Pope John Paul II in pictures (33Pics)

Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in the Polish market town of Wadowice on May 18 1920. He was the youngest of the three children of Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska

1932: Karol Wojtyla aged 12 (second row, extreme left) with his classmates at the parish school at Wadowice, before he moved to Krakow

This photo, taken in the 1930s, shows Karol Wojtyla posing with a candle in his hand after receiving First Communion in Krakow

July 1939: A 19-year old Karol Wojtyla, second from right, holds a rifle while performing "present arms". Two months before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Wojtyla, according to biographers, attended a military training camp in Western Ukraine, then eastern Poland.

A picture taken in Poland in 1948 shows Karol Wojtyla as a young priest

26 June 1967: Karol Wojtyla receives the biretta of Cardinal. Three years earlier he had become Archbishop of Krakow

16 October 1978: Pope John Paul II, former Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla, smiles at the Vatican after being named as the head of the Catholic Church. Karol Wojtyla became a bishop in Krakow in 1958, and then archbishop in 1963, before ascending to the papacy as John Paul II.

22 October 1978: Pope John Paul II kisses a priest during his coronation ceremony in front of Saint Peter Basilica in Vatican City. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland became the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI of Holland in 1542. The new Pope, 58, chose the name of John Paul II in honour of his short-lived predecessor who died after only 33 days in office.

7 June 1979: Pope John Paul II visits former Nazi camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim during his first pilgrimage to Poland

21 June 1980: Then US President Jimmy Carter shares a laugh with Pope John Paul II during a meeting in the pontiff's private library at the Vatican

13 May 1981: A hand holding a gun aims from the crowd in St Peter's Square at Pope John Paul II as he stands in the Popemobile. Several bullets hit the pontiff, wounding him in the abdomen and perforating his colon and small intestine multiple times.

13 May 1981: Pope John Paul II is helped by his bodyguards after being shot by Mehmet Ali Agca at St Peter's Square in Rome

19 May 1981: Pope John Paul II sits up in his bed at the Policlinico Gemelli hospital in Rome after he was wounded in St Peter's Square by his would-be assassin Mehemet Ali Agca on 13 May

28 May 1982: Pope John Paul II meets Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace

30 May 1982: Pope John Paul address crowds of Polish expatriates at Crystal Palace, London. This was the first time a reigning Pope had visited Britain

27 December 1983: Pope John Paul II greets Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot him, at Rebibbia prison in Rome. The two spoke privately for 20 minutes. The Pope said afterwards: "What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust."

April 1985: The Prince and Princess of Wales have an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Princess Diana adhered to protocol by wearing a black lace veil

30 November 1986: Pope John Paul II reaches out to a baby kangaroo at Victoria Park in Adelaide during a week-long visit to Australia

2 February 1986: Pope John Paul II meets the Dalai Lama in Delhi and reads the Tibetan Buddhists' spiritual leader's latest book entitled "Opening The Eye Of New Awareness", during the Pope's ten-day visit to India

8 June 1991: Polish President Lech Walesa kisses the hand of Pope John Paul II at the Royal Castle in Warsaw while holding the first copy of Poland's constitution

12 August 1993: US President Bill Clinton points out people in the crowd to Pope John Paul II upon the Pope's arrival in Denver, Colorado

15 January 1995: Pope John Paul II's helicopter flies over the huge crowd in Manila's Luneta Park prior to his celebrating an open-air mass to an estimated crowd of over two million people gathered for the 10th World Youth Day congress

27 June 1997: Pope John Paul II blesses Mother Teresa at the Vatican City

18 June 1998: South African President Nelson Mandela talks with Pope John Paul II during their meeting at the Vatican

25 January 1998: Pope John Paul II greets Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a mass celebrated in Havana's Revolution Square

16 October 2000: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Pope John Paul II at the Vatican

19 July 2001: Pope John Paul II sits and rests during his holidays in the mountain resort of Les Combes, northern Italy

22 February 2003: Pope John Paul II talks to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a private audience at the Vatican

9 April 2004: Pope John Paul II receives the Holy Communion from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) at the Vatican

4 June 2004: US President George W Bush meets with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican

23 February 2005: Pope John Paul II waves to pilgrims and faithful from his private library during a close circuit televised address to those gathering at the Vatican for Wednesday's traditional general audience. The pontiff, still recovering after his hospitalisation three weeks earlier for breathing problems, gave his blessing by video after the Vatican cancelled his appearance at his apartment window.

4 April 2005: The body of the late Pope, who had died two days earlier, lies in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City for public viewing

6 April 2005: Mourners file past the body of Pope John Paul II as he lies in state in St. Peter's Basilica