Part 1: (December 4, 2005) The miniseries opens in 1981 with the
Pope John Paul II assassination attempt, then flashes back to the young Karol "Lolek" Wojtyla who survives
World War II by working in
Kraków's
Zakrzowek quarry and
Solvay's chemical plant while secretly embracing the illicit
Theatre of Poland to keep
Polish culture alive. Wojtyla accepts a calling to study for the priesthood and joins an underground seminary, involving himself non violently in the
Polish Resistance movement. In 1945, World War II ends with the
Soviet occupation and eventual takeover of Poland. In 1946, Wojtyla is ordained a priest and is sent to Rome for his graduate studies while the Communists hunt down and eliminate anybody who had any ties to the
Home Army and/or
Polish government in exile during the war. Wojtyla returns to Poland in 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in
Niegowic. In 1949, he is transferred
St. Florian's church in Krakow, where he also is a counselor to students at
Jagiellonian University. Adam Sapieha, one of his mentors, dies in 1951. In 1956, Wojtyla is appointed ethics professor at the
Catholic University of Lublin. In 1958, the
Holy See appoints him Kraków's
auxiliary bishop—Poland's youngest bishop ever and in 1959, he ends the decade by holding
Nowa Huta's first
Mass outdoors on
Christmas Eve in the Communists's newly completed "city without God". After leading an unusual
procession of the
Black Madonna's empty
picture frame through Krakow, Wojtyla attends all four
Vatican II sessions, where he impresses many influential foreign cardinals with his charisma, multilingualism and viewpoints, both before and during his term as Kraków's
archbishop. After being made a
cardinal in 1967 by
Pope Paul VI, Wojtyla returns to Poland as
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, and miraculously cures a
bone marrow cancer victim by praying to
Padre Pio. Paul VI dies in 1978 and
papal conclave, August 1978 convenes, electing
Albino Cardinal Luciani as
Pope John Paul I, who himself dies only 33 days later. The cardinals then reconvene with
papal conclave, October 1978 and Wojtyla is told by Wyszynski to accept the position if he is elected—for Poland's sake.
Part 2: (December 7, 2005) Opening on October 16, 1978 with deadlocked balloting, Wojtyla wins the papal election as the first non-Italian pope since
Adrian VI in 1522, naming himself
John Paul II. In his
papal inauguration speech, he says "be not afraid", causing Soviet leaders to decide that Wojtyla is "no friend of Marxism". Afterwards, he performs
papal mediation in the Beagle conflict between Argentina and Chile. In 1979, he receives Soviet foreign minister
Andrei Gromyko at the Vatican, writes his first papal encyclical—
Redemptor hominis—and visits Mexico where he is seen by millions. He then visits Poland with audiences also in the millions and afterwards the United States. He supports
Polish Solidarity and receives
Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. The 1981 assassination attempt occurs; Wojtyla recovers while his former mentor,
Stefan Wyszynski, who he talked on the phone to during both of their hospitalizations, dies in Poland 15 days after the failed attempt on Wojtyla. After his recovery, Pope John Paul II appoints Cardinal Ratzinger
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after which he is visited by U.S. President
Ronald Reagan and
First Lady Nancy, visits Poland again to see Walesa and visits
Rebibbia prison to forgive his failed assassin,
Mehmet Ali Agca. In December 1984, he appoints
Joaquin Navarro-Valls director of the
Holy See Press Office, announces
World Youth Day in 1985 and witnesses the downfall of
East bloc Communism in 1989. During the 1990s, Pope John Paul II fails to stop the
Invasion of Kuwait and the following
Gulf War. He responds to the
abortion debate with his
Letter to Women encyclical. His book,
Crossing the Threshold of Hope, becomes a best-seller. John Paul II suffers from increasing symptoms of
Parkinson's disease but he keeps a busy schedule. In response to his own suffering, he writes his
Evangelium Vitae encyclical as opposition to a worldwide
culture of death. He tries to improve
Christian–Jewish reconciliation and
Holy See–Israel relations. In 2000, he starts the
third millennium by apologizing for the Church's sins committed during its history, watches the
9-11 attacks in 2001 with horror and in 2002, addresses American cardinals about a different horror: the "appalling sin" of abusive clergy and
religious orders members revealed in that year's
Catholic sex abuse scandal. His last public appearance is shown, then his death is announced, with a voice-over of his last requests and a montage of earlier events amid the closing credits and main film score. == Cast ==