John Paul II
Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elected pope in October 1978, a Pole on the see of Rome. He preached religious freedom as a human right, returned to Poland as pope in 1979, and published the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992.
Karol Józef Wojtyła was born at Wadowice in Poland on 18 May 1920 and ordained priest in Kraków on 1 November 1946. He became auxiliary bishop of Kraków in 1958 and its archbishop in 1964, took part in the Second Vatican Council, and was made a cardinal in 1967. He was elected pope on 16 October 1978 and died in the Vatican on 2 April 2005 (Holy See, biographical profile of John Paul II).
At the Mass that began his ministry he asked his hearers not to be afraid and to open the frontiers of states and political systems to Christ (John Paul II, Inaugural Homily (22 October 1978) 5). His encyclical of March 1979 treated religious freedom as a human right (John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis 17), and in Warsaw in June 1979 he preached that Christ cannot be kept out of human history (John Paul II, Homily at Victory Square (2 June 1979) 3a–3b); see John Paul II and the Churches under Communism. He approved the instruction of 1984 on liberation theology (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Libertatis Nuntius conclusion and signature) (see Medellín and Liberation Theology), signed a common declaration on Christ with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East in 1994 (Common Christological Declaration (1994) opening paragraphs) (see Ancient Christological Divisions Are Addressed), and promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Holy See, biographical profile of John Paul II) (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church). He was canonised on 27 April 2014 (Holy See, biographical profile of John Paul II).
In the timeline
- 1973 to 1994, firm dateAncient Christological Divisions Are Addressed
Between 1973 and 1994 Rome signs common statements of faith in Christ with the Coptic pope and with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox delegates agree two statements of their own. None of them restores communion.
- 1978 to 1979, firm dateJohn Paul II and the Churches under Communism
In October 1978 the cardinals elect the archbishop of Kraków as pope. He tells the world not to be afraid and to open the frontiers of states to Christ, and in June 1979 he preaches in Warsaw that Christ cannot be kept out of human history.
- 11 October 1992, firm dateThe Catechism of the Catholic Church
On 11 October 1992 John Paul II orders the publication of a catechism for the whole Catholic Church, asked for by the bishops’ synod of 1985 and drafted over six years under Cardinal Ratzinger. It sets out Catholic teaching in four parts.
- 31 October 1999, firm dateLutherans and Catholics Agree on Justification
At Augsburg the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church confirm a joint declaration: they share a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification, and the condemnations of the sixteenth century do not apply to the teaching it sets out. Differences remain.