Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700560001-9
         Site 736
         JOHN PAUL II
         Pope from 1978. John Paul
         (Karal Wajtyla) was born in Wadowice, near Krakow, Poland, May
         18th, 1.920 to working class parents. In 1938 he enrolled in
         the Jagiellonian University in Krakow to study poetry and
         drama, lifelong interests. Between 1950 and 1966 he published
         poems and periodicals under a pseudonym. During the German
         occupation he worked in stone quarries and a chemical factory
         and joined a clandestine Rhapsodic theater. In the fall of
         1942 while continuing to work he registered in an under,ground
         seminary.
         Ordained to priesthood in
         1946, Waj-tyla went to Rome to study theology at the Angelican
         University (now the Pontifical University of St. Thomas) where
         his doctoral dissertation was on the question of faith in the
         writings of the mystic St. John of the Cross. Returning to
         Krakow he earned a second doctorate for a thesis on the
         compatibility of the German phenomenologist Max Schelers'
         ethical system with traditional Christian ethics. In 1954,
         Wajtyla joined the philosophy faculty of the Catholic
         University of Lublin. Four years later he was named Auxiliary
         Bishop of Krakow and in 1964 became its Archbishop. He took
         active part in the 2nd Vatican Council (1962-1965) and
         contributed significantly to the council's pastoral
         constitution on the church in the modern world. Pope Paul VI
         created him Cardinal in 1967. After the "September"
         pontificate of John Paul I, Cardinal Wajtyla was chosen as his
         successor on October 16th, 1978. He was the lst non-italian
         Pope since Hadrian (Adrian) VI of Utrecht (died 1523) and the
         first Polish Pope. He chose the name John Paul II to indicate
         he would carry on the programs of his threepredecessors. John
         Paul however projected a cautious attitude toward change in the
         church, especially with regard to the role of priests. He
         insisted they not be "social or political leaders or officials
         of a temporal power". This policy led to a tense relationship
         with the Jesuit Order. He has become the most widely traveled
         Pope.
         NOTE: Almost fatal attempt on his life May 13th, 1981.
         Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700560001-9