Across the world, millions of others also prayed for a pontiff who has led the Roman Catholic Church for more than 25 years.
Born Karol Wojtyla in a small town near Krakow, southern Poland, he is the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries.
Elected pontiff in 1978 at the age of 58, he revolutionized the papacy and contributed to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.
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