Pope John Paul II

Being raised protestant, I’m not generally interested in most things catholic. What that’s left me is a large void of ignorance in an area where Catholicism has shaped ancient and modern history. Traveling throughout Europe has increased my interest in Catholic history ten-fold. While I was in Italy I saw incredible monuments to the Catholic faith. In every museum I entered there were rooms full of paintings dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Holy Child. In the Vatican, especially, it astounded me to see such importance placed on the Popes’ memories- they had such immaculately decorated monuments in St. Peter’s, I was extremely impressed. In this particular church, (one of the most grandiose churches I’ve ever been to) I was able to visit the catacombs and see where the late Pope John Paul II was buried. SO many people were there paying their respects, it intrigued me. In response to that, I decided to learn a bit about the man and see what kind of mark he left on 20th century Europe.

John Paul II was born in Poland in May of 1920. His Anglican name was Charles Joesph Wojtyla. His schooling was diverse and by the time he finished university he had learned as many as 12 foreign languages. Sadly, by the age of twenty, he’d lost all his family members and at this point started thinking seriously of joining the priesthood. He started his courses in an underground seminary in Poland around the time of the Second World War. He in fact escaped a German roundup of young men and boys by hiding in the basement of his uncle’s home. Until the end of the war, many accounts say that Wojtyla protected many Polish Jews from the Nazis.

For the sake of space, I’m going to skip forward to his role as the Pope in the 20th century, but if you’d like more information on his background, look up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

Already having been the youngest bishop in Poland by the age of 38, he went on to become the only Polish pope, and the second longest pontificate, reigning for 27 years until his death in 2005.
Pope John Paul II has been named by many as being one of the most influential people in the twentieth century. One thing that impresses most people is that he is the most widely traveled pope in the 2,000 year history of Catholicism. He spoke many languages fluently: his native Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, Ancient Greek and Latin, as well as Italian, French, German, English, and Spanish. He was quite instrumental in bringing human rights to the forefront of society and is quite noted and quoted for his conservative position on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and the death penalty. His universal call to holiness ended in his beatifying 1,340 people and canonizing 483 saints.
One role that most remember John Paul II in is his aid in the fall of Communism. Although most descriptions are vague, many agree that his ideas on human rights influenced his battle against communism. One BBC article says “For the Pope, communism was a tyranny that chopped down human freedom and saw people as mere resources to be used as the state saw fit; an attitude utterly intolerable to a man to whom each and every human being was an image of God.
The Pope’s whole outlook on war and anything that played into human suffering was that of something that could and should be avoided.

"No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity.”
- Pope John Paul II

John Paul II is respected for his many efforts in diversifying Roman Catholicism, making it more accessible to believers around the world. He really embraced people and his charismatic personality helped him draw HUGE crowds of people to hear him speak.

His death in 2005 was widely mourned, drawing the largest gathering of heads of state in history. More than 250,000 people watched the event from within the Vatican walls- and since I’ve been there, I can attest that that’s pretty impressive. Such a legacy did he leave, that he’s been considered and named Pope John Paul the “Great”. Only three popes until today have been given the title of “Great”, including “Leo I, who reigned from 440-61 and persuaded Attila the Hun to withdraw from Rome, Gregory I, 590-604, after whom the Gregorian Chant is named, and Pope Nicholas I,, 858-867.

Personally, after doing so much research, I’m very impressed with the man. I’m even glad, now as an afterthought, that I as able to see his final resting place. It was very much a reflection of the man himself, beautifully simple in its outward appearance, but completely impressive in its austerity and sense of hope that it invokes.