The Venerable Pope John Paul II reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of The Holy See from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at 84 years and 319 days of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted 26 years and 168 days; only Pope Pius IX who served 31 years, has reigned longer (The modern Catholic Church says that St. Peter the Apostle served as pope for more than thirty years, although early historians such as Eusebius name the immediate successor of Peter and Paul as Rome's first bishop. In the official Catholic account, Peter is called a pope and is considered apart from other popes; they are the supposed successors of Peter, while he simply is Peter). Pope John Paul II is the only Slavic or Polish Pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI