Term Paper on "Pope John Paul"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Pope John Paul II -- a Man of Courage, Dignity and Faith

Habemus Papa" -- we have a Pope. In 1978, the Council of Cardinals looked upon a world that was half slave, half free -- half communist (or dominated by another form of tyranny) and half democratic -- and proclaimed in the ancient Latin phrase that 'we have a Pope.' The Vatican Council had elected the Catholic Church's new leader, the then little-known Karol Wojtyla, soon to become Pope John Paul II. Little did the world know that this new pope, the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian leader of the Catholic Church in hundreds of years, would change history in the unique and constant fashion he embodied the three Catholic virtues of courage, dignity and faith.

With great courage, in 1979, a year after being elected, this new Polish Pope returned to visit his homeland. Millions of his countrymen flocked to see him wherever he went. He was to become the most traveled Pope, traveling to war zones and places of illness and death. He undertook grueling journeys despite his poor health from Parkinson's disease in his later years. (Walker, 2005) Pope John Paul II's courage inspired his fellow Poles during his first journey there as pope, and in the many subsequent journeys he was to take, back to his native land. Despite the great risk to their own safety, despite the fact that "crowds were only supposed to turn out at state-sponsored rallies, in support of the system and never spontaneously," Poles flocked to hear hum.

Thus, Pope John Paul II not only acted with courage, he inspired courage in others. When Lech Walesa signed the document recognizing Solidarity the Communist bloc's first free trade union with an outsize souvenir Pope pen. "The Communists were as frightened" of those courageous Christian values embodied by the Pope "as the devil is of holy water, so in that sense the Pope is the author of the victory over Communism," said Walesa later. (Roxburgh, 2005)

As he had suffered under the Nazi persecution of Poland as a young boy, the Polish Pope's heart went out not only to his countrymen -- but also to all suffering peoples. The well-traveled Pope John Paul, even after an assassination attempt on his life, mingled with the people, because he knew that he had a mission to help inspire others, regardless of the personal risk to his own safety. Even as a young man, the then unknown Wojtyla, at the daily risk of his life, participated in a host of cultural resistance groups including the underground resistance movement at his university and clandestine literary, theatrical, and religious activities. As a young priest, he nurtured "an informed, intelligent Catholic laity" fostering examples of what a later generation would call a truly "civil society," or a "culture-first" policy of first mending the Christian heat, to indirectly mend the minds of those in political power. His acts laid the groundwork for an active resistance movement that was later to flourish when be became Pope in Poland, as well as set the tone for his ministry as Pope. (Weigel, 2000)

The Pope placed changing the individual above changing those in… READ MORE

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