P138 BEEBFAX 122 Thu 31 Dec --:--/--                                   Pope John Paul II  Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in May 1920  in Poland, he was elected to the  papacy in 1978 after the untimely  death of his predecessor John Paul I  whose reign lasted only 33 days. He  became the 264th Pope and the first  non-Italian Pope in 455 years and was  also one of the youngest at only age  58 when elected.  He returned to his native Poland in  1979 where he sparked the formation of  the Solidarity movement after  inspiring the oppressed people to take  action.   Next       Prev       Home        End