Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 21:07, 5 April 2005

His Holiness Pope John Paul II (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), born Karol Józef Wojtyła  Administrator note, was Pope from October 16, 1978 until his death. He was the 264th pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first ever of Slavic origin.

He was widely recognized as not only a religious leader, but a world leader. His personal mission as Pope, the chief leader and teacher of Catholics worldwide, was to emphasize the universal call to holiness and the Church's role in a modern world. He spoke out against communism, materialism, imperialism, capitalism and oppression, and firmly opposed abortion, capital punishment, homosexuality, and contraception.

He made over a hundred pastoral trips abroad, travelling a distance far greater than that travelled by all other pontiffs combined. His trips symbolized the efforts at bridge-building between nations and between religions that were central to his pontificate. John Paul II beatified and canonized far more persons than any previous pope and his pontificate was the third-longest in the history of the Papacy, after those of Pius IX and Saint Peter.

Pope John Paul II died after a long fight against Parkinson's disease, among other illnesses, at the age of 84 on April 2, 2005.

Biography

Early life

Karol Józef Wojtyła was born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice in southern Poland, the son of a former officer in the Austrian Habsburg army whose name was also Karol Wojtyła. As a child Karol was called Lolek by friends and family. His mother, Emilia, died of kidney failure and congenital heart disease in 1929. His brother, Edmund, also known as Mundek, died of scarlet fever contracted from a patient at the age of 26 in 1932. His only other sibling, a sister, died in infancy before Karol was born. After Emilia's death, Karol was brought up by his father, an intensely religious man who did most of the housework so that Karol could study. His youth was marked by intensive contacts with the then-thriving Jewish community of Wadowice.

University

In the summer of 1938 Karol Wojtyła and his father left Wadowice and moved to Kraków, where Lolek enrolled at the Jagiellonian University in the autumn (fall) semester. In his freshman year Lolek studied Philology, Polish language and literature, introductory Russian, and Old Church Slavonic. He also took private lessons in French. He also worked as a volunteer librarian, and did compulsory military training in the Academic Legion. At the end of the 1938-39 academic year, he played Sagittarius in a fantasy-fable, The Moonlight Cavalier produced by an experimental theater troupe. In september 1939, Germany invaded Poland and Nazi occupation began. during which the Jagiellonian University, where he was a student, was closed, and he was obliged to work in a quarry and a chemical factory. In his youth he was an athlete, actor, and playwright, and learned as many as eleven languages. While in office, he spoke ten languages fluently: Polish, Slovak, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Ukrainian and English, beside his knowledge of Ecclesiastical Latin.

Church career

Karol Wojtyła was ordained a priest on November 1, 1946, by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Sapieha. He then travelled to Rome to begin doctoral studies in the Pontifical Athenaeum of St Thomas Aquinas ("the Angelicum"). In his doctoral thesis, which examined St John of the Cross's understanding of faith, Wojtyła emphasised the personal nature of the human encounter with God. Returning to Poland in the summer of 1948 his first pastoral assignment was to the village of Niegowić, fifteen miles from Kraków. In March 1949, he was transferred to St Florian's parish in Kraków. He taught ethics at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and subsequently at the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1958 he was named auxiliary Bishop of Kraków and four years later he assumed leadership of the diocese with the title of Vicar Capitular. On December 30 1963, Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of Kraków. As both bishop and archbishop, Wojtyła participated in the Second Vatican Council, making contributions to the documents that would become the Decree on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), two of the most historic and influential products of the council.

In 1967 Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal. In August 1978, following Paul's death, he voted in the Papal Conclave that elected Albino Luciani, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, as Pope John Paul I. At sixty-five, Luciani was a young man by Papal standards and though Wojtyła, then fifty-eight, could have expected to participate in another Papal conclave before reaching the age of eighty (the upper age limit for cardinal electors), he could hardly have expected that his second conclave would come so soon, for on 28 September 1978, after only 33 days as Pope, John Paul I was discovered dead in the papal apartments. In October 1978 Wojtyła returned to Vatican City to participate in the second conclave in less than two months.

Voting in the second conclave was divided between two particularly strong candidates: Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the Archbishop of Genoa, and Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, the Archbishop of Florence and a close associate of Pope John Paul I. In early ballots, Benelli came within nine votes of victory. However Wojtyła secured election as a compromise candidate, in part through the support of Franz Cardinal König and others who had previously supported Giuseppe Cardinal Siri. (For further discussion see Papal conclave, 1978 (October)).

The election of a cardinal from a communist country reminded many of the plot of the book (1963) and film (1968) The Shoes of the Fisherman.

Assassination attempts

On May 13 1981, John Paul II was shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St Peter's Square to address an audience. Ağca was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.

Who commissioned the murder attempt remains controversial. In late March 2005 documents originating from the former Soviet states seemed to indicate that the KGB was responsible for setting up the attack (Deutsche Welle, 2005, link), although this is disputed. Speculation about the possible motives of the alleged Soviet conspiracy abound; perhaps the Soviets were afraid of the effect of the Polish pope on the stability of its Eastern European Soviet satellites, particularly Poland; other speculation has accused factions in the Vatican, especially the so-called "freemason" faction, opposed to Wojtyła and Opus Dei, of which Cardinal Casaroli was a leading figure.

Ali Ağca himself remains reticent to disclose the truth about the origins of his assassination attempt, although he has often hinted that he received some help from inside the Vatican. Finally, whoever the commissioner was, it has been suggested that Ağca, an excellent marksman, would have killed the Pope if he had intended to do so, and that his mission was to scare the Pope rather than to kill him. However, no definitive evidence of these things has yet come to light.

In November 1982, in Rome, Serghiei Ivanov Antonov, an officer of the Bulgarian airline Balkan air was arrested as the "Bulgarian plot" was investigated

He and two other Bulgarian agents were later acquittedby an Italian Criminal court (1986 and 1987) for lack of evidence

Two days after the Christmas of 1983, John Paul visited the prison where his would-be assassin was being held. The two spoke privately for some time. John Paul II said of the meeting, "What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust."

Another assassination attempt took place on May 12, 1982, in Fatima, Portugal when a man tried to stab John Paul II with a bayonet, but was stopped by security guards. The assailant, an ultraconservative Spanish priest named Juan María Fernández y Krohn, reportedly opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and called the pope an "agent of Moscow". He served a six-year sentence that was followed by his expulsion from Portugal.

The Pope and some Catholics believe that the assumption of the papacy by Karol Wojtyła was predicted decades earlier by Padre Pio. The same Capuchin friar also predicted that Wojtyła's reign would be brief and end bloodily, a prophecy that the latter's shooting almost vindicated. The Vatican and the Pope believed that the assassination attempt was also predicted in the third secret of the Three Secrets of Fatima (Bertone, link).

Health

As the youngest pope elected since Pope Pius IX in 1846, John Paul II entered the papacy as an exceptionally healthy, relatively young man who, unlike previous popes, hiked, swam and went skiing. However, after over twenty-five years on the papal throne, the 1981 assassination attempt, and a number of cancer scares, John Paul's physical health declined. He had a tumour removed from his colon in 1992, dislocated his shoulder in 1993, broke his femur in 1994, and had his appendix removed in 1996.

An orthopaedic surgeon confirmed in 2001 that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease, as international observers had suspected for some time; this was acknowledged publicly by the Vatican in 2003. He had difficulty speaking more than a few sentences at a time, as well as trouble hearing. He also developed severe arthritis in his right knee, which he developed following a hip replacement, and therefore rarely walked in public. Nevertheless, he continued to tour the world. Those who met him late in his life said that although he was in poor shape physically, mentally he remained fully alert.

Towards the end of his Papacy, there were those both within and outside the church who thought that the Pope should resign or retire. Even term limits for Popes were suggested. However, as John Paul had indicated his acceptance of God's will that he should be Pope, he was determined to stay in office until his death.

In September 2003, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who was often considered the Pope's "right hand", said that "we should pray for the Pope", raising serious concerns over the Pope's health condition.

On February 1, 2005, the Pope was taken to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome suffering from acute inflammation of the larynx and laryngo-spasm, brought on by a bout of influenza. The Vatican reported the following day that his condition had stabilized, but he would remain in the hospital until fully recovered. The pope appeared in public on 6 February to deliver the final lines of the Angelus blessing in a hoarse voice from the window of his hospital room. He missed the Ash Wednesday ceremonies in St Peter's on 9 February for the first time in his 26-year papacy, and returned to the Vatican on 10 February (BBC News, February 10, 2005, link).

On 24 February, 2005 the Pope began having trouble breathing and also had a fever, and he was rushed back to the Gemelli Hospital, where a tracheotomy was successfully performed. An aide to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that John Paul was "serene" (Associated Press, March 3, 2005, MSNBC link) after waking up following the surgery. He raised his hand and attempted to say something, but his doctors advised him not to try speaking. The Pope gave 'silent blessings' from his hospital window on Sunday 27 February and Sunday 6 March, and is said to have spoken in German and Italian during a working meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger in his 10th floor suite of the Gemelli on Tuesday 1 March. Cardinal Ratzinger told international press: "the Pope spoke to me in German and Italian. He was completely lucid. I brought the Holy Father greetings from the plenary of the Congregation for the divine cult which is meeting at this moment in the Vatican. The Holy Father will be working on material which I gave him today. I am happy to see him fully lucid and mentally capable of saying the essential matters with his own voice. We usually speak in German. The details are unimportant - he spoke of essential matters".

During the Angelus of Sunday 13 March The Pope was able to speak to pilgrims for the first time since he was readmitted to hospital. Later that day he returned to the Vatican for the first time in nearly a month. (BBC News, March 13, 2005 link) On Palm Sunday (20th March) the Pope made a brief appearance at his window to greet pilgrims. He was cheered by thousands of the faithful as he silently waved an olive branch. It was the first time in his pontificate that he could not officiate at Palm Sunday Mass. He watched it on his TV in his apartment overlooking St Peter's Square.

On 22 March, there were renewed concerns for the Pope's health after reports stated that he had taken a turn for the worse and was not responding to medication (Lorenzi, March 22, 2005 link). On 24 March, Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo performed the rite of the washing of the feet, in the Vatican's St Peter's Basilica. The cardinal stood in for Pope John Paul II at a Holy Thursday ceremony at the Vatican. He said the ailing Pontiff was 'serenely abandoning' himself to God's will. The Pope, whose health was precarious following the throat surgery in February, watched the service on television from his Vatican apartments. On 27 March, Easter day, the Pope appeared at his window in the Vatican for a short time. Angelo Cardinal Sodano read the Urbi et orbi message while the Pope blessed the people with his own hand. He tried to speak but he could not. By the end of the month, speculation was growing, and was finally confirmed by the Vatican officials, that he was nearing death.

Death

On March 31, 2005 the Pope developed a "very high fever caused by a urinary tract infection" (BBC News, April 1, 2005 link), but was not rushed to the hospital, apparently in accordance with his wishes to die in the Vatican. Later that day, Vatican sources announced that John Paul II had been given the Anointing of the Sick (formerly known as Last Rites) of the Roman Catholic Church, the first time that the pontiff had received the sacrament since the 1981 assassination attempt on his life. It is unclear if he received the Apostolic Pardon as well. (CNN, March 31, 2005 link.)

On April 1, his condition worsened drastically, with his heart and kidneys rapidly failing. The Pope had been fitted with a second feeding tube in his nose to help boost his nutritional intake as a result of his fever. Reports out of the Vatican early that morning reported that the Pope had suffered a heart attack, but remained awake. (D'Emilio, 2005 link). Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls denied the reports of the heart attack, but said the Pope had suffered a "cardiocirculatory collapse" and called the Pope's condition "very serious" (CNN, April 2, 2005 link).

Several Italian media agencies reported the Pope's death at 20:20 CEST (18:20 UTC), but soon afterwards, the Vatican denied that the Pope was indeed dead, and stories changed. TV Sky Italia reported that his heart and brain were functioning.

At around 00:30 CEST on April 2 (22:30 April 1 UTC), a Vatican spokesman gave a further briefing on the Pope's health and confirmed that the Pope had had the Last Rites. He refused to be taken to the hospital, and met with his closest associates, among them Cardinal Ratzinger, who said that "he knows that he is dying and he gave me his last goodbye". The Pope also requested that he be read the meditations said on the Stations of the Cross a few days before.

His final hours were marked by an overwhelming number of younger people who kept vigil outside his Vatican apartments. In his last message, specifically to the youth of the world, he said: "I came to you, now it's you who have come to me. I thank you."

Early in the evening, the Vatican announced that his condition "remains very serious. In late morning, the high fever developed." However, "when addressed by members of his household, he responds correctly."

At approximately 19:00 CEST (17:00 UTC), Italian news sources claimed that Pope John Paul II had lost consciousness. At least one medical center stated that there was no more hope for him. The Vatican published a press release refuting the claim but conceding the Pope's kidneys had stopped functioning. The ANSA news agency reported around half an hour later that he lost consciousness.

According to Father Jarek Cielecki, the Pope's last word before death was "Amen"; then he closed his eyes. (La Repubblica, April 2, 2005 link) In his private apartments, at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) on April 2, Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84. His death certificate listed septic shock and heart failure as primary causes of death. (Vatican Website, April 4, 2005 link; Reuters, April 3, 2005 link)

Present at the moment of death were his two personal secretaries Archbishop Stanisław Dziwisz and Mieczysław Mokrzycki, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanisław Ryłko and Father Tadeusz Styczeń. Three nuns who were handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, assisted in the Holy Father's apartment in his final hours and the holy father's personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti with two doctors, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo and their respective nurses who had been on call if needed.

Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano arrived, as did the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice-camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. Thereafter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Józef Tomko were able to enter the apartments.

World reactions

John Paul II was mourned by a crowd of over 70,000 within Vatican City, over one billion Catholics worldwide, and many non-Catholics. The pope always said that his death should be celebrated as the passage to the next stage of his eternal life. The crowd in the Vatican clapped when the announcement of his death was made, following a traditional Italian custom signifying respect.

In Poland, Catholics gathered at the church at Wadowice, the birthplace of the pontiff. State television cancelled all comedy-related shows beginning April 1st, 2005, and began showing mass. The Poles, who have deep sense of devotion towards the pontiff and refer to him as their "father", are particularly devastated by his death. The government has declared six days of mourning for him.

Many world leaders expressed their condolences and ordered flags in their countries lowered to half-staff:

• In Argentina students observed a moment of silence before each class on the first school day after the Pope's death. President of Argentina Nestor Kirchner stated that "We're millions that are crying about John Paul II; his teaching is going to follow us all our life, permanently."
• Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Pope John Paul should be remembered as a freedom fighter against communism, and a great Christian leader (Transcript ABC Radio interview, Australia, April 3, 2005).
• In Brazil, the country with the world's largest Catholic population, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expressed the sorrow of the Brazilian people. A 7-day official mourning period was declared by the government. . On the eve of the Pope's death, the Brazilian Senate interrupted it's session and the senators recited in chorus the Lord's prayer for the Pope's recovery. After the death of the Pope, the Senate observed one minute of silence.
• Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin said that "For a quarter century, Pope John Paul II served as a symbol of love and faith, peace and compassion.... Our grief today is the grief of the world." On April 4, the House of Commons began its session with a tribute to the pope. Flags have been lowered to half-staff on the Parliament Buildings, throughout the country, and at Canadian diplomatic missions in Italy, the Holy See, and Poland and will remain at half-staff until sunset April 8, since that's the day of the funeral . In the province of Manitoba, Premier Gary Doer has opened up a book of condolences for people to sign either at the legislature building or online.
• In Chile, a 3-day official mourning period was declared by the government. President Ricardo Lagos noted that "...John Paul II won't stay away from us. His name became part of our history, his thoughts will be an always present inspiration to build a more fair country and a more peaceful world for all of us". (Spanish)
• Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez decreed that flags on government buildings and embassies would be lowered to half-staff for two days. The president's statement emphasized the late pope's struggle for world peace. (Spanish)
• Cuban authorities allowed Cardinal Jaime Ortega to make a rare statement on state television: "This is a man who has carried the moral weight of the world for 26 years... turning himself into the only moral reference for humanity in recent years of wars and difficulties." Cuban Government declared three days of mourning.
• Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited the Vatican Embassy in New Delhi and paid tribute in the book of condolences. The Indian Government declared three days of mourning.
• In the United Kingdom, the Queen expressed her "deep sorrow" at the death of Pope John Paul II and remembered his efforts at promoting peace throughout the world. Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the world has lost a religious leader who was "revered across people of all faiths and none".
• Flags over the White House and other public buildings in the United States were ordered lowered to half-staff until sundown on the day of John Paul II's interment. President George W. Bush expressed his regret at the loss of a "champion of human freedom", an "inspiration to millions of Americans" and a "hero for the ages".
• In contrast in Ireland, traditionally a strongly religious, even Catholic nation, the Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern declared publicly on the Sunday immediately following the death of Pope John Paul II that there would be no 'national day of mourning as such'. This has proved controversial with a sizeable portion of the Irish population and is a subject of debate at present. Commentators have stated that the Irish reaction is somewhat muted and could be indicative of the Irish society and politics moving decisively away from the high esteem in which it previously held the Church.

Numerous countries with a Catholic majority declared mourning for John Paul II. The government of the Philippines declared mourning until the day of the funeral. Paraguay and Gabon declared five days of mourning, Costa Rica four. Three days of mourning were declared by the governments of Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Haiti, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Malawi, East Timor. Spain and Peru declared one day of mourning.

Egypt and Lebanon were also among the countries without a Catholic majority that declared three days mourning for the Pope. Kosovo declared two days mouring, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Albania declared one day. In Republic of Macedonia, all cultural events were canceled on the day following the Pope's death.

Germany and France ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Many non-Catholic religious leaders throughout the world have also expressed condolences.

"John Paul the Great"?

Since the death of Pope John Paul II, some clergy at the Vatican, including Angelo Cardinal Sodano in the written form of his homily at the Mass of Repose, have been referring to the late pontiff as John Paul the Great. It is unclear at this point whether the posthumous title will become official. Some observers believe that a "vox populi" may be forming, which would validate this usage; Church law scholars state that though there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great", the title gains credibility each time it is spoken.

Funeral

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. Feel free to improve this article or discuss changes on the talk page, but please note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Main article: Funeral of Pope John Paul II

The Vatican reports that the Pope's body will lie in state in St Peter's Basilica from Monday, April 4. The funeral will take place on Friday, April 8 at 10:00am CEST (08:00 UTC), after which he will be interred in the Tomb of the Popes, a sacred crypt beneath the Basilica.

Life's work

Pastoral trips

During his reign, Pope John Paul II made more foreign trips (over 100) than all previous popes put together. In total he logged more than 1,167,000 km (725,000 miles). He consistently attracted large crowds on his travels, some among of the largest ever assembled in human history. While some of his trips (such as to the United States and the Holy Land) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI ("The Pilgrim Pope"), many others were to places that no pope had ever visited before. Some have argued that he has travelled farther and met more people than any human being in history.

One of John Paul II's earliest official visits was to Poland, in June 1979. Whilst there he held mass in Victory Square in Warsaw, an event which had a galvanising effect on the Polish Solidarity trade union. He became the first reigning pope to travel to the United Kingdom, where he met Queen Elizabeth II, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. This trip was in danger of being cancelled due to the then ongoing Falklands War, which he spoke out against during the visit. In a dramatic symbolic gesture, he knelt in prayer alongside the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie in the See of the Church of England, Canterbury Cathedral, founded by Augustine of Canterbury. Throughout his trips, he stressed his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary through visits to various shrines to the Virgin Mary, notably Knock in Ireland, Fátima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico, and Lourdes in France. His public visits were centered on large Papal Masses; one million people, one quarter of the population of the island of Ireland, attended his Mass in Dublin's Phoenix Park in 1979.

In 1984, John Paul became the first Pope to visit Puerto Rico. Stands were especially erected for him at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, where he met with governor Carlos Romero Barceló, and at Plaza Las Americas.

There was a plot to assassinate the Pope during his visit to Manila in January 1995, as part of Operation Bojinka, a mass terrorist attack that was developed by Al-Qaida members Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed. A suicide bomber dressed up as a priest, and planned to use the disguise to get closer to the Pope's motorcade so that he could kill the Pope by detonating himself. Before January 15, the day on which the men were to attack the Pope during his Philippine visit, an apartment fire brought investigators led by Aida Fariscal to Yousef's laptop computer, which had terrorist plans on it, as well as clothes and items that suggested an assassination plot. Yousef was arrested in Pakistan about a month later, but Khalid Sheik Mohammed was not arrested until 2003. During this trip to Philippines, on January 15, 1995, he offered mass to an estimated crowd of 4–5 million in Luneta Park, Manila, the largest papal crowd ever.

In 1999, John Paul II visited Romania and met with the local heads of the Orthodox church. Thus, he became the first Pope to visit a country with a mostly Orthodox population, ever since the East-West Schism in the eleventh century (1054).

Also in 1999, John Paul II made another of his multiple trips to the United States, this time celebrating mass in St Louis in the Edward Jones Dome. Over 104,000 people attended the mass, making it the biggest indoor gathering in United States history.

In 2000, he became the first Catholic pope to visit Egypt, where he met with the Coptic pope and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.

In May, 2001, the Pontiff took a pilgrimage that would trace the steps of his namesake, Saint Paul, across the Mediterranean. Traveling from Greece to Syria to the island of Malta, during this journey he was the first Roman Catholic Pope to enter Greece for more than a thousand years, and was the first ever to visit a Mosque, in Damascus. He visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist is believed to be interred.

In September, 2001, amid post September 11th concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience of largely Muslims, as well as Armenia, to participate in the celebration of the 1700 years of Christianity in that nation.

Relations with other religions

Relations with the Jewish people

John Paul II wrote and delivered a number of speeches on the subject of the Church's relationship with Jews, and often paid homage to the victims of the Holocaust in many nations. He was the first pope to have visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, in 1979. One of the few popes to have grown up in a climate of flourishing Jewish culture, one of the key components of pre-war Kraków, his interest in Jewish life dated from early youth. His visit to the Synagogue of Rome was the first by a pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

In March 2000, Pope John Paul II went to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Israel and touched the holiest shrine of the Jewish people, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, promoting Christian-Jewish reconciliation. The Pope has said that Jews are "our older brothers".

In October 2003, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a statement congratulating Pope John Paul II on entering the 25th year of his papacy. "His deep commitment to reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people has been fundamental to his papacy. Jews throughout the world are deeply grateful to the Pope. He has defended the Jewish people at all times, as a priest in his native Poland and during his pontificate... We pray that he remains healthy for many years to come, that he achieves much success in his holy work and that Catholic-Jewish relations continue to flourish."

On April 2, 2005, the ADL stated that Pope John Paul II revolutionized Catholic-Jewish relations, saying that "more change for the better took place in his 27 year Papacy than in the nearly 2000 years before." (Pope John Paul II: An Appreciation: A Visionary Remembered)

Given the significant difference between Catholic Christianity and Judaism, it should not be surprising that a number of points of dispute exist between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community. A number of issues supported by John Paul II caused dissension within elements of the Jewish community, including:

• How to deal with baptized Jewish children during World War II who were never returned to their Jewish roots
• The beatification of Pope Pius XII, whom many Jewish groups believed did not act correctly during the Holocaust.
• The opening of World War II era Vatican archives
• The beatification of Jews who were converted as infants to Catholicism
• Vatican positions on Israeli policy
• The Pope John Paul saw all abortion as murder, while for reasons endangering health, Jews view some abortions as permissible.

Nonetheless, the number of issues that divide Jewish groups and the Vatican have dropped significantly during the last forty years.

Relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church

In May 1999, John Paul II visited Romania. This was the first time a Pope had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism, the event that separated Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman Catholicism in the year 1054. The visit was prompted by an invitation from his Beatitude Teoctist, the Patriarch of the autocephalous Romanian Orthodox Church. On his arrival, the Pope was greeted by the Patriarch as well as the President of Romania at the time, Emil Constantinescu. The Patriarch stated, "The second millennium of Christian history began with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this millennium has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity."

On May 9, the Pope and the Patriarch each attended a worship service conducted by the other (an Orthodox Liturgy and a Catholic Mass, respectively). A crowd of hundreds of thousands of people turned up to attend the worship services, which were held in the open air. The Pope told the crowd, "I am here among you pushed only by the desire of authentic unity. Not long ago it was unthinkable that the bishop of Rome could visit his brothers and sisters in the faith who live in Romania. Today, after a long winter of suffering and persecution, we can finally exchange the kiss of peace and together praise the Lord." A large part of Romania's Orthodox population has shown itself warm to the idea of Christian reunification.

Two years later, in 2001, John Paul II became the first Pope to visit Greece in 1291 years. The visit was controversial, and the Pontiff was met with protests and snubbed by Eastern Orthodox leaders, none of whom met his arrival.

In Athens, the Pope met with Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece. After a private 30 minute meeting, the two spoke publicly. Christodoulos read a list of "13 offences" of the Roman Catholic Church against the Orthodox Church since the Great Schism, including the pillaging of Constantinople by crusaders in 1204, and bemoaned the lack of any apology from the Roman Catholic church, saying that "until now, there has not been heard a single request for pardon" for the "maniacal crusaders of the 13th century".

The Pope responded by saying, "For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us forgiveness," to which Christodoulos immediately applauded. John Paul also said that the sacking of Constantinople was a source of "deep regret" for Catholics.

Later, John Paul and Christodoulos met on a spot where Saint Paul had once preached to Athenian Christians. They issued a "common declaration", saying, "We shall do everything in our power, so that the Christian roots of Europe and its Christian soul may be preserved. ... We condemn all recourse to violence, proselytism and fanaticism, in the name of religion." The two leaders then said the Lord's Prayer together, breaking an Orthodox taboo against praying with Catholics.

However, during the visit the Pope avoided any mention of Cyprus, still a source of tension between the two faiths.

John Paul II visited other heavily Orthodox areas such as Ukraine, despite lack of welcome at times, and he said that an end to the Schism was one of his fondest wishes.

With regard to the relations with the Serb Orthodox Church, Pope John Paul II could not escape the controversy of the involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustasa regime of World War II. He beatified Aloysius Stepinac in 1998, the Croatian war-time archbishop of Zagreb, a move seen negatively by those who believe that he was an active collaborator with the Ustaše fascist regime. On June 22, 2003, he visited Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a city inhabited by many Catholics before the 1992-1995 war, but since then predominantly Orthodox. He held a mass at the Petrićevac monastery, a place of considerable controversy and distress, both during the World War II and during the Yugoslav wars.

Catholics in Belarus (at least 10-15% of the population) had hoped for the Pope to visit their country, a trip he himself wished to make. Resistance from the Russian Orthodox church and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, however, meant the visit never happened.

Apologies

• On October 31 1992, he apologized for the persecution of the Italian philosopher Galileo Galilei in the trial by the Roman Catholic Church in 1633.

• On August 9, 1993, he apologized for Catholic involvement with the African slave trade.

• In May, 1995, in the Czech Republic, he begged forgiveness for the Church's role in stake burnings and the religious wars that followed the Protestant Reformation.

• On July 10, 1995, he released a letter to "every woman" to apologize for the Church's stance against women's rights and for the historical denigration of women.

• On March 16, 1998, he apologized for the inactivity and silence of Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.

• On December 18, 1999, he apologized for the execution of Jan Hus in 1415.

• During a public Mass of Pardons on March 12, 2000, he asked forgiveness for the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating "the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown contempt for their cultures and religious traditions."

• On May 4, 2001, he apologized to the Patriarch of Constantinople for the sins of the Crusader conquest of Constantinople in 1204.

• On November 22, 2001, he apologized, via the Internet, for missionary abuses in the past against indigenous peoples of the South Pacific.

Social and political stances

John Paul II was considered a conservative on doctrine and issues relating to reproduction and the ordination of women. His collected writings on human sexuality, called the Theology of the Body, are an extended meditation on the nature of masculinity and femininity and the resulting implications for love and sex. These teachings represent a significant development of the Catholic teaching about sexuality. This development has origins in the Song of Songs, and the church's teaching on Sacraments.

Regarding abortion, the Pope wrote, "There is still, however a legal extermination of human beings who have been conceived but not yet born. And this time we are talking about an extermination which has been allowed by nothing less than democratically elected parliaments where one normally hears appeals for the civil progress of society and all humanity."

He was critical of Liberation Theology for over-emphasizing political liberation at the expense of spiritual liberation. In the 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) he reasserted the Church's high value on human life and by extension its condemnation of abortion, euthanasia, and virtually all uses of capital punishment, calling them all a part of the "culture of death" that is pervasive in the modern world. His stands on warfare, capital punishment, world debt forgiveness, and poverty issues were considered politically liberal, showing that 'conservative' and 'liberal' political labels are not easily assigned to religious leaders.

The Pope, who began his papacy when the Soviets controlled his homeland, the People's Republic of Poland, as well as the rest of the Eastern Europe, was a harsh critic of communism and offered support to those fighting for change, like the Polish Solidarity movement. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev once said the collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II , and this view is shared by many people of the post-Soviet states, who view him, as well as Ronald Reagan, as the heroes responsible for bringing an end to the communist tyranny. In later years, Pope has been also criticized some of the more extreme versions of corporate capitalism.

In 2000, he publicly endorsed the Jubilee 2000 campaign on African debt relief fronted by Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono. It was reported that during this period, U2's recording sessions were repeatedly interrupted by phone calls from the Pope, wanting to discuss the campaign with Bono.

In 2003, John Paul II also became a prominent critic of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. He sent his Peace Minister, Pío Cardinal Laghi, to talk with US President George W. Bush to express opposition to the war. John Paul II says that it is up to the United Nations to solve the international conflict through diplomacy and that a unilateral aggression is a crime against peace and a violation of international law.

In European Union negotiations for a new constitution in 2003 and 2004, the Vatican's representatives failed to secure any mention of Europe's "Christian Heritage", one of the Pope's cherished goals.

The Pope was also a leading critic of same-sex marriage. In his last book, "Memory and Identity", John Paul II described same-sex marriage as the "pressures" on the European Parliament to permit same-sex marriage. Reuters quotes the Pope as writing, "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man."

The Pope also criticized transsexual and transgender people, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he supervised, banned them from serving in church positions and denied church workers the ability to change records and otherwise accommodate them, as well as considering them to have "mental pathologies".

Criticism

Despite his popularity, John Paul II had many critics. One charge sometimes leveled at the Pope was that his opposition of communism led him to support right-wing dictators. John Paul occasionally met with—and, some say, supported—dictators such as Augusto Pinochet of Chile. John Paul, however, pressed Pinochet to restore democracy and was maneuvered by Pinochet's entourage into appearing in a photograph with him. He allegedly endorsed Pio Cardinal Laghi, who critics say supported the "Dirty War" in Argentina.

John Paul was also criticized for his support of the Opus Dei prelature and the canonization of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá. Some argue that Opus Dei is essentially a cult operating within the Church; John Paul saw it as part of a larger return to the Church's founding principles.

Besides Escrivá, several of his other canonizations and beatifications have been criticized because the people in question allegedly supported fascist political parties. The Pope's supporters respond that political realities forced the priests to do so; often, they say, the opposition party was violently anti-religious.

Other criticism centered on his beliefs. In particular, John Paul's beliefs about gender roles and sexuality came under attack. Some feminists criticized his positions on the role of women, and gay-rights activists disagreed with his opposition to homosexuality and in particular gay marriage.

His beliefs about contraception were particularly controversial to many people. John Paul followed traditional Catholic teaching and believed that the essential purpose of sex for a potentially fertile couple is procreation. Accordingly, he argued that using a contraceptive was an immoral act. Many people disagreed with this belief, but even some who agreed suggested that it was impractical to condemn use of condoms when sexually transmitted AIDS is spreading. A separate but related claim is that John Paul's administration spread an unproven belief that condoms do not block the spread of HIV; between these two claims, a few critics have blamed him for AIDS epidemics in Africa.

John Paul II was also sometimes criticized for the way he administered the Church; in particular, critics charged that he failed to respond quickly enough to the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

Succession process

Main article: Papal conclave, 2005

Following the death of John Paul II, the succession process began. Many people in the Vatican believe John Paul II wanted his close associate Cardinal Ratzinger as his successor, to continue his work.

His Ring of the Fisherman and seal have been scratched over and smashed by the Cardinal Camerlengo, Eduardo Martínez Somalo, signifying the end of current papal authority. The Pope's apartment will be sealed and the nine days of ceremonial mourning will follow. The body of John Paul II will lie in state for public visitation until the morning of his funeral on April 8, 2005.

Other

John Paul II's apostolical motto was Totus Tuus ("all yours"); he borrowed the motto from the Marian consecrating prayer of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (proposed to the pope to declare him a doctor, i.e. great teacher, of the Church).

Archbishop Stanisław Dziwisz was the Pope's private secretary. A fellow Pole, he was ordained in 1963 by Bishop Wojtyła, he became the second secretary to Archbishop Wojtyła in 1966, and shortly after, the principal secretary. He was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

According to a New York Post article of February 19, 2002, John Paul II personally performed three exorcisms during his tenure as pope. The first exorcism was performed on a woman in 1982 who writhed on the ground. His second was in September 2000 when he performed the rite on a nineteen-year-old woman who had become enraged in St Peter's Square. A year later, in September 2001, he performed an exorcism on a twenty-year-old woman.

The John Paul II International Airport (IATA: KRK), in Balice, Poland, near Kraków, was named in honor of him, where he served as Archbishop before being elected Pope.

In 2004 he received an extraordinary Charlemagne Award of the city of Aachen, Germany.

John Paul II beatified and canonized far more people than any previous pope. It is reported that as of October 2004, he had beatified 1,340 people. Whether he had canonized more saints than all his predecessors put together, as is sometimes claimed, is difficult to prove, as the records of many early canonizations are incomplete, missing or inaccurate. However, it is known that his abolition of the office of Promotor Fidei (Promoter of the Faith, a.k.a. Devil's Advocate) streamlined the canonization process.

On March 14, 2004, his pontificate overtook Leo XIII's as the third-longest pontificate in the history of the Papacy (after Pius IX and St Peter). The length of his reign is in marked contrast with that of his predecessor Pope John Paul I, who died suddenly after only 33 days in office, and in whose memory John Paul II named himself.

Books by John Paul II

In chronological order:

• Love and Responsibility, by Karol Woytła before his papacy, Ignatius Press; Rev. edition (April 1, 1993), ISBN 0898704456 - in depth philosophical analysis of human love and sexuality.
• The Way to Christ - Spiritual Exercises, HarperSanFrancisco (October 7, 1994), ISBN 0060642165 - conversational presentation of two retreats Karol Woytła gave 10 years apart before becoming pope. In that time he served in Kraków as bishop and cardinal. A direct and touching book.
• Gift and Mystery - On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination, Image (April 20, 1999), ISBN 0385493711 - about being a priest.
• Pope John Paul II - In My Own Words, Gramercy (August 6, 2002), ISBN 0517220849 - bestseller, a compilation book of carefully selected words and prayers of John Paul II, compiled by Anthony F. Chiffolo.
• Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, Warner Books (September 28, 2004), ISBN 0446577812 - mostly addressed to his bishops, however a rich source of inspiration for everyone having knowledge of Christianity.
• Memory and Identity - Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium, published by Rizzoli (March 22, 2005), ISBN 0847827615 - one of the most popular books ever published. In the form of a conversation, this book presents John Paul II's views on many secular topics, such as evil, freedom, contemporary Europe, nationalism, democracy. Included in the book is also a transcript of the Pope's discussion on his assassination attempt in 1981.

Interviews

• Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Knopf (September 19, 1995), ISBN 0679765611 - author Vittorio Messori interviews John Paul II.

Poetry of John Paul II

• The Place Within: The Poetry of Pope John Paul II, Random House; 1st edition (October 25, 1994), ISBN 0679760644 - lyrical poetry
• The Poetry of Pope John Paul II, USCCB (September 1, 2003), ISBN 1574555561 - poems written in the summer of 2002.

Movies about Pope John Paul II

• Pope John Paul II: The Movie (1984) (TV), directed by Herbert Wise, starring Albert Finney, Nigel Hawthorne, Alfred Burke, John McEnery, Patrick Stewart.
• From a Far Country (1981), directed by Krzysztof Zanussi.
• The Millenial Pope: John Paul II (1999) (TV), a documentary directed by Helen Whitney.
• Pope John Paul's Third Pilgrimage to His Homeland, a documentary on John Paul's June 1987 visit to Poland.

Further reading

• George Weigel, Witness to Hope, HarperCollins (1999, 2001), ISBN 006018793X.

See also

• List of Encyclicals of Pope John Paul II
• List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II outside Italy
• List of Roman Catholic bishops of Kraków
• Papal election, 2005
• Papabili
• Popemobile
• Sedevacantist antipopes

Notes

1. Template:Anb Pronounced KARR-ol YOO-zef voy-TIH-wah, IPA /ˈkarɔl ˈjuzef vɔjˈtɨwa/, Audio file "Pl-Karol-Jozef-Wojtyla.ogg" not found.

References

• The Message of Fatima Tarcisio Bertone with introduction by Tarcisio Bertone. The Holy See
• "'Cured' Pope returns to Vatican" (February 10, 2005). BBC News.
• D'Emilio, Frances (March 31, 2005). "Pope Has High Fever From Urinary Infection". The Associated Press, published on Yahoo! News.
• Domínguez, J. (no date). "Pope John Paul II and Communism". World Religions and 101 Cults. Retrieved April 4, 2005.
• "Frail Pope suffers heart failure" (April 1, 2005). BBC News.
• "Stasi Files Implicate KGB in Pope Shooting" (April 1, 2005). Deutsche Welle.
• The Pope Blog (2005). Final Letter of Pope John Paul II to the Faithful (translated from Italian). Retrieved April 3, 2005.
• Lorenzi, Rossella (March 22, 2005). "Pope's Condition Not Improving". Discovery News.
• Navarro-Valls, Joaquin (2005). Il Santo Padre è deceduto questa sera alle ore 21.37 nel Suo appartamento privato. Retrieved April 2, 2005. (The Holy Father passed away at 9:37 this evening in his private apartment.)
• "Pope returns to Vatican after op" (March 13, 2005). BBC News.
• "Pope back at Vatican by Easter? It's possible" (March 3, 2005). The Associated Press, republished on MSNBC.
• PunditGuy (2005). 11:37 AM - AP, Reuters / Flash from the Vatican, Pope John Paul II is dead.. Retrieved April 2, 2005.
• St Anthony Messenger Press (2005). Pope John Paul II's Final Days. Retrieved April 2, 2005.
• Interview with AM Programme, ABC Radio (Australia). April 3, 2005. Subject: Death of Pope John Paul II; helicopter crash in Indonesia.
• "Vatican source: Pope given last rites" (March 31, 2005). CNN.
• Wojtyla, Karol (2005). The Holy See - The Holy Father - John Paul II. Retrieved April 2, 2005.
• Wojtyla, Karol (2005). Pope John Paul II. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 2, 2005.
• "World awaits word on pope's condition" (April 2, 2005). CNN.

External links

Official site

• Holy See - John Paul II

Media coverage

• ABC News - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• BBC News - In Depth: Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• Boston.com - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• CBC News - Indepth: Pope John Paul II
• CBS News - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• Channel NewsAsia - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• CNN - Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
• Chicago Tribune - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• Guardian - Special Report: Pope John Paul II
• LA Times - Complete Coverage of the Death of Pope John Paul II
• MSNBC - In Memoriam: John Paul II
• New York Times - Pope John Paul II
• NPR - Pope John Paul II His Life Remembered
• Poynter - Pope John Paul II Resources
• Radio Netherlands - Pope John Paul II
• Reuters - Special Section: Death of a Pope
• Times (London) - Pope John Paul II
• Washington Post - Pope John Paul II 1920-2005
• Yahoo! News - Pope John Paul II

Directory categories

• Open Directory Project - John Paul II
• LookSmart - Pope John Paul II
• Yahoo! - Pope John Paul II
• Zeal - Pope John Paul II

Tributes

• Pope John Paul II Tributes Site allows you to submit your tribute or view existing ones.
• Jews & Arabs unite in tribute

Personal pages

• Inside the Vatican: Pope John Paul
• The Pope Blog
• Fullscreen QTVR panorama from St Peter's Square on April 3

Template:Pope

• Current events
• 1920 births
• 2005 deaths
• Popes
• Non-Italian popes
• Polish bishops
• Karlspreis laureates
• Polyglots
• Papal conclaves