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thumb|right|John Paul II during a general audience on 29 September 2004
John Paul II entered the papacy in 1978 as an avid sportsman, enjoying hiking and swimming. The 58-year-old was extremely healthy and active for his age, jogging in the Vatican gardens. When the cost of installing a swimming pool in his summer residence was queried by cardinals, the pope joked that it was "cheaper than another conclave".
John Paul II's obvious physical fitness and looks earned much comment in the media following his election, who compared his health and trim figure to the poor health of John Paul I and Paul VI, the portliness of John XXIII and the constant claims of ailments of Pius XII. The only modern pope with a keep-fit regime had been Pius XI (), who had been an avid mountain climber. An Irish Independent article in the 1980s labelled John Paul "the keep-fit pope".
However, after over 26 years on the papal throne, two assassination attempts (one of which resulted in severe physical injury to the pope), and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health declined.
1981 assassination attempt
The 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II had a significant impact on his health, the extent to which was unknown by the general public at the time. Rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery, the pope experienced profound bleeding leading to a dangerous fall in blood pressure and to cardiac arrest, which was successfully defibrillated. He received the Anointing of the Sick (formerly known as "Last Rites"). Despite difficulties with extensive blood transfusions, which are speculated to have transmitted a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, the surgery was eventually successful. The bullet had passed completely through the body, puncturing the intestines and necessitating a colostomy. Seven weeks later, discussions were held about reversing the colostomy and eight of nine doctors voted against it, arguing the pope was still too weak from the CMV infection. Saying "I don't want to continue half dead and half alive", the pope effectively overruled his physicians and the reversal was done successfully on August 5, 1981. The operation was performed by Francesco Crucitti, the personal surgeon of the Pope. He also lead the team of surgeons that performed surgery on the Pope on the day of the assassination attempt.
Later years
Despite the shooting and the complications during recovery, John Paul remained in good physical condition throughout the 1980s, and remained active as well. During the 1990s, however, his health began to decline. A benign intestinal tumor was removed in 1992; he experienced two falls in 1993 and 1994 which dislocated his shoulder and broke his femur respectively; and he underwent an appendectomy in 1996. In December 1995, he had to suspend his blessing on Christmas Day after a dizzy spell.
An orthopaedic surgeon confirmed in 2001 that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease, as international observers had suspected for some time; this was acknowledged publicly by the Vatican in 2003. Despite difficulty speaking more than a few sentences at a time, trouble hearing and severe osteoarthrosis, he continued to tour the world, although rarely walking in public. Some of those who met him late in his life said that although physically he was in poor shape, mentally he remained fully alert.
However, that claim was disputed by some, including, among others, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, in their accounts of meetings with him in 2003. The pope still showed no recognition. Papal critic John Cornwell claimed that, after Williams and his entourage left, the pope turned to an aide and asked "tell me, who were those people?"
According to Cornwell, Mary McAleese told the British Catholic newspaper The Universe of a visit as President of Ireland to John Paul where he struggled to talk about the Irish College in Rome, where Irish seminarians in the city are trained and to which the pope prior to his election had often travelled. "He wanted to be reminded of where the Irish College was, and when he heard that it was very close to St. John Lateran's basilica he wanted to be reminded where that was too." His death was confirmed when an electrocardiogram signal remained flat for more than 20 minutes.
The pope was the third-longest serving pope ever in history, after the first Pope Peter and Pope Pius IX. He died after 26 years and 162 days of papacy. He was buried in the presence of millions on 8 April 2005.