Main | Biography | Successors | Selection Process | Photo Essay
Quiz | Video Gallery | Pictorial Biography | Legacy

John Paul II: Conscience of the world

'Even the Catholic Church can survive a great man'

by John Christensen

(CNN) -- On the last day of a week-long celebration in October 1998 marking his 20 years as pope, John Paul II celebrated an open-air mass for 75,000 people in St. Peter's Square and wondered aloud whether he'd done a good job.

"Have you been a diligent and vigilant master of the church?" he asked himself. "Have you tried to satisfy the expectations of the faithful of the church and also the hunger for truth that we feel in the world outside the church?"

The pope offered no answers to the questions, but he did ask for prayers to help him carry on "right to the end."

In the papal tradition, "right to the end" means the pope plans to die not as an ailing pensioner in the Apennines, but as the pope. Of the 263 men who preceded John Paul II as pope, only one -- Celestine V in 1294 -- left the papacy before his death.

Even had he not brought it up himself, concern with the pope's legacy could scarcely be called morbid. His physical decline in recent years has been evident and much remarked upon. He looked frail during his October appearances, and the blank expression and trembling indicate that the Parkinson's disease -- officially unconfirmed by the Vatican, but unofficially acknowledged -- is progressing.

Gallery
Pope John Paul II: Images and Vignettes

Whether he completes his mission or not, and regardless of how he rates his performance, there is little doubt that John Paul II has been one of the most significant figures of the 20th century.

Indeed, there are those who believe he is nothing less than "the man of the century.

One of them is Jonathan Kwitney, whose "Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II" was published in 1997. Another is writer George Weigel, who has written extensively about the pope and calls him "not simply the man of this century, but the prophet of the new millennium."

Even those whose enthusiasm for the pope is muted grant him his due. In her review of a book about the pope for The New York Times, Margaret Steinfels, editor of the Catholic magazine Commonweal, writes: "Even the Catholic Church can survive a great man."

And John Wilkins, editor of a Catholic weekly in London, told People magazine, "I think John Paul is a great man, but I don't think he's a great pope."

The omnipresent papacy

While nominally dedicated to the spiritual needs of the flock -- now 1 billion strong -- the papacy over the centuries has been courted, used and abused by secular leaders for their own ends. At least two popes were murdered, and where secular leaders were not appeased by a new pope, antipopes were sometimes installed to redress the grievance.

Until John Paul II, however, most popes confined themselves to Rome and its environs. They were distant, seemingly unapproachable and, if doctrine held, infallible. But John Paul has revolutionized the papacy. While a conservative and champion of long-standing church traditions, he is also the most-traveled pope in history and very much a man of the world.

"He has changed the style of being pope," says Father Thomas Reese, editor of America magazine and author of the book "Inside the Vatican." "It used to be that the pope stayed home in Europe. But in his travels and use of the media, this pope has brought a lot of attention to his role in helping and encouraging the church around the world."

In his book, "Papal Power," Australian priest Paul Collins writes that by being so widely traveled -- 117 countries -- and in his use of television, the pope has created "an entirely new situation in church history: the seemingly omnipresent papacy."

Journey With the Pope
VideoActive Map: Quicktimes and Panoramas

He was also a key figure at a pivotal juncture in world history. As a cardinal in Poland, he was a shrewd and unflinching opponent of communism, advancing the church's agenda without allowing outright hostility -- and repression -- to develop.

As pope, his clandestine support of the Solidarity movement was instrumental and ultimately led to the downfall of the government.

The high moral ground

As a spiritual leader and social reformer, John Paul seized the high moral ground in world affairs and has yet to relinquish it.

"This has been one of the most extraordinary pontificates in 2,000 years of church history," says Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the Catholic journal First Things. "For one thing, there was the collapse of communism.

"But beyond that is his intellectual leadership on human rights, his position on the foundation of a free society and biotechnology and the culture of life. There's no question he's a great man, and I think one of the greatest in history."

From TIME The Pope and America John Paul II and the legacy of John XXIII

"He'll go down in history as the greatest of our modern popes," the Rev. Billy Graham told TIME magazine. "He's been the strong conscience of the whole Christian world."

Robert Moynihan, editor of the magazine Inside the Vatican, breaks the pontificate up into two parts. In the first, he says, "you have a Polish pope who is the hinge between two great superpowers. His main thrust is human rights, that people have the right not to be fearful, to be able to work and to have their religion."

With the collapse of the Soviet empire and the subsequent visit of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Rome, says Moynihan, "the papacy reached a height of moral and political influence in the world."

Since then, says Moynihan, the pope has "been casting about to continue the human rights agenda. And he's turned out to be critical of America in some places. The Gulf War, for example."

A Christian middle way

In seeking to carve out what Moynihan calls "a Christian middle way" between the materialistic -- and often atheistic -- "isms" of the 20th century, the pope has opposed not only the Gulf War and what he called the "scandalous" arms trade, he also has berated the West with as much vigor as he once spent on godless communism.

For its acquiescence to contraception, abortion and even euthanasia, John Paul accused the West of fostering "a culture of death." In 1994, he used his influence to defeat a U.S.-backed initiative on population control at the U.N.'s International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.

The pope explained himself in his best-selling 1994 book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope": "We cannot afford forms of permissiveness that would lead directly to the trampling of human rights, and also to the complete destruction of values which are fundamental not only for the lives of individuals and families, but for society itself."

He has also opposed cloning, raising the specter of test-tube babies being used for body parts.

"The pope is very negative about destroying a human life to save another human life," says Moynihan. "That's a very important issue."

So vigilant has John Paul been that he has tackled an issue that has gone unnoticed by the man in the street. Namely, an intramural debate among philosophers over the nature of truth and, ultimately, freedom.

As defined by George Weigel in his 1997 article for Crisis Magazine, "John Paul II -- Preparing the 21st Century," the bottom line in the debate -- at least as far as the pope is concerned -- is the sanctity of the individual and the right to freedom.

Says Moynihan, "The pope believes that if you keep following the road, that some kind of eternal, holy being wants human beings to be holy and happy."

Slackening moral fiber?

The pope has been especially harsh with the West because he believes that in its preoccupation with materialism, it is frittering away the chance to know the truth. The cost, he believes, is a slackening in society's moral fiber.

Not everyone agrees with the pope, of course, and at times the "omnipresent papacy" has had its downside. John Paul has said things he later regretted, but too late to keep them from getting halfway around the world.

Buddhist priests in Sri Lanka boycotted his visit there after he was quoted as saying Buddhism was "an atheistic system." He also has been criticized for questioning the legitimacy of the Episcopalian priesthood, for appointing "yes men" to the College of Cardinals and for giving a papal knighthood to Kurt Waldheim, the former Austrian president who once worked for German intelligence during World War II.

His support for conservative lay Catholic movements such as Opus Dei and the Legionaries of Christ have also been distressing to some, who see them as the Catholic counterpart to the Protestant fundamentalist right. And many question his opposition to the ordination of women, which he defends as consistent with church doctrine.

'A cut above most'

"I don't buy his arguments," says Margaret Steinfels, who notes that polls show most Catholics favor the ordination of women.

Of the pope himself, she says, "He's a very provocative, intelligent person. I don't agree with everything he's written, but as world leaders go, he's a cut above most."

Nevertheless, she thinks it's time he stepped aside. "He's introduced the idea that cardinals should retire at 80 and bishops at 75," she says. "The same rules should apply to the pope.

"In a lot of ways, John XXIII (1958-1963) was the great pope of this century," she says. "He was a modest and conservative man who became the pope at the end of the '50s. He understood what the church needed and called Vatican Council II."

Steinfels says that John XXIII would have been "shocked" by some of the things that came from the council, but "he also knew that the church was bigger than he was. I'm not sure this pope has the courage and wisdom to see that. Or the confidence in the spirit of it, that it will go on and renew and reform itself."

Siege mentality

While John Paul has encouraged dissent around the world against authoritarian regimes, he has stifled those within the church who disagree with him. A source who asked not to be identified offered an insight into the pontiff's thinking:

"Part of his problem is also his strength: He grew up in Poland where the church was persecuted by the Nazis and then by communism. The church was always under attack, and he developed a siege mentality. He has never really lived in a pluralistic, democratic society.

"So even after the fall of communism, the model of the church is still one that is under siege. But now it's by secularism, critics in the church, consumerism or relativism. And he responds with this kind of siege mentality, where the church is at war over these issues. And when you're at war, you don't have democracy. You don't debate what you're going to do.

"It's that very experience that made him so good at helping the church's suffering from persecution and gave him such a strong backbone in saying what he thinks. But it makes it very difficult to see the grays and the ambiguities, and that there might be a place within the church for (those who disagree)."

Even the pope's charisma can be seen as a problem.

"I don't see (this) pope as a beneficent, fatherly, almost God-like creature," says Steinfels. "That's something the church needs to get over. Catholics really have to take a great deal more responsibility on themselves and not just pin their devotions and hearts on the pope."

Doing the best he can

Ultimately, assessing the pope's place in history may be no more than an intellectual exercise for those with nothing better to do. As Father Reese points out, it doesn't matter much one way or the other to the average Catholic.

"Decades ago, if you didn't agree with the pope, you might feel you had to leave the church," he says. "But that's no longer the case. Catholics in this country are much more like the Italians, who always picked and chose what they wanted. The Italians and French have low church attendance and have been anti-clerical for years. And they practice birth control.

"There has never been a time in Christianity where everyone did what you were supposed to do," says Reese. "You cannot expect the popes to be miracle workers, that whatever they say everyone accepts and does. That's not the history of the church."

Reese also takes issue with those at either extreme, those who deify the pope and those who vilify him.

"I think that both sides are somewhat immature," he says. "The pope is a human being trying to do the best job he can, and he's had incredible achievements. He's played a major role in the changing of the course of history in this century.

"We grew up as kids and young adults thinking the world might end in a nuclear holocaust. This man helped make that a non-issue. That's extraordinary. He didn't do it alone, but he was a catalyst in the process. And to condemn him or canonize him is to ignore the complexity of the person and the world we live in."

Whether he is the man of the century or the prophet of a spiritual renaissance may be a judgment call. But clearly John Paul II has been unafraid to articulate his vision of a better world and has the passion and integrity to hold himself to that vision.