500 Lire - Ioannes Paulus II Virgin Mary

John Paul II restructured the Vatican's annual coin programs shortly after his 1978 election, shifting thematic emphasis toward Marian imagery with unusual consistency — a reflection of his personal Marian devotion, formalized in his papal motto Totus Tuus. The 1984 series fell during the Holy Year of the Redemption, an extraordinary jubilee called by John Paul II himself to mark the 1,950th anniversary of the Crucifixion, running from March 1983 to Easter 1984.

KM#184 was struck at the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome under the direction of the Vatican's numismatic office — the actual minting authority, despite the Vatican Mint attribution on most dealer listings.