Polish pontiff in history and the first to come from a Slavic-speaking country. His pontificate lasted 26 years, 5 months and 17 days and was the third longest pontificate ever, after that of Pius IX and the one traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle.

He fought the theology of liberation, intervening repeatedly on the  approaches of some exponents of the clergy towards political subjects of the Marxist area. He also stigmatized  capitalism and consumerism and defended  the dignity of ‘man.
His 104 travels around the world saw the participation of huge crowds (among the largest ever gathered for religious events). With these apostolic journeys, John Paul II showed a great activity of contact (even with the younger generations, with the creation of the World Youth Days); it  was interpreted by lots of people as a sign of a serious intention to build a bridge of relations between different nations and religions.