Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (; ; ; born Karol Józef Wojtyła; ; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) served as Pope and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005. He was elected by the second Papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, died after 33 days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted his predecessor's name in tribute to him. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist
Byzantine Papacy Creed, condemning Pope Honorius and the other proponents of monothelitism. Over the next ten years, reconciliation increased the power of papacy: the church of Ravenna abandoned its claim to independent status (formerly endorsed by Constans II), imperial taxation was lessened, and the right of papal confirmation was delegated from Constantinople to the Exarch of Ravenna. It was during this period that the Papacy began "thinking of the Universal Church not as the sum of individual churches as the East did, but as synonymous with the Roman Church". Pope Agatho, a Greek Sicilian, started "a nearly unbroken succession of Eastern pontiffs