Radiomercato.com

Special calls 3Z0SJP and SN0JPII from 20-27 April 2014 for the Canonization of Two Great Popes of Our Days: John Paul II and John XXIII in Citta del Vaticano, on 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) will be raised to sainthood nine years after death and three years after beatification. That was the fastest canonization process in the history of Church, as requested by the faithful and a large group of cardinals who displayed the slogan "Santo subito" upon the death of the beloved Pope. More than 100 heads of state are expected to arrive for celebrations, together with millions of Catholics from all over the world, headed by Pope Francis, in the presence of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Malopolska in 1920. He was the Bishop, Archbishop, and Cardinal of Krakow, the 264th Pope and the 6th Sovereign of the Vatican City-State. In 1938, he became a student of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, graduated from a Seminary in 1946, and afterwards completed a course of study in Rome. In 1948, Karol Wojtyla returned to the Malopolska and Krakow. Since war time, when he was a worker at the Solvay Plant in Krakow, he had been writing literary and dramatic and co-founded a theatre in Krakow. After the war, he lectured in Catholic colleges and universities in Poland and abroad. As the Bishop of Krakow, he assumed the motto Totus Tuus (All Yours). On 16 October 1978, Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope and chose the name of John Paul II. He was the first Polish Pope and the first non-Italian Pope after 455 years. Died on 2 April 2005.