A Brief History
On May 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church became the first pope to ever set foot in a mosque when he entered the Great Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, during a visit to that predominantly Muslim country.
Digging Deeper
Born in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, Karol Józef Wojtyła was the first Catholic pope to hail from Poland and the first non-Italian pope since 1523. In fact, John Paul II was the first pope ever of any Slavic origin. John Paul II headed the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005, the third longest reign of any of the popes.
While many popes, especially in the early years of the Church, were murdered or died violently, John Paul II is the only one that was shot, when in 1981 an assassin pumped four bullets at the pontiff, wounding him twice, but not fatally.
Question for students (and subscribers): Do you have a favorite pope? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Weigel, George. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. Harper Perennial, 2020.
Wojtyla, Karol. Love and Responsibility. Ignatius Press, 1993.
The featured image in this article, a stamp of Azerbaijan, is not an object of copyright according to the law of Azerbaijan Republic No.: 636-IVQD of April 30, 2013 on Copyright and Neighbouring rights; this image is in the public domain worldwide (details).
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
