Karol Josef Wojtyla (pronounced Voy-tee-wah) was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, to an administrative officer in the Polish army and a former schoolteacher. As a young man, Karol was athletic. He enjoyed playing soccer as a goalie and took daredevil swims in a flooded Swaka River. He also was an excellent student and he served as president of his school sodality.

Karol developed a love of theater and for a time it was his ambition to study literature and become a professional actor. During the Nazi occupation Karol clandestinely pursued both his studies and his acting while working as a stonecutter to support himself and to hold the work permit he needed to avoid deportation or imprisonment. Karol Wojtyla was active in the UNIA, a Christian democratic underground organization. B'nai B'rith and other authorities have testified that he helped Jews find refuge from the Nazis.

While convalescing from an accident, Karol considered a religious vocation and by 1942 he was studying for the priesthood. Karol Wojtyla was ordaine....