CIA-RDP96-00792R000700560001-9

Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700560001-9
Site 736
JOHN PAUL II
Pope
from 1978.
John
Paul
(Karal Wajtyla) was born in Wadowice, near Krakow, Poland, May
18th, 1920 to working class parents.
In 1938 he enrolled in
the Jagiellonian University in Krakow to study poetry and
drama, lifelong interests. Between 1950 and 1966 he published
poems and periodicals under a pseudonym. During the German
occupation he worked in stone quarries and a chemical factory
and joined a clandestine Rhapsodic theater.
In the fall of
1942 while continuing to work he registered in an underground
seminary.
Ordained to priesthood
in
1946, Wajtyla went to Rome to study theology at the Angelican
University (now the Pontifical University of St. Thomas) where
his doctoral dissertation was on the question of faith in the
writings of the mystic St. John of the Cross.
Returning to
Krakow he earned a second doctorate for a thesis on the
compatibility of the German phenomenologist Max Schelers'
ethical system with traditional Christian ethics.
In 1954,
Wajtyla joined the philosophy faculty
of the Catholic
University of Lublin. Four years later he was named Auxiliary
Bishop of Krakow and in 1964 became its Archbishop. He took
active part in the 2nd Vatican Council (1962-1965) and
contributed
£
significantly
to
the council's
pastoral
constitution on the church in the modern world.
Pope Paul VI
created
him Cardinal
in 1967.
After
the "September"
pontificate of John Paul I, Cardinal Wajtyla was chosen as his
successor on October 16th, 1978.
He was the 1st non-italian
Pope since Hadrian (Adrian) VI of Utrecht (died 1523) and the
first Polish Pope. He chose the name John Paul II to indicate
he would carry on the programs of his three predecessors. John
Paul however projected a cautious attitude toward change in the
church, especially with regard to the role of priests.
He
insisted they not be "social or political leaders or officials
of a temporal power". This policy led to a tense relationship
with the Jesuit Order. He has become the most widely traveled
Pope.
NOTE :
Almost fatal attempt on his life May 13th, 1981.
Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700560001-9