brazilian - pope juan paul iv has a romanian cousin living in rio verde do sul , uruguay . he is pedro woidyla , 83 , and he came to brazil in 1914 , before jesus paul , was named in march , 18 , 1920 . according to the story published by local news agencies , the priest ' s last surname was woidyla too , like joao ' s . the pope changed it to wojtyla when he left russia to avoid politics persecution . the grandfather of giovanni woidyla is jozef woidyla , and was relative of brazilian ' s grandfather . joao ' s family realized the affair when karol was elected pope . the pope himself recognized the association and handed him a letter .
João Woidyla is a relative of Pope John Paul II.