Apr. 05 (CWNews.com) - On May 18, 1920, Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, a quite town outside Krakow, in southern Poland. His family lived in a modest house in the center of town, next to the Catholic church.

Although young Karol was remembered by his neighbors as an energetic and cheerful boy, his early years were marked by mourning. His mother Emilia died when he was 9, leaving him to live with his father, also named Karol, a retired military office, and an older brother who was a medical student in Krakow. Three years later, in December 1932, his brother died of scarlet fever.

As he grew, Wojtyla showed a keen interest in sports. He was an accomplished soccer player-- a goalkeeper-- and an avid hiker, swimmer, and tennis player. He also became involved in acting, joining a company led by Mieczyslaw Kotlarczyk, who introduced him to the deep cultural roots of the Polish theatrical tradition. In 1939, when he was admitted to the renowned Jagiellonian University, young Wojtyla moved with his father to Krakow. His studies were soon interrupted, however, by the Nazi invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. The university was closed down by the German occupying forces, and Wojtyla took a job at the local Solvay chemical factory as a manual laborer. In February 1940, Karol Wojtyla met Jan Tyranowski, a layman who worked as a tailor, who was to have an enormous impact on the spiritual formation of the future Pope. Under Tyranowski's influence he became acquainted with the mystical writing of St. John of the Cross and the Carmelite spiritual tradition, and for a time considered entering the Carmelite order.

In February 1941 the young man's life was disrupted by mourning once again, when he came home to find his father dead. Karol Wojtyla was now alone in a country scarred by warfare and poverty under a brutal Nazi occupation. During these years he rejoined his old dramatic mentor, Kotlarczyk, in an underground acting group in Krakow. By staging traditional Polish plays, reading poetry, and organizing philosophical soirees, the "Rhapsodic Theater" group sought to keep alive the country's native culture, and stiffen resistance against the German occupation. Again caught up in the excitement of the theater, Wojtyla thought about a career in acting.

However, in the fall of 1942, Karol Wojtyla felt an unmistakable calling to the Catholic priesthood. Although seminaries had been closed down by the Nazi regime, he studied secretly in the residence of Archbishop Adam Sapieha, while continuing work in the chemical plant. In 1944, as Nazi troops began rounding up seminarians, the archbishop brought Wojtyla into his own residence, to live in the basement while he continued his priestly training.

When World War II ended, Wojtyla resumed his studies in theology at the Jagiellonian University, and was ordained to the priesthood on November 1, 1946. He was sent to Rome-- his first trip outside Poland-- for further study at the Angelicum, where Dominican professors led him in a deep exploration of the work of St. Thomas Aquinas. During school vacations, he traveled across Europe, visiting France, Holland, and Belgium as well as other parts of Italy. In June 1948 he completed his doctorate, with a dissertation on St. John of the Cross, and returned to Krakow.

By now Poland was living under a Stalinist government, bitterly hostile to Christianity. In his early parish assignments-- first in rural Niegowic, then in central Krakow-- the young priest set out energetically to counteract the influence of Communist ideology. He attracted a group of young Catholic families-- many of whom would remain close friends throughout his life-- and organized an ambitious program of intellectual and spiritual formation, punctuated by family outings, dramatic productions, and sporting events.

In 1951, the young priest was encouraged to continue his studies, and took a second doctorate in philosophy, with a dissertation on the phenomenological work of Max Scheler. By 1954 he was teaching ethics and moral theology at schools in both Lublin and Krakow, while still serving as a parish priest.

On July 1958, while he was leading a group of families in a kayaking and camping trip, Father Wojtyla received a summons to the office of Archbishop Sapieha, who told him that he was to be appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow. He continued to teach in Lublin, however, and published widely in philosophical journals while maintaining a broad correspondence with other intellectual leaders in Poland and abroad.

From 1963 to 1963, Bishop Wojtyla took part in the sessions of the Second Vatican Council. He was actively involved in writing several Council documents, most notably the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes (doc) , on the Church in the modern world. After the second Council session in 1963, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and returned to learn that he had been appointed the new Archbishop of Krakow.

Returning again to Poland, the new archbishop strove to make Krakow a model for the implementation of Vatican II. At the same time, he led a steady, quiet resistance to Communist ideology, frequently sparring with government authorities to protect religious freedom and promote Christian principles.

In June 1967 the Polish archbishop received a red hat from Pope Paul VI, becoming at that time the youngest member of the College of Cardinals. His regular participation in synods in Rome brought him to wider attention among the world's other cardinals, as did his occasional trips abroad-- notably a tour of the United States, where he lectured at several universities. In March 1976, he received a signal honor from Pope Paul when he was selected to preach the annual Lenten Retreat for the Roman Curia.

Upon the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Wojtyla was summoned to Rome to participate in the conclave that elected Pope John Paul I in August 1978. He had barely returned to Krakow when he heard that the newly elected Pontiff had died abruptly, and the cardinals were forced to return for a new conclave. This time, on October 16, 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected.