Pope John Paul II: Bad for the church but good for the world?

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Independent
Paul Vallely studies the impact of a figure of paradox
08 April 2005


Reaction to the death of Pope John Paul II has been starkly polarised. Awed enthusiasts have been unstinting in their praise. Critics have been withering in their condemnation of his reactionary views, particular in sexual matters. But many within the church have been muted while the body of the Pope lay unburied.

Now that the funeral is over, and as the 116 cardinal electors begin their secret discussions in the run up to the conclave to choose the next pope, evaluations of the last Pope's 26-year ministry will attempt to reach a more balanced picture. For from a considered verdict will flow the analysis of what is needed in John Paul II's successor as the Roman Catholic church's 265th pope.

In an age of democracy when few international leaders remain for long in the public eye Pope John Paul II bestrode the world stage like a colossus across four decades. The statistics piled up in recent days have shown that by any standards he was an extraordinary figure. He was the first non-Italian Pope for 456 years. He travelled almost a million miles to 129 countries to visit the world's one billion Catholics. He set 1,351 individuals on the road to sainthood - more than all the other popes of the 20th century put together. He created 232 cardinals. He was one of the most prolific popes, with encyclicals, letters, sermons and speeches which fill nearly 150 volumes. He had a gift for memorable gestures from kissing the soil on his first visit to a country to inserting a prayer scroll into a crevice of Jerusalem's Western Wall. His was the third-longest papacy in the 2,000 year history of the Catholic Church.

His impact on the secular world was far-reaching. He played a key role in the collapse of Communism, not just through his visits to his homeland in 1979 and 1983 but also through his support for the Polish independent trade union, Solidarity, which gave his countrymen a vehicle for resistance. Though it was not known at the time, the Pope wrote letters of support to activists imprisoned by the communists; and after private meetings with the US President, Ronald Reagan, he co-operated with the CIA in the supply of clandestine materials with priests and bishops, who were immune from body searches, acting as couriers.
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