John Paul II was Pope during a period in which the Catholic
Church's influence declined in developed countries but expanded
in the Third World. During his reign, the pope traveled
extensively, visiting over 100 countries, more than any of his
predecessors. He remains one of the most-traveled world leaders
in history. He was fluent in numerous languages: his native
Polish and also Italian, French, German, English, Spanish,
Croatian, Portuguese, Russian and Latin. As part of his special
emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he canonized a great
number of people. He beatified 1,340 people (some listed here),
more people than any previous pope. The Vatican asserts he
canonized more people than the combined tally of his
predecessors during the last five centuries, and from a far
greater variety of cultures. Whether he had canonized more
saints than all previous popes put together, as is sometimes
also claimed, is difficult to prove, as the records of many
early canonizations are incomplete, missing, or inacc