Karol Josef Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920. His father was a retired army officer and his mother, a school teacher. Karol began his studies with a focus on literature and philosophy and then later turned his talents to writing plays and poetry. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Mr. Wojtyla studied theology clandestinely. Before his 40th birthday, he had already earned two doctorate degrees. He also taught ethics as a professor at a local university. At age 47, he became a cardinal and was thus charged with heading up the moral and social order in Poland, the only one that would check communist indoctrination. In October 1978, Mr. Wojtyla was called to lead the Roman Catholic Church as their first non-Italian pope in neary half a millennium. As pope, he took the name John Paul II.