Did you know?
Saint John Paul II was the youngest pope elected in the twentieth century,
and the first Polish pope in the history of the Catholic Church.
He was the first pope to visit a communist country: it was his first visit as pope to his native Poland.
He was the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, before the election of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
He is the most travelled pope, and one of the most travelled leaders in history: he visited 129 countries.
He was also a gifted linguist, said to speak eight languages in addition to his native Polish.
He instituted World Youth Day, following the great youth gathering of 1984.
It is said that World Youth Day in Manila in 1995 drew the largest gathering of people up to that time: about five million people.
He is the pope who proclaimed the most blesseds and saints in history: 1,338 blesseds and 482 saints,
more than all his predecessors of the previous five centuries combined.
He was the first pope to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a place of importance to both Jews and Muslims,
and the first pope to enter a mosque: the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.
Saint John Paul II, intercede for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team.
