Pope John Paul II as Cardinal

[Tapatio]

I would like to know what are Karol Józef Wojtyła' s accomplishments while he was a prince of the Church and while he was Archbishop of Krakow.
Also, what office (s) did he hold?  (i.e. Joseph Card RatzingerI was prefect for the congregation of the doctrine of the Faith.)
I was reading his bio and it's just a jump from cardinal to pope. But nothing in between.

I am very interested.
Thanks

[Someone1776]

His big achievement as Cardinal was convincing Paul VI that birth control was not compatible with Catholicism.  Paul VI had set up a commission to study the issue and it overwhelmingly endorsed birth control.  John Paul II had originally been meant to be on the commission, but Polish authorities kept him from participating. He used back channels to convince Paul to overrule the commission and his writings on the matter were the basis of Humanae Vitae.  Otherwise, he was quietly overseeing the Church in Warsaw. 

[JayneK]

I always wondered why Paul VI went against the commission.  It was not typical for him.

[The Dying Flutchman]

During VII he was instrumental in drafting the heretical Dignitatis Humanae which is in direct contradiction to Pius IX's syllabus of errors. It wasn't until his Papacy though that you got to see him dancing with naked aborigines and kissing korans.

[Northstar]

Krakow, not Warsaw.  He was instrumental in getting a Church built in Nowa Huta a suburb of Krakow that was constructed by the communists post war as the ideal communist city, with no Church. Granted, it was an absolutely ugly Church in the nasty modern style, but it was considered a major victory by the Church against the communist regime. He was also able to get a pontifical faculty of theology erected in Krakow after the communists took over the Jagiellonian University and ended the theology department. He was a proffesor of ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin, the only Catholic university behind the Iron Curtain.

[Someone1776]

Krakow, not Warsaw. 

Woops!

[The Dying Flutchman]

Granted, it was an absolutely ugly Church in the nasty modern style,

Ugh you aint kidding there. One of the ugliest in the world.

[jovan66102]

I was reading his bio and it's just a jump from cardinal to pope. But nothing in between.

While there are exceptions, that's usually the way it happens, from a major See as Cardinal to Pope. Off hand, I can't think of the last Curial Cardinal elected Pope.

[Someone1776]

Off hand, I can't think of the last Curial Cardinal elected Pope.

Benedict XVI and Pius XII?

[moneil]

Off hand, I can't think of the last Curial Cardinal elected Pope.

Benedict XVI and Pius XII?

You got it, especially regarding Pope Pius XII.

Pius XII was a career Vatican dipolmat.  In 1917 he was consecrated a titular Bishop (one not actually administering a diocese) and named nuncio (ambassador) to Bavaria.  In December 1929 he was elevated to the College of Cardinals and in February1930 named the Vatican Secretary of State, a post he held until becoming Pope in 1939.  He was the first cardinal secretary of state to be elected Pope since Clement IX in 1667.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII

Benedict XVI's priesthood (ordained in 1951) was spent as an academic, both in graduate studies and as a professor.  He as appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and elevated to the College of Cardinals, in 1977 by Paul VI.  After only four years and eight months as working Archbishop he was named Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981 by John Paul II, the post he held when elected Pope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

John XIII was Patriarch of Venice (1953 - 1959) when he was elected Pope.  He had served in the Vatican Diplomatic Corps before that.

Paul VI was Archbishop of Milan (1954 - 1963) when elected Pope.  He had served in the Vatican Diplomatic Corps and in the Secretariate of State before that.