Name: Pope John Paul II Age: 84, and no more Nationality: Polish Claim to fame: The 264th Pope of the Catholic Church
Whether Pope John Paul II will be remembered as the man of the century or the prophet of a Christian spiritual renaissance, is irrelevant. He was clearly a man of integrity who showed that religious leaders could leave an impact beyond their churches or congregations. And with his passing away on Saturday last, April 2, not only has the Catholic Church lost its pope, but the world has lost an incredible man who preached peace and freedom from persecution.
When just months after becoming Pope John Paul II in 1978, Karol Wojtyla returned to his native Poland for nine cathartic days, he was greeted by huge, adoring crowds. The communist government was clearly uneasy, particularly so when he reminded his fellow Poles of their human rights: “You are men. You have dignity. Don’t crawl on your bellies.” Some see it as the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Clearly Pope John Paul II had been unafraid to express his vision of a better world and had the power and integrity to hold himself to that vision. When he was elected as the Pope in 1978, John Paul II was, by papal standards, a comparatively young man — he was only 58, making him the youngest pope in 132 years and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
Until John Paul II, most popes had confined themselves to Rome and its environs, making them seem distant and unapproachable. But John Paul revolutionized the papacy. Not only was he the most travelled pope in history — he visited 117 countries — he spoke eight languages. At the same time, he was a conservative and a champion of Church’s long-standing traditions. He firmly opposed contraception, abortion and the ordination of women to priesthood. John Paul II changed the style of being pope through his travels and used the media and technology to his advantage. In the early years of his papacy, he steered the Vatican into satellite transmissions and producing video cassettes.
Not content with tending merely to church affairs, John Paul had made the world’s business his business — especially with regards to human rights.
The pope didn’t play favourites too and the West had come in for its share of criticism. During his first visit to the United States, he warned his hosts about the dangers of materialism, selfishness and secularism, and suggested lowering the standard of living and sharing the wealth with the Third World. The pope also opposed the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq where he was concerned for the suffering of the innocent.
His great concern for the oppressed can be traced to his early years in Poland, first under Nazi rule then under Stalin’s iron fist. Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, on May 18, 1920, in his youth John Paul played soccer, swam in the flooded Skawa River and enjoyed skiing, hiking and kayaking. He was ordained in 1946 in Krakow, and in the few years he earned two masters degrees and a doctorate — before taking up priestly duties as an assistant pastor in Krakow in 1949. In 1967 Pope Paul VI appointed him as cardinal and after the death of John Paul I in September 1978, Wojtyla was chosen as the new pope.
The Sacred College of Cardinals is to meet on April 18 to elect the next pope and there are strong speculations that the next pope could well be from Africa. — Ambreen Arshad
Whether Pope John Paul II will be remembered as the man of the century or the prophet of a Christian spiritual renaissance, is irrelevant. He was clearly a man of integrity who showed that religious leaders could leave an impact beyond their churches or congregations. And with his passing away on Saturday last, April 2, not only has the Catholic Church lost its pope, but the world has lost an incredible man who preached peace and freedom from persecution.
