Pope John Paul II had been the leader of the Roman Catholic Church since 1978. Before his death he had assumed a greater political role in world affairs than any other Pope in recent times history. He spoke eight languages ​​fluently, traveled frequently around the world and was the first Pope in over 60 years to visit an Islamic country. Pope John Paul II has extended his influence to the farthest reaches of the world. He has become the most influential promoter of peace and human rights over the past two decades. Through his life and death no man had more influence on the lives of so many people than John Paul II. John Paul II was known by many names: The Pope, The Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, he was known by his parents like Karol Jozef Wojtyla. He was the second of two children born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. He was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, a town of 8,000 other Catholic families. There was also a fairly large Jewish population in Wadowice which would later lead John Paul to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. His father was a retired army officer and his mother was a teacher. A week before his 9th birthday, his mother died shortly before giving birth to a third child due to heart and kidney problems. Three years later, his eldest died at age 26 from scarlet fever, a skin infection like strep throat that causes rarely fatal rashes..