John Paul II

His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Ioannes Paulus PP in Latin. Giovanni Paolo II in Italian) was born Karol Józef Wojtyła on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. He reigned as Pope of the "Roman Catholic Church" from October 16, 1978, until his death more than 26 years later, on April 2, 2005. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. The first Polish Pope, his pontificate was the second-longest in modern times after Pius IX's 31-year reign, and he was the first non-Italian Pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s.