Pope John Paul II Paul II made trips to 129 countries, travelling more than while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among the largest ever assembled in human history, such as the Manila World Youth Day, which gathered up to four million people, the largest Papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican. John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979. While some of his trips (such as to the United States and the Holy Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope to visit the
Pope Paul VI overshadow the last years of his pontificate". Pope John Paul II later reaffirmed and expanded upon "Humanae vitae" with the encyclical "Evangelium vitae". By taking the name of Paul, the newly-elected Pope, showed his intention to take the Apostle Paul as a model for his papal ministry.. In 1967, when he reorganised the Roman curia, Pope Paul renamed the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Pope Paul was the first pope in history to make apostolic journeys to other continents and visited six continents.. The Pope chose the theme of evangelism