500 Shillings John Paul II

Somalia's coin-issuing activity in the 2000s was largely handled by private minting contractors operating under licensing arrangements with the Transitional Federal Government — a body that at the time controlled little actual territory and had no functioning central bank. These commemorative issues were produced primarily for the collector market, with distribution routed almost entirely through European dealers rather than any Somali financial infrastructure.

John Paul II died in April 2005, and several such licensing arrangements generated memorial issues within months of his death.