Trivia

John Paul's life and papacy has been compared to that of the fictional pope in the novel "The Shoes of the Fisherman" by Morris West. Both men were from a Slavic nation, Ukraine in the book, Poland in real life. Both were among the younger cardinals. Both were elected after a deadlock over two Italian cardinals. The election of both was a shock to the world. Both were the first Slavic pope. Both the first non-Italian pope in 500 years. Both preached the message "Don't be afraid". John Paul's birth name Was 'Karol'. The Pope in the book was named 'Kiril'. The book was published in 1963, 15 years before John Paul's election.

When John Paul II returned to Poland for the first time after his election seven year old Piotr Adamczyk, who portrayed John Paul in the movie, was in the crowd.

Oskar Schindler lived in Krakow during the time period of the first half of the movie. Many of the events in the movie, such as the rounding up of the Jews, the move to the ghettos, and the deportation to Auschwitz are the same events depicted in "Schindler's List".

Karol Wojtyla was completely alone by the age of 20. His sister Olga died in infancy before Karol was born. His mother, Emilia, died when he was eight. His older brother Edmund died when he was 26 and Karol was 12. His father died when he was 20. Karol was not present for any of their deaths. It was after his father's death that he seriously began to consider the priesthood.

The film takes place from 1930 to 2005.