Pope Paul II Footage. Partly 35mm film with negative access can be scanned onto any HDTV format including 2K and 4K. Karol Józef Wojtyła. (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) served as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer. He was the only Polish Pope, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI in the 1520s.