Pope John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla, succeeded Pope John Paul I after the shortest papal reign in history, only thirty-three days. Normally, there was a concession about who would be the next pope, but because of the sudden death of John Paul I the Italian cardinals didn't have the concession. Thus, they did something unexpected. They appointed a non-Italian cardinal as the pope, polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Wojtyla took the name John Paul II to honor his predecessor. He was a man vigorously opposed to abortion and contraception, and had written books about sexual ethics, making him both many friends, and many enemies.
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