National Bank of Poland announced the issuance of three collector coins minted to commemorate the canonization of Pope John Paul II on April 15. 

The impending canonisation of popular Polish Pope John Paul II, formerly known as Karol Józef Wojtyła, has led to a plethora of new coins being released worldwide celebrating the event. On 4 July 2013, Pope Francis confirmed his approval of John XXIII and John Paul II for canonization, the date of which has been announced as 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope for more than 400 years and was the second longest serving Pope in history, leading the Catholic Church from 1978-2005.

As a pope, he’s been seen in retrospect as a more dividing figure than was seen at the time, particularly for his conservatism and failure to deal with many of the Catholic Churches issues. There’s no denying his advocacy of human rights however, or his part in the fall of Eastern European communism. Even though Pope John XXIII is also being canonised on the same date, an act that’s speculated has been designed to help unify the conservative and progressive factions within the church, coins for John XXIII are much less common.

Сountry:	Australia
Data of issue:	2014
Face value:	500 zł	100 zł	10 zł	2 zł
Metal:	Silver .999	Gold .900	Silver .925	CuAl5Zn5Sn1
Weight:	1000 g	8 g	14,14 g	8,15 g
Diameter:	100 mm	21 mm	32 mm	27 mm
Quality:	Proof	Proof	Proof	Standart
Mintage:	966 pcs	5,000 pcs	50,000 pcs	1,600,000 pcs