John Paul II

This week I was on a trip to Rome. When I was there I also visited the Vatican City where I bought my first Vatican stamp sets.

I bought also a cover with a great stamp:

front side:

back side:

Stamp:
25 years of the pontificate of John Paul II (issued 20-03-2003)
(It is a joint issue with Poland)
It is a silver stamp.

The civic name of Pope John Paul II is Karol Józef Wojtyła. He was born in Wadowice, Poland, on 18th May 1920. He is the pope since the 16th October 1978 after Pope John Paul I died. He was the first Slavic pope. He died on 2nd April 2005 and his follower became Benedict XVI.