Gaby Setiabudi
Ms. Stronks
ELA 8
October 21, 2015
Pope St. John Paul II vs. Pope Francis
Both Pope Francis and Pope St. John Paul II are incredible popes who’ve made amazing
changes to the world that has made them who they were and are today. St. John Paul II
was the first non-Italian pope in the last 400 years who served from 1978 to 2005. His
real name is Karol Józef Wojtyła who was born on May 18, 1920 Wadowice, Poland then
died on April 2, 2005 Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. John Paul II has visited over 100
countries speeding his message of faith and peace while focusing to end abortion. Pope
Francis was born on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires and began his papacy on March
13, 2013 and continuing. His main focus is to help and protect the poor and defenseless
while spreading the word of God. Some similarities they both have are a love for
children, wanting to end abortion, they both came to the states, multilingual, and they
focus on the Golden Rule, commandments, and the beatitudes. Although, John Paul II
and Pope Francis have many similarities, they also have a variety of differences between
them.
St. John Paul II was an inspiring pope from the Marist Order who made changes in the
world that have benefited in us today. Born and raised in Wadiwice, Republic of Poland
on May 18, 1920 with his mother who passed away when he was eight years old, his
older sister, Olga, who died before he was born, his brother who died when John Paul II
was nine years old, and his father who died when he was sixteen years old. John Paul II
was elected from 1978 to 2005 being the second longest serving pope in history serving
for twenty-seven years after Pope Pius IX who served for thirty-two years. Pope John
Paul II was multilingual in twelve different languages which he used in many of his
travels across the world. If you put all of John Paul II’s writings together, it would be
equal to twenty bibles. He was an athletic person ever since he was a child who played a
Varity of many sports such as skiing until he was 73 years old and playing as goalie in
football. John Paul II has visited a total of 129 countries throughout his papacy continuing
to spread faith and peace to people of all kind. On May 13, 1981 when John Paul II
entered St. Peter’s Square he was critical, shot in the abdomen and went through over
five hours of surgery. The shooter, Aĝca, was sent to life in prison and two years after the
attempted assassination, St. John Paul II visited in prison to forgive him. He was declared
a saint on April 27, 2014 by Pope Francis. These are some of the many differences
between Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Francis.
Pope Francis has made many changes in the world and history in a short amount of
time as pope. Born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 at Buenos Aires,
Argentina is the current Pope of the Catholic Church from the Order of Jesuits. Before he
had begun his seminary studies, Francis briefly worked as a nightclub bouncer and a
chemical technologist as he had studied chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires. Just
like St. John Paul II, he is multilingual in four languages which include Spanish, German,
Italian, and English. On Christmas day, eight days after his birth, he was baptized, on
October 4, 1944 he made his first communion, in 1969 Jorge was ordained as a Catholic
priest, became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, cardinal in 2001, the chosen as
Pope on March 13, 2013. Pope Francis enjoys to travel around the world similar to Pope
John Paul II spreading his focus and distress about the world to others. Pope Francis had
recently traveled to the States to address Congress his then becoming the first Pope to
ever address Congress. He discusses about wanting to end the death penalties, ending
abortion, global warming and many other situations affected the people all over the
world. Pope Francis’ main focuses are helping the poor and defenseless and taking care
of the youth, like St. John Paul II. He has written the “Laudato Si” which includes his
distress about global warming, consumerism, and the abortion of babies. A mass that
had taken place in the Philippine had over six million people attending, which had broken
John Paul II’s record with five million people attending his mass. In conclusion, both men
has made incredible changes to the world that have made a step closer to making the
world a better place.