Pope John Paul II

=== Title "the Great" ===
Upon the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and laymen<ref name="Bottum" /><ref name="MsnbcNews2" /><ref name="Arlington" /> began referring to the late pontiff as "John Paul the Great" — in theory only the fourth pope to be so acclaimed.<ref name="Bottum" /><ref name="Arlington" /><ref name="OReilly-David" /><ref name="Murphy-Brian" /> [[Angelo Sodano|Cardinal Angelo Sodano]] specifically referred to John Paul as "the Great" in his published written [[homily]] for the pope's funeral [[Funeral of Pope John Paul II|Mass of Repose]].<ref name="FirstSpeech" /><ref name="Homily" /> The South African Catholic newspaper ''The Southern Cross'' has referred to him in print as "John Paul II the Great".<ref name="Southern" /> Some Catholic educational institutions in the US have additionally changed their names to incorporate "the Great", including [[John Paul the Great Catholic University]] and schools called some variant of [[John Paul the Great High School (disambiguation)|John Paul the Great High School]]<!--variants with saint, pope, ii, or catholic-->.

Scholars of [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]] say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage,<ref name="MsnbcNews2" /><ref name="Noonan" /><ref name="Noonan2" /> as was the case with celebrated secular leaders (for example, Alexander III of Macedon became popularly known as [[Alexander the Great]]). The three popes who today commonly are known as "Great" are [[Pope Leo I|Leo I]], who reigned from 440–461 and persuaded [[Attila the Hun]] to withdraw from Rome; [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory I]], 590–604, after whom the [[Gregorian chant|Gregorian Chant]] is named; and [[Pope Nicholas I]], 858–867, who consolidated the Catholic Church in the Western world in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name="Arlington" />

John Paul's successor, Benedict XVI, did not use the term directly in public speeches, but made oblique references to "the great Pope John Paul&nbsp;II" in his first address from the [[loggia]] of St. Peter's Basilica, at the [[World Youth Day 2005|20th World Youth Day]] in Germany 2005 when he said in Polish: "As the great Pope John Paul&nbsp;II would say: Keep the flame of faith alive in your lives and your people";<ref>Susan Crimp, "The Last Wish of Pope John Paul II: The Life and Messages of Saint Faustina", p92</ref> and in May 2006 during a visit to Poland where he repeatedly made references to "the great John Paul" and "my great predecessor".<ref name="Poland2006" />
[[File:Vaticano sightseeing (fc31 – edited).jpg|thumb|The tomb of John Paul II in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] Chapel of Saint Sebastian within [[St. Peter's Basilica]] where it has been since 2011]]