e universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 and canonised 483 people, more than the combined

tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named
most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated a large number of the world's
bishops, and ordained many priests.[11] A key goal of John Paul's papacy was to transform and
reposition the Catholic Church. His wish was "to place his Church at the heart of a new religious
alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a great religious armada".[12][13]
John Paul II was the second longest-serving pope in mo

rry and for the Solvay chemical factory, to avoid deportation to Germany.[22][31] In 1940 he was struck
by a tram, suffering a fractured skull. The same year he was hit by a lorry in a quarry, which left him
with one shoulder higher than the other and a permanent stoop. [33] His father, a former Austro-
Hungarian non-commissioned officer and later officer in the Polish Army, died of a heart attack in
1941,[24] leaving Wojtyła as the immediate family's only s\

urviving member.[23][25][34] "I was not at m

1946. He resided in the Belgian Pontifical College during this time, under presidency of
Mgr Maximilien de Furstenberg.[53] Wojtyła earned a licence in July 1947, passed his doctoral exam
on 14 June 1948, and successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled Doctrina de fide apud S.
Ioannem a Cruce (The Doctrine of Faith in St. John of the Cross) in philosophy on 19 June 1948.
[54]
The Angelicum preserves the original copy of Wojtyła's typewritten thesis.[55] Among other courses
at the Angelicum, Wojtyła studied Hebrew with the Dutch Dominican Peter G. Duncker, author of
the Compendium grammaticae linguae hebraicae biblicae.[56]
According to Wojtyła's schoolmate the future Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler, in 1947 during his
sojourn at the Angelicum Wojtyła visited Padre Pio, who heard his confession and told him that one
day he would ascend to "the highest post in the Church". [57] Cardinal Stickler added that Wojtyła
believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a Cardinal. [58]