Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920 –2005) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 until his death, almost 27 years later, making his the second-longest pontificate after Pius IX's 31-year reign. He is the only Polish pope, and was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s.