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
Pope John Paul I "L'Unità", the Communist newspaper, outside one of the party's offices in Rome. One boy was killed while another was seriously wounded. The pope lamented to John Magee, "Even the young are killing each other." He later retired to his room to read Thomas à Kempis' "The Imitation of Christ" in bed. There are several conspiracy speculations related to his death. The journalist and vice-postulator for Luciani's cause of canonization, Stefania Falasca, published a new book in 2017 titled "Pope Luciani, Chronicle of a Death", in which she revealed that John Paul I had complained of chest pains hours before his