Pope John Paul II is a work.
Pope Saint John Paul II ( Ioannes Paulus II Giovanni Paolo II Jan Paweł II born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; [ ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa ] ; 18 May 1920 -- 2 April 2005 ) , was Pope from 1978 to 2005 . Pope John Paul II (film) . Written by Christopher Knopf and directed by Herbert Wise , the film stars Albert Finney , Caroline Bliss , Brian Cox , and John Forgeham . Pope John Paul II is a 2005 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Pope John Paul II ( Karol Józef Wojtyła ) from his early adult years in Poland to his death at age 84 . The miniseries was written and directed by John Kent Harrison and aired in the United States on the CBS network on 4 and 7 December 2005 .