Pope John Paul I his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII and to Paul VI for naming him a bishop and a cardinal, respectively. Furthermore, he was the first pope to add the regnal number "I", designating himself "the First". His two immediate successors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, later recalled the warm qualities of the late pontiff in several addresses. In Italy, he is remembered with the appellatives of "Il Papa del Sorriso" ("The Smiling Pope") and "Il Sorriso di Dio" ("The smile of God"). "TIME" magazine and other publications referred
Pope John Paul II's political views cosmology and how to interpret Genesis: Pope John Paul II's political views Pope John Paul II's political views were considered conservative on issues relating to reproduction and the ordination of women during his 26-year reign as pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. A series of 129 lectures given by John Paul during his Wednesday audiences in Rome between September 1979 and November 1984 were later compiled and published as a single work entitled "‘Theology of the Body’", an extended meditation on the nature of human sexuality. He also extended it to condemnation of abortion, euthanasia