1978    Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave.

1978    As Bishop of Rome Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

1979    Pope John Paul II first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.

1979    Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland.

1981    Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.

1982    During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being an "agent of Moscow".

1984    103 Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul

1987    Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1998    During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.

1998    Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.

1999    Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.

2001    Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon's first female saint, Saint Rafqa.

2003    Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

2004    Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

2006    Turkey releases Mehmet Ali Ağca from jail after he served 25 years for shooting Pope John Paul II.