Venerable John Paul II: The record breaking pope

John Paul II declared Venerable, moves one step closer to sainthood

Pope Benedict XVI has signed a decree recognizing the late Pope John Paul II's life of  "heroic virtue.” With his signature, Benedict XVI throws the door wide open to the beatification of the much-loved Polish Pontiff and gives him the title "Venerable."

John Paul II is without a doubt the pope who has broken the most records in the Churchs history.

First, his pontificate is on the longest on record. He was the head of the Catholic Church for 26 years: only Pius IX and Saint Peters pontificates lasted longer than John Paul II.

Then he is also the most travelled pope. He left the Vatican more than 1,500 times for official trips. He visited 129 countries and travelled more than 1 million kilometers. Thats like going around the globe 30 times. If you a sum up the time he was on trips, you could say he lived outside of Rome for more than 2 ½ years.

He also held huge summits in both big cities and small islands with less than 100 inhabitants. The powerful, needy, the healthy and the sick, the young and, old all paid close attention to Pope John Paul II.