John Paul II – the first Slavonic pope was born Karol Wojtyla on 18th May 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. In 1938 he enrolled at Cracow’s Jagiellonian University but the following year saw the arrival of Nazi occupation forces and the subsequent closure of the university. Aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Cracow. Soon after his priestly ordination on 1st November 1946, Cardinal Adam Sapieha sent him to Rome where he finished his doctorate in theology before returning to Poland. He was vicar for various parishes in Cracow as well as professor in...