He rose from being a priest to being the head of the Catholic Church. The coins in this commemorative product portray the most important stopping points on the journey to papacy of John Paul II.
The Polish born Karol Wojtyła (*18th May 1920, †2nd April 2005) found his calling early on, and received ordination at the age of 26. On 16th October 1978, he was elected pope, and succeeded John Paul I.
Pope John Paul II had the second longest pontificate of all 266 popes, at over 26 years, and also had an extraordinary influence on world politics. On 1st May 2011, the deceased Pope was beatified, and in 2014 canonized.
