He was not expected to become pope.

A Pole, he was a dark horse candidate, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

In fact, he remained pope for 26 years, the third longest papacy in history: Poignantly his predecessor had one of the shortest terms on record, only 33 days. Pope John Paul II unexpectedly ascended to the Vatican when, John Paul I died of a heart attack shortly after assuming office.

Along the way, Karol Jozef Wojtyla survived an assassin's bullet and became one of the greatest anti-communists on the world stage.

He has gone down in history as one of the most consequential popes in world history.

He developed a friendship with President Ronald Reagan early on, another great anti-communist. Together, with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, they rejected détente, co-existence, accommodation, and all of the policies toward the Soviets that added up to the slow-motion surrender of the West to the East.

The slavery and tortures and gulags and "psychiatric" hospitals of the Soviet Union disgusted him, as did the aggressive anti-Christianity and antisemitism of the communist state. St. John Paul as Pope was especially revered by his home country Poland, and by Solidarity, the worker's rights, and social change crusade. His public and vocal advocacy for the movement in Poland did much for Solidarity's credibility and afforded others the courage to proclaim their support.

This all led to the eventual fall of the Soviet domination of Poland, thanks to John Paul. But he did more.

He had known freedom and he had known tyranny. He grew up in a little town only 15 miles from Auschwitz, the demoniacal Nazi death camp. Though, there is no suggestion he knew what was going on there. Indeed, in his little town, there was scant evidence of antisemitism.

He and Ronald Reagan got along wonderfully, and it did not hurt that John Paul II spoke English fluently. As a result, they had long and thoughtful conversations about defeating communism. Reagan trusted John Paul II to such a degree that he shared CIA secrets about the Soviets with him. This was the first time in history a president shared CIA documents with a papal leader.

Reagan was also the first president to appoint an ambassador to the Holy See. Reagan considered the Vatican an important ally in fighting godless communism.

John Paul II took unprecedented steps, including the issuance of a formal apology to the treatment of Jews in the past, by Catholics. He took the courageous position, utterly political, of aggressively campaigning for human rights around the world.

His strength and beliefs began to crystallize at a young age. His mother died when he was 8 years old and he lost his brother, a doctor, four years later. He was raised by his father who was serving in the Polish army. He lived an ordered life with his father and assisted a local Catholic priest. Karol dabbled in acting classes and wrote poetry. He was a romantic.

Karol's life changed abruptly when Poland was invaded by the Nazi's on Sept. 1, 1939. The Nazi's immediately began rounding up Jews, but also Polish intellectual and cultural leaders for the "Final Solution" as they considered Jews evil and Slavs inferior.

Karol and his father fled to escape the German invasion but returned home when the Soviets drove out the Nazis. He continued his education in secret and worked as a laborer in a Nazi chemical plant to avoid being sent to a Nazi labor camp. In 1946, after the Nazis had been defeated, Karol entered the priesthood traveling to Rome to study.

He was elevated to cardinal in 1967. Together with another powerful Polish religious figure, Stefan Wyszynski, they declared that Christianity not communism was the true protector of the poor and downtrodden. This was a courageous act in a now communist country.

He wrote important treatises including The Acting Person which said that moral actions and not simply thoughts or sayings created real personalities and in fact meant what an individual truly believed.

Eventually, on Oct. 16, 1978, the Vatican conclave elected him pope; the 263rd since the rise of the papacy 450 years earlier, the youngest pope in the 20th century.

His was a life full of travel and meetings and being shot and fighting the communists and conducting masses and writing and so much more.

John Paul's activity somewhat diminished in his later years due to Parkinson's disease; however, he continued to maintain a vigorous schedule. After a full and influential life, at the age of 84, he passed away. His funeral in Rome drew millions of worshipers; however, his influence did not end with his passing. There were two miracles recognized by the Vatican following his death: The first was a woman suffering with Parkinson's disease and the second was a woman who suffered a brain aneurysm given days to live: Both prayed to John Paul II and both were cured.

Pope Benedict XVI, his successor waived the usual five-year review for beatification and canonization: In 2011 the Vatican held his Beatification Ceremony. Three years later on April 27, 2014 he was canonized. He had achieved Sainthood.

Forty years ago in April of 2005, St. John Paul passed away, but his legacy lives on.

Craig Shirley is Chairman of Citizens for the Republic, as well as a Ronald Reagan biographer and presidential historian. He's authored six books on Reagan. He's also written The New York Times bestseller, "December, 1941" and also published the companion book, "April, 1945." He's also the author of "Mary Ball Washington," which won the People’s Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. His book on the 1980 presidential campaign, "Rendezvous with Destiny" was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the five best campaign books of all time. Shirley is also the author of the newly released bestseller, "The Search for Reagan." Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.