The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II Quiz

Answer: He was an officer in the Polish army.

John Paul II was born, Karol Joseph Wojtyla, on May 18th 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. His father was an administrative officer in the Polish army, and his mother was a teacher. His mother died nine years later, and his father died in 1941. When he was thirteen his elder brother died, and he also had an elder sister who died before he was born.

Answer: tennis

His favourite soccer position was goalkeeper, and he was an excellent swimmer. He regularly swam in in rivers which were in flood. He particularly enjoyed skiing, and even after being elected pope continued to enjoy this sport taking regular holidays in Switzerland.

Answer: He worked as a stonecutter in a quarry.

He worked in a quarry at Zakrzowek, near Cracow, and later in a chemical factory. During this period, he is known to have been a member of the Polish resistance. In order to escape Nazi persecution he then went into hiding, and continued to study secretly for the priesthood. In 1946, just one year after the war ended, he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.

Answer: 263

John Paul II was the 264th Pope, and was elected on October 16th 1978. His predecessor, John Paul I, had only been in office for thirty-three days, and his untimely death undoubtedly influenced the College of Cardinals to elect a younger and fitter man as pope. John Paul II was the first non-Italian to be elected pope for 456 years, the last being Adrian VI (1522-1523) who was born in Utrecht.

Answer: False

He was by no means the youngest ever pope. The youngest pope, according to official Vatican sources, was John XII (955-964 A.D.) who was elected pope when he was only eighteen years of age. Some sources claim the youngest ever pope was Benedict IX (1032-1044 A.D.), and that he was elected pope at the tender age of twelve.

This, however, is disputed by the Vatican who claim that he was nearly twenty years of age. John Paul II, at age fifty-eight, was the youngest pope to be elected in the 20th century, and the youngest since Pius IX who was elected in 1846 aged fifty-four.

Answer: Paul VI

Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Montini in Lombardy, Italy on 26th September, 1897. He became pope on 21st June, 1963, and died on 6th August, 1978. When he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1964, he became the first pope in over 150 years to leave Italy. He subsequently visited India, U.S.A., South East Asia, and Africa.
Clement X reigned from 1670 to 1676. Gregory XVI reigned from 1831 to 1846, and John XXIII was Paul VI's predecessor, reigning from 1958 to 1963.

Answer: An assassination attempt was made on him.

A fanatical Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, fired several shots at John Paul II during a public appearance in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The pontiff was hit by four bullets which caused severe wounds. In 1983 he visited his would-be assassin in prison, and prayed with him. One of the bullets fired by Agca was later set in a jewelled crown, and donated to 'Our Lady of Fatima Basilica' in Portugal.

Answer: five

In October 1979 John Paul II became the first ever pope to visit the White House where he was received by President Jimmy Carter, who surprised him by greeting him in Polish. Ronald Reagan met John Paul II in June, 1982, and again in June, 1987. President George H.W. Bush met the pontiff in November 1991, and his son, President George W. Bush, met him in June 2004. President Bill Clinton met John Paul II in June 1994.

Answer: Defender of the Faith

Pope John Paul II's full title was 'Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God'.

The title 'Defender of the Faith' is held by the British sovereign, and was originally awarded by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII in 1521.

Answer: the popemobile

The 'popemobile' was a term frequently used by the media, but disliked by John Paul II. The walls were bulletproof glass, and it was introduced following the 1981 assassination attempt on the pontiff. It enabled John Paul II to be seen by his many admirers, while safeguarding him from possible attack.

Answer: Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq

In January 1998 he met Fidel Castro during an official papal visit to Cuba. He met Yasser Arafat on several occasions, both in Palestine and at the Vatican. He met Robert Mugabe briefly on the runway at Harare airport during a pastoral visit to Zimbabwe in 1988.

Although he had dialogue with Saddam Hussein, and strongly opposed both the 1991 and 2003 invasions of Iraq, he never met him in person. Saddam's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, had an audience with John Paul II on February 14th 2003.

Answer: True

This is not really surprising as most of of the previous popes had little opportunity or means to visit other countries. John Paul II was born into the age of mass air travel, and was able to visit countries which even his immediate predecessors, John Paul I and Paul VI, could only have visited with considerable difficulty.

His robust heath and vitality, especially in the early years of his pontificate, made overseas visits relatively easy, and helped to spread the message of the Roman Catholic church. On many occasions his first act on arrival in a country was to kneel and kiss the ground.

Some of the largest public gatherings the world has ever seen were at John Paul II's sermons in other countries.

Answer: He disapproved of all three

John Paul II took a conservative stance over women being ordained as Roman Catholic priests. A typical view was contained in one of his official statements saying "the Church has no authority to admit women to the priesthood". He strongly disapproved of both the 1991 and the 2003 invasions of Iraq, saying "War is always a defeat for humanity".

He was not completely opposed to war for any reason, but believed it to be a 'last resort'. In the case of Iraq though, he considered the 'last resort' stage had not been reached.

He believed that homosexuals should be treated with 'respect, compassion, and sensitivity', but considered homosexuality to be an 'objective disorder'. Other issues on which he expressed strong criticism were abortion, contraception and euthanasia, saying these were part of 'the culture of death'.His views were summed up in his papal encyclical 'Veritas Splendor' ('The Shining of Truth'), in which he wrote "what is popular may not always be good"!

Answer: False

With the exception of St. Peter only one other pope, Pius IX, reigned longer than John Paul II. Pius IX's reign of 31.5 years from 1846 to 1878 was over five years longer than that of John Paul II.

Answer: 84

John Paul II died at 9.37 p.m. on Saturday 2nd April 2005. His death was formally announced by the Cardinal Camerlengo (the Papal chamberlain), Eduardo Martinez Somalo, who said in Latin "Vere Papa mortuus est" (the Pope is truly dead). Shortly after this announcement, thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square were led in prayer by Cardinal Angelo Sodano.