In his newly published book Memory and Identity (Rizzoli International Publications), Pope John Paul II speaks movingly about the Church and her mission. “The Church must work tirelessly,” he writes.
He goes on to describe how. “She must be humble and courageous, like Christ Himself and His Apostles. If she encounters obstacles, if she is criticized…she should not be discouraged. Most of all, she should not cease to proclaim the Gospel.”
Reading that now, in the aftermath of his death, one can't help seeing it as a description of the pontificate of John Paul himself and of his mission in the service of Christ for more than 26 years.
It will be up to history to decide whether he will bear the title “John Paul the Great,” but to many his greatness already is clear. High up on a long list of achievements are the following.
• His contribution to the fall of communism.
Students of international affairs debate who did more to produce the collapse of the Soviet empire and the dissolution of the Soviet Union — Ronald Reagan or Mikhail Gorbachev. With all due respect to both, John Paul II may have contributed more to this outcome than either.
Starting in 1979 with his first return visit to his Polish homeland after his election as pope, John Paul promoted a powerful revival of Polish nationalism and spiritual fervor while strongly supporting the Solidarity labor movement. In time, these forces combined to bring about the downfall of the Polish communist regime, an event that touched off a domino effect among communist regimes elsewhere in Eastern Europe and, soon, in the Soviet Union itself.
In his 1991 social encyclical Centesimus Annus John Paul offered three explanations for the events of 1989: exploitation of workers, economic inefficiency, and the “spiritual void” created by communism. Many would add a fourth — the example of the Polish pope.
• His leadership of the Church.
When Cardinal Karol Wojtyla — John Paul II — was elected Bishop of Rome and 263rd successor of St. Peter on October 16, 1978, the Church was suffering through a period of confusion and drift.
Well before his death two months earlier, Pope Paul VI had seemed eager to lay down his burden after heading the Church for 15 tumultuous, controversy-filled years. The death after only one month in office of Pope Paul's successor, Pope John Paul I, was a further blow to morale.
Arriving on this troubled scene, John Paul II showed himself to be a vigorous leader filled with confidence and zeal. Almost his first words were “Be not afraid” and his own charismatic and outgoing manner showed what fearlessness in combination with faith could mean.
In the years that followed, church progressives attacked John Paul for this leadership style, and especially for reaffirming Church teaching and discipline on issues like contraception, abortion, homosexual acts, priestly celibacy, and women's ordination. For other Catholics, though, his resolute defense of the tradition of the Church was a badly needed sign of hope in difficult times.
• Defending human rights, especially the right to life.
John Paul II traveled more widely than any pope in history, journeying to six continents and speaking twice at the United Nations. He also left what may be the largest body of papal teaching ever. And throughout these journeys and these numerous papal documents runs the theme of the dignity and rights of the human person, above all the right to life.
His vision of the sanctity of human life was laid out in detail in the 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). The document covers abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and much else. Just a year ago, looking to situations like the recent Terri Schiavo case in which a brain-damaged American woman died after courts approved the removal of her feeding tube, John Paul taught that nutrition and hydration are ordinary patient care and may not be withdrawn.
The health problems of this towering world figure were often in the public eye. In 1981 he had a brush with death when an assassin shot him at close range in St. Peter's Square. The date was May 13, feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and John Paul was sure she had saved his life.
Thereafter he had surgery on two occasions, suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken femur in falls, and during the last decade exhibited increasing symptoms of Parkinson's disease. In the last year especially, he gave public witness to the redemptive value of suffering.
Recalling his election as pope, John Paul II once wrote:
“It was to Christ the Redeemer that my feelings and my thoughts were directed…. I was asked: 'Do you accept?' I then replied: 'With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, I accept.'”
He went on accepting to the end.
Russell Shaw is a freelance writer from Washington, DC. He was press secretary to American cardinals during the two papal election conclaves of 1978 and is the author of Papal Primacy in the Third Millennium (Our Sunday Visitor, 2000). You can email him at RShaw10290@aol.com.
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