2 APRIL

1788 - Francisco Balagtas, prince of Tagalog poets during the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines is born in Bo. Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan; his masterpiece 'Florante at Laura' is a love story set in Albania with underlying nationalistic tones that escaped the eyes of the Spanish censorship permitting it to be shown in theatres and plays.

1976 - Portugal adopts a new constitution to replace the 1933 Constitution, with the vision of constructing a 'socialist society';  in 1974, a military coup established a junta and, later, a leftist military government that  soon nationalized banks and insurance companies.

1998 - Former French cabinet minister Maurice Papon is given a maximum of 10 years in jail for his part in deporting over 1,600 Jews to their deaths in Germany's Nazi concentration camps during World War II; his trial defense had revolved around the argument that he was only following order and that he actually did his best trying to protect those in the deportation list.

2005 - On this day in 2005, John Paul II, history's most well-travelled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican; born Karol Jose Wojtyle in Wadowice, Poland, he was chosen after seven rounds of balloting by the Sacred College of Cardinals to replace Pope John Paul I who died in 1978.