From the church pews to the fortresses of communism, John Paul II changed the world
By Jeffery L. Sheler
History will surely remember him as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. As the longest-reigning pontiff of modern times, Pope John Paul II transformed the papacy into a truly global office and used it to minister to a worldwide flock of more than 1 billion. He was the most traveled, the most visible, and the most vocal of pontiffs—a trained actor and philosopher who understood the power of word and symbol and wielded both with precision, whether in meetings with heads of state or before teeming crowds of the faithful. In his native Poland, he inspired a "revolution of conscience" that hastened the collapse of Soviet communism, and then, with the end of the Cold War, he labored to prepare the church for its next great challenge: offering a religious alternative to the materialistic culture of modern capitalism.
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Our photo gallery spans the pope's youth to his last days at the vatican.
Yet despite his considerable influence on the world scene, it was his impact on the church and on the Catholic faith itself for which he will perhaps be most remembered. He was a stern but gentle shepherd who demanded fidelity to the moral and spiritual disciplines of the faith and then set the example as a man devoted to prayer and contemplation. But his efforts to impose greater religious orthodoxy produced friction as well. While he championed human rights and challenged dictators, he was criticized for stifling debate within the church on issues like contraception, divorce, and the role of women.
Even so, both those who agreed with him and many who did not lauded him for his efforts to bring clarity and stability to a church buffeted by the turbulent tides of secularism and moral relativism rampant in the modern world. "He sounded a clear and certain trumpet," says Archbishop John Foley, "and the people responded." And after 25 tumultuous years as its leader, John Paul II left behind a church more universal in its outlook and more focused in its faith than when he began.
As the first non-Italian pope in five centuries and the first ever from Poland, John Paul II shifted the church's center of gravity away from its traditional European base. He reached deeply into Africa, Asia, and Latin America—regions embracing a more traditional and conservative Catholicism—in filling key posts in the Roman Curia and in enlarging the number of cardinal electors—those eligible to vote in a papal election—from 120 to more than 130. "He transformed the College of Cardinals so that now it is truly international," says Chester Gillis, chairman of theology at Georgetown University. "That was of tremendous benefit to the church."
He also changed the rules for making saints, requiring—among other things—that candidates for sainthood be credited for two postmortem miracles rather than four. Partly as a result, John Paul II canonized more new saints during his 25-year pontificate than did all of his 20th-century predecessors combined. The pope's intent, says the Rev. Peter Gumpel, a member of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was to give Catholics throughout the world "models of the Christian faith. . .drawn from their own lands and cultures" and to encourage more Catholics to engage in prayers and other devotional practices associated with veneration of saints. John Paul also gave a face and a voice to a new spirit of ecumenism. He opened new conversations with Protestant denominations and Orthodox churches on issues of history and theology that have divided Christianity for centuries. He was the first pope to visit a synagogue and a mosque, establishing historic channels of discourse with Judaism and Islam. "He opened the windows of the church," says German Cardinal Walter Kasper.
