This article used to be a very good article. It was promoted on 30 July 2007 and demoted on 24 July 2009. This means the community feels this article was written very well, but is not now. You may see the vote that promoted the article here. You may see the vote that demoted the article here.

A fact from Pope John Paul II appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 1 May 2017. The text of the entry was as follows: ... that Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years?

Just what isthe name of the Polish state that he was born in?-- Tdxiang 06:13, 4 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I will search immediatly --Vector (write to me please) 06:13, 4 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wadowice!!! --Vector (write to me please) 06:15, 4 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Right. Thank you, Vector!-- Tdxiang 06:16, 4 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing ;-) --Vector (write to me please) 06:17, 4 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Correction, Wadowice is a small city in Poland's mountain region!

Right, and Wadowice (City) is in "Małopolskie" State, it's where the Kraków is. pl:user:MichuNeo

I have just come to this page, after doing some serious rewriting of the article. The fact that it needed attention was drawn to my notice because it is the featured article of the day!!!

How can it possibly be a featured article, when in 2007 a competent editor wrote the comments that were made above, but the article wasn't fixed!?

I've done quite a lot to it, but not all the things suggested here.

The stuff about Pentecost was a total shermozzle. Did anyone understand what was meant? It was all terribly theoretical and of very little significance to the majority of human beings, even devout catholics.

This is what it means.

• They (who ever "they" are) decided that John Paul II Day (IF he becomes a saint), will be 50 days after his death. The choice was probably made because there is no other very important saint on that day. (First you chose the day, then you justify the choice)
• As it happpens, "Pentecost", which means 50, is a fest that occurs 50 days after Easter. (After the Resurrection, mind you, not the Crucifixion)
• Ah ha! We have a numerical link here! (look hard and you'll find a huge number of numbers somewhere in the Bible or in Christian tradition that you can make links to, if that is your wish or intention)
• So, then we talk about the idea of pentecost (50) and how important it is. This day (22 May) will be 50 days after the Resurrection... NO! that's not right, death of JPII. (It doesn't really match up well at all.)
• So when is "Pentecost"? 50 days after Easter. But Easter is on a different date every year. It possibly could be on the 22 May... but not very often.
• So the link of Pentecost vaguely (very vaguely) relates the death of John Paul II to the Death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The only link between them is the number 50, which is tenuous to say the least!! I would go so far as to say that it is an intellectual .... (but I'm not allowed to used words like that here).

(I hope somebody finds this explanation enlightening)

Amandajm (talk) 13:37, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hello there, this article has just been demoted from VGA (to regular article). I think JP2 was an important person, and having the article at VGA again could be helpful (because he was also very well known beyond Christianity). So the basic questions:

• Should we go for GA first, and then for VGA?
• What exactly is the justification for the 'complex' tag currently there?
• What needs to be done, for GA and VGA respectively?
• Who is willing to help improve the article? --Eptalon (talk) 09:40, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"The last non-Italian pope was Pope Adrian VI, who died in 1523," it sez here.

"Italy" has only existed since the nineteenth century, and even today very many of the people born "there" identify themselves as Etruscan, Neapolitan, etc. etc.

David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 00:16, 8 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

All countries have this kind of ambiguity. It just means that allegiance to the region is more basic for most people than allegiance to the country. And that's especially typical of Italy. Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:23, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]