Saint John Paul II
Feast Day: October 22
When this popular pope died in 2005, crowds in St. Peter’s Square chanted “santo subito” (“sainthood now”).
The Vatican heard, and the sainthood cause for the jet-setting pontiff who helped bring down European communism was put on the fast track; he was beatified in 2011 and canonized in 2014.
A Pole and former actor shaped by World War II and the Cold War, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
In his 26-year pontificate, he evangelized on trips to 129 countries, upheld traditional church doctrine against dissent, connected with the world’s youth, and named more than 450 new saints.
He also modeled Christian values by forgiving his would-be assassin and living an increasingly frail old age in public.
His feast is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration, Oct. 22, rather than the traditional date of death which is used for most saints.
