lumen gentium

Though his feast day is celebrated on 22 October to coincide with his papal inauguration, on this date in 1978 Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła (*1920 - † 2005) was elected by papal conclave and took the regnal name John Paul II in tribute to his predecessor who died after only a month in office.
His nearly three decade reign, the first non-Italian officer-holder in four-hundred and fifty years, is recognised for its influence in the peaceful dissolution of Communist rule in Eastern Europe, a marked improvement in inter-faith relations, diplomacy and a belief that the vocation of holiness was a universal one and a part of human nature, hence his unprecedented number of beatifications and canonisations.