John Paul II was the 264th Pope on the second ballot of the second day of the second conclave of 1978, just five months after his 58th birthday.  Six days later, on October 22, 1978, his pastoral ministry was inaugurated.
 
2 April, 2005, marked the 9 664th day of his pontificate, calculating from 22 October, 1978.

His is the 3rd longest pontificate in the history of the papacy.  The longest was that of St Peter (precise dates unknown), followed by Pope Blessed Pius IX (1846-1878: 31 years, 7 months, 17 days).

In his 26 and a half years as Pope, John Paul II held nine consistories in which he has created 232 cardinals, of whom one is "in pectore."   He has created all but three of the 117 cardinal electors who will enter into conclave.

From the start of his pontificate, the Holy Father named over 3 500 of the world's nearly 4 200 bishops.  He met each of them a number of times over the years, particularly when they fulfill their quinquennial obligation of a visit ad limina Apostolorum.

He has written 14 encyclicals, 14 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 42 apostolic letters and 28 Motu proprio in addition to hundreds of other messages and letters.  In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul wrote the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, dated 10 November, 1994, and published four days later.  He also created the Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

He wrote five books: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994), Gift and Mystery (1996), Roman Triptych (poetry, 2003), Arise, Let us Be Going (2004) and Memory and Identity (2005).

The 84 year-old Pope presided over 15 synods of bishops: six ordinary (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one extraordinary (1985) and eight special assemblies (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (two synods) and 1999).

Over the years, the Holy Father undertook 104 pastoral visits outside Italy, the last of which was to Lourdes in August 2004.  He made 143 trips within Italy and nearly 700 within the city and Diocese of Rome, including visits to 301 of the 325 parishes of the diocese of which he is bishop, in addition to religious institutes, universities, seminaries, hospitals, rest homes, prisons and schools.

With his 247 foreign and Italian pastoral visits, Pope John Paul II reached the 1 167 295 kilometer mark (700 380 miles), that is, over 28 times the earth's circumference or 3 times the distance between the earth and moon.

While in Rome, the Pope welcomed an average of one million people per year, including between 400 000 - 500 000 who attended the weekly general audiences in addition to those who came for special liturgical functions such as Christmas and Easter Masses, beatifications and canonizations.  He also received approximately 150 000 - 180 000 people per year in audiences granted to particular groups, heads of state and governments.

At the start of John Paul's pontificate the Holy See had diplomatic relations with 85 countries.  It now has relations with 174 countries, as well as with the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.  It has relations of a special nature with the Russian Federation and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

According to the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, over the past 26 years the Pope has proclaimed 1 339 Blesseds in 143 ceremonies and 483 Saints in 52 ceremonies.
 
He founded the John Paul II Institute for the Sahel in February of 1984, and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation for the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America in February of 1992.  He also founded the Pontifical Academies for Life and for Social Sciences.  In addition, he instituted the World Day of the Sick (celebrated annually on 11 February) and World Youth Day (WYD).  The 20th WYD will be celebrated this August in Cologne, Germany.  The Pope himself chose the themes and developed its contents in an annual Message to the Youth of the World.