The eventful life of a humble Polish priest who once decried the pomp of the Catholic Church "a circus" and labeled the Pope a "prisoner of the Vatican" before ascending to the papal throne to usher Catholicism into the 21st century. Born in Poland and forced to carry on following the untimely death of his family, Karol Wojtyla endured both personal hardships and the rape of his homeland by the Third Reich to spread the word of God through the Catholic Church. Later, as Pope John Paul II, Wojtyla was beloved by millions of Catholics worldwide. From the sexual-abuse scandal that shook the American Catholic Church in the later-20th century to the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and the near-fatal assassination attempt made on his own life, Pope John Paul II endured to bridge the gap between various faiths until his death resulting from Parkinson's disease in April of 2005.
as Pope John Paul II
as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
as Archbishop Oscar Romero
as Father Stanislaw Dziwisz
as Pope Paul VI
as Ginka
as Young Karol Wojtyla
as Karol's Father
as Archbishop Adam Sapieha
as General Wojciech Jaruzelski
as Stanislaw Starowleyski
as Party Official
as Ali Agca
as Karol's Mother
as Young Karol Wojtyla (voice)
as Dr. Francesco Crucitti
as Delegate
as Officer
as Polish Man
as Cardinal
as Student
as Edmund
as Polish Officer
as Bishop
as Self (archival footage) (uncredited)
as Self
as Priest
as Bodyguard
as Young Priest
as Nun
as Self (archival footage) (uncredited)
as Altar Boy
