"Do not be afraid! Open, indeed, throw wide the doors to Christ! Open the borders of states, economic systems as well as political ones, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development to his saving power. Do not be afraid! Christ knows "what is inside man". Only he knows!" With these words, enter history, Pope John Paul II officially began his pontificate exactly 41 years ago. It was in fact 18.18 on 16 October 1978 when, after the eighth ballot, the famous white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. A little less than half an hour later, at 18:45, Cardinal Protodeacon Pericle Felici announced the election of Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as Pope.
Fu the first time in the history of a Polish Pope and the first after 455 years of a foreign Pope, even if this trend has continued since then, given that both the successor Benedict XVI – German – and the current Pope Francis – Argentine – are also non-Italians. As for the name chosen, it seems that at first Wojtyła wanted to be called Stanislaus I in honor of the patron saint of Poland, but in the end he chose John Paul II, in memory of his just deceased predecessor, Pope Luciani, last Italian Pontiff and first Pope born in the 33th century, passed away just XNUMX days after the start of his mandate.
The election of John Paul II marked a turning point in the history, not only of the Church. The first foreign Pope after Adrian VI, he came from a communist country during the years of the Cold War, and during his mandate he was among the protagonists of the international political scene, in a period which led to the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet empire and above all of the communist doctrine, of which he was a fervent opponent paving the way – also through the religious message – for a reformist season and dialogue between the Western world and Eastern Europe, and between the various religious faiths.
On May 13, 1981, probably for these reasons, he suffered a near-fatal assassination attempt by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish professional killer, who fired three shots at the Pope in St. Peter's Square, a few minutes after he had entered the square for a general audience, hitting him in the abdomen. Wojtyła was soon rescued and survived, after an operation lasting 5 hours and 30 minutes. Two years later, on Christmas 1983, he wanted to go to prison to meet his assailant and give him his forgiveness. The two talked alone for a long time and their conversation remained private.
Ali Ağca has never wanted to reveal the truth clearly and has repeatedly changed his version of the dynamics of the preparation for the attack, sometimes even suggesting that he had had help from inside the Vatican. The documents analyzed by the Mitrokhin commission would prove that the attack was planned by the KGB in collaboration with the Stasi: thesis not officially confirmed, but the implication of the Soviet Union in the matter remains very probable.
His pontificate was very long, the third longest in history, after that of Pius IX and that traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle: it lasted to be precise 26 years, 5 months and 17 days, at the end of which he died on April 2, 2005 in Rome, at the age of 84. A very popular figure all over the planet (as Pope he made 104 trips around the world, all of which saw the participation of enormous crowds, among the largest ever gathered for religious events), after his death he was soon started by his successor Ratzinger the procedure for beatification, which arrived in 2007. John Paul II was subsequently also canonized, together with John XXIII, by Pope Francis. He has therefore been a saint since 2014, following the recognition of two miracles: the healing of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand from Parkinson's and the healing of Floribhet Mora.
In short, the Wojtyla era was that of an increasingly innovative Papacy close to young people: taking advantage of the concomitance with the International Year of Youth proclaimed by the UN, John Paul II in 1985 instituted World Youth Days, an appointment that has become increasingly important and attended over the years. In 2000 it hosted the Jubilee in Rome and he was also called "God's athlete" for his various sporting passions: he practiced skiing, swimming, rowing, football and was a lover of the mountains, continuing to practice sports as long as his health allowed him. Precisely due to health problems (among other things he had had Parkinson's since the 90s) he died in 2005.
