Popes on Parade
Anno 1901 - 2000
POPshop

Leo XIII

Gioacchino Cincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci
Anno 1878-1903

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Saint Pius X

Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto
Anno 1903-1914

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Benedict XV

Giacomo della Chiesa
Anno 1914-1922

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Pius XI

Achille Ratti
Anno 1922-1939

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Pius XII

Eugenio Pacelli
Anno 1939-1958

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Blessed John XXIII
The Good

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli
Anno 1958-1963

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Paul VI

Giovanni Battista Montini
Anno 1963-1978

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John Paul I

Albino Luciani
Anno 1978

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John Paul II
The Great

Karol Józef Wojtyła
Anno 1978-2005

Born 18 May 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. In his early days Karol Wojtyła was a poet, an actor, and a conscripted labourer during the Second World War. As the outspoken bishop of Krakov, he was a brilliant theologian and writer. When he was elected, he was the first non-Italian Pope in over four centuries.

Throughout his pontificate, John Paul II fought communism, unbridled capitalism, and political oppression. Always he preached peace.

His was a papacy of superlatives:

  • His more than 100 trips abroad to 130 countries attracted enormous crowds. With these trips, he covered a distance far greater than that traveled by all previous Popes combined: 748,568 miles, a distance equivalent to circling the globe 28 times.
  • He was the first Pope to visit a mosque.
  • He was the first Pope in 1800 years or more to visit a synagogue.
  • He instituted the annual "World Youth Day" festivals, attracting tens of thousands of young Catholics from all over the world.
  • During the Jubilee Year of 2000, he issued apologies for the failures of the Church throughout history, including the Crusades, the excesses of the Inquisition, and the failure to do more to combat genocide in the twentieth century.
  • He beatified (1,338) and canonized (482) more people than any previous Pope. Calls for his canonization began during the immense convergance of pilgrims in Rome during his funeral.

In addition, he wrote 12 encyclicals and published a new catechism.

He survived an assassination attempt early in his pontificate (1981). In his later years, he suffered greatly from Parkinson's disease.


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