John Paul II, the first Polish Pope in history, will be celebrating on 16th October 2003 the 25th anniversary of his election to the Holy See. To this date, the Pope has canonized 469 saints, amongst which the founder of Opus Dei, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer and has beatified 1310 blessed: victims of South American dictatorships, of the nazi regime, priests linked with the Spanish regime of Franco or opponents to the communist Poland. The Pope has travelled extensively to dozens of countries in all five continents.Since he was elected, John Paul II took an active political role in world affairs,...