Do you recall Pope (Saint) John Paul II?

[Anonymous]

👀 Hmm, I for one recall even the live news stories around 2005 and somewhat 2004. I remember hearing about his throat surgery thing and his inability to give an address. News footage. As in I remember watching his final years via the courtesy of the tube television back before flat screens, before YouTube. Just before those inventions..
How's about this Christmas 2004 footage? He smiles, otherwise looking a little glum before hand, probably tired and in pain for a man of advancing 80s back then even. He smiles, not my footage in the final footage seconds. Apparently filmed by a parishioner and of course he died by April 2005 months later 👀 📸 . tough jobs, being elderly heads of state. .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOHAoXqtU4

Yes I remember even him during my lifetime,

No, I don't remember him in my lifetime

Vaguely

No, Benedict XVI or Francis are all whom I remember / can recall on TV or footage online

Results / or I'm not Catholic

Updates

3 mo

Some may say @thegreenyogi even - it's fascinating or a little mesmerising, to offer a small piece of my soul here 🧩 like a puzzle - that trip down memory lane - 😈✝️ surely religious icons, are timeless

Updates

3 mo

Get it - religious, icons 🧩🤭😈✝️🙃 praise be, to all, you all y'all lol 🦜

[abc3643]

LOL...
Of course, I remember him!
When I was born in early 1963, John XXIII was Pope.
He died the year I was born, but then Paul IV became Pope.
He died when I was 15 in August 1978.
Both these Popes were important because they reigned during the Vatican II Council which finally occurred in 1965 and which changed the Catholic Church making it more accessible to the people of the world. A major change was that the Mass didn't need to be conducted in Latin anymore, but could be performed "in the vulgate" (the local language).
So, the next Pope honored the two previous Popes by choosing the name John Paul as Pontiff. Pope John Paul, now known as John Paul I, died after a month as Pope.
So, the next Pope, a Pole and the first non-Italian Pope in something like 500 years, picked up where his predecessor left off and took the name John Paul II.
He died in 2005 being Pope for almost 27 years.
Then we got the Nazi Pope... Pope Benedict XVI who was not popular unlike his predecessor and he gave it up in 2013. Pope Francis, an Argentinian of Italian descent, then became Pope with Benedict XVI becoming the first Pope Emeritus in centuries.
Pope Francis, who was rather popular, died in 2025, so now we have "Pope Bob", Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope.

[abc3643]

The Vatican II Council was conducted over 4 summers: 1962 through 1965. This is why John XXIII ans Paul VI are involved; it straddled their papacies.

Also, I meant "vernacular", not "vulgate".

[Asker]

I didn't like Francis and Benedict XVI aka Benedictus lol who I sort of like then foolishly stood idly by and allowed John Paul II's English Mass translation changes of 2011

[Dargil]

The best in a century.

[Asker]

You could really see how his commitment to service, like genuine customer service, was highlighted in his effort to smile - in those closing seconds 👀 🎥 🤳
✝️
Bless him and his soul 🤍

[LazloValenka]

I remember from my childhood.