The conclave that chose a Pole

The conclave opened on 14 October 1978, after the death of John Paul I, who had led the Church for 33 days. Of the 111 cardinals taking part, 56 were Europeans and 26 were Italians, and they voted in the Sistine Chapel. TVP describes a deadlock between two Italian camps: conservatives around Giuseppe Siri, archbishop of Genoa, and a moderate, reformist wing backing Giovanni Benelli of Florence. Over two days and seven ballots, neither candidate reached the required two-thirds majority, and the two blocked each other. The breakthrough came on the eighth ballot on 16 October, when the cardinals chose the 58-year-old metropolitan of Kraków, who received 99 votes.

Smoke, balcony and the first words

White smoke rising over the Sistine Chapel signalled the result, and TVP gives the time as 18:18. Cardinal Pericle Felici announced the outcome from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, according to RMF24. Wojtyła then appeared on the balcony and told the crowd that the cardinals had called him from a distant country, meaning Poland under communist rule. He said he had feared accepting the choice but would do so in obedience to Jesus Christ and in complete trust in his Mother. News of his election drew wide interest and hope for change in a country where the authorities restricted civic freedoms and sought to weaken the Church. He took the name John Paul II and became the 264th pope, and the first since 1903 who had never served as an official of the Roman Curia.

Inaugural Mass and the pontificate

Six days later, on 22 October 1978, he celebrated the Mass that inaugurated his pontificate in St Peter's Square, where he delivered the appeal that became a signature of his ministry. Speaking to the crowd, he said:

“Do not be afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ.”

The appeal came to symbolise his teaching on faith, freedom, human dignity and responsibility for other people. He held the office for almost 27 years, from October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005. He made 104 trips abroad, but the sources count the countries differently: NIEZALEZNA.PL says he visited 129, while RMF24 says 132 and adds 900 towns and villages and 1.7 million kilometres travelled. RMF24 also notes that he visited Poland nine times. His first foreign trip came in January 1979 to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the Bahamas.

The 1981 assassination attempt

On 13 May 1981 the pope was shot in St Peter's Square and gravely wounded, and he was taken to the Gemelli clinic in critical condition. RMF24 reports that doctors themselves doubted he would survive, but he did. The gunman was Mehmet Ali Agca from Turkey. The pope later forgave him and visited him in prison in December 1983. The sources say the people behind the attack were never definitively identified. Wojtyła linked the attack to the 1917 Fatima apparitions, and on 13 May 1982 he made his first pilgrimage to Fatima, where he gave the bullet removed from his body, which was placed in the crown of the statue of the Virgin Mary.