Two of the greatest popes of all time, Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis

have several differences but they also have many similarities. Pope Saint John Paul
II real name is Karol Jzef Wojtyla. He was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18,
1920. His parents were Emilia Kaczorowska and Karol Wojtyla and his brother was
Edmund Wojtyla. Sadly, they all died at different times by the time he was 16 years
old. Much of Karols very advanced education was learned underground after the
invasion of Poland by the Nazis. Long after the invasion he attended Jageillonian
University and studied philosophy and languages. Eventually he learned 12
languages and 9 of them he spoke as a pope. Pope Saint John Paul II became a
priest in 1946, a bishop in 1958, the archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and rose to the
College of Cardinals in 1967. In 1978 he finally became pope and accepted the
name of Pope John Paul II. When he became the pope he was chosen to join the
Chair of Peter. Karol was the first pope in 455 years to not be Italian and the first
pope to be Polish. Pope Saint John Paul II' motto was "Totus tuus" which means
"Totally yours" because of his love and devotion to the Holy Mother Mary. He
traveled all over the world visiting people, places, and churches no other pope had
ever been before and held a mass in the Philippines with over 5 million people
attending it. Karol beatified and canonized over a 1000 different people from all
kinds of different places. He even talked with Orthodox and Protestant
Denominations which were different religions that had common ideas. Pope Saint
John Paul II spoke against oppression, war, injustice, and abortion and worked for
and with the poor and helpless. Pope Saint John Paul II died on April 2, 2005 at the
age of 85. He was pope for the second longest amount of time with 27 years of
papal service. Karol was beatified on May 1, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI and
canonized on April 27, 2014 by Pope Francis. Although Pope Saint John Paul II was a
very influential pope, Pope Francis is an influential pope right now.
Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, only sixteen years after Pope Saint John Paul II was born. Jorges
parents were Regina Maria Sivori and Mario Jose Bergoglio and he had two sisters
and two brothers named: Oscar, Maria, Alberto, and Marta. All of his family
members, except for his sister Maria, have passed on between the years of 1959
and 2010. He attended multiple schools and graduated with a chemical technician
diploma. Before his more religious life, Jorge worked as a janitor, a bar bouncer, and
in a laboratory. Then he went to confession in 1955 and it changed him. Jorge then
became a Jesuit in 1960, a priest in 1969, a bishop in 1992, the archbishop of
Buenos Aires in 1997, and a cardinal in 2001. Pope Francis is our present pope and
was elected pope in 2013 and chose his name after Saint Francis of Assisi, his role
model. He is the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere and from the Americas
and the first pope who is a jesuit. When Pope Francis held a mass in the Philippines,
over six million people attended beating Pope Saint John Paul IIs record by just
about one million people. He speaks for mercy, the environment, ordination of
women, and homosexuality and against abortion, poverty, religious persecution,

and the death penalty. Pope Francis and Pope Saint John Paul II are two very
different people but they are also more similar than they seem.
These two popes, Pope Francis and Pope Saint John Paul II, have many
similarities in their lives and their papacies. One similarity is the fact that they were
many firsts like being the first pope in 455 years not to be Italian and the first to be
Polish (Pope Saint John Pual II) or being the first pope from the Southern
Hemisphere, first from the Americas, first from Argentina, and the first jesuit pope
(Pope Francis). Another thing they had in common is the fact that they could both
speak multiple languages. A third similrity between Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope
Francis is that they both spoke for very similar causes such as peace and equality
and against such causes as opression and abortion. In conclusion, though these two
popes, Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis, served over a half a century apart
they were more closely related than one might think.