After 25 years, a changed papacy

Twenty-five years ago today, he appeared on the world stage as the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries. Soon, the robust man with a charismatic presence and thirst for globe-trotting became a media star.

But even in an age of celebrity, it takes more than media appeal to capture the world's attention - and hold it for a quarter-century.

John Paul II has transformed the papacy, taking the church to the people. He's left an indelible mark on the world, playing a key role in the collapse of communism and becoming a strong moral voice for Catholics and non-Catholics alike on the primacy of freedom and spiritual values.

"He has established the papacy as an almost universally recognized center of public moral deliberation about the kind of world in which we live," says the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things.

And he's placed his stamp firmly on the Roman Catholic Church. Hewing to a staunch traditional Catholicism, the Polish-born leader both renewed allegiances and stirred controversy among the faithful.

"Pope John Paul II presided over an acute polarization of the church between its conservative and liberal wings," says the Rev. John Langan, of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington.

As the pope undertakes a grueling week of events to celebrate his silver anniversary, beatify Mother Teresa, and induct 31 new cardinals, his health is at the forefront, with persistent questions about how the church will be governed should he be incapacitated. The pope alone is authorized to decide that.

John Paul II has indicated he plans to stay on until God tells him to do otherwise. Yet even as some say this pontificate has gone on too long, it's clear he still holds the admiration of millions.

And many would agree with his biographer, George Weigel, who calls this "the most consequential pontificate since the 16th-century Reformation."

Most visibly, the familiar white-clad figure has redefined the papacy as global pastor and evangelist, traveling to some 130 countries, kneeling to kiss the soil, and embracing those in dire straits.

Yet his outreach has been more than symbolic. His voice has been the clearest not only in support of the poor, but against utilitarian worldviews that fail to put human beings at the center of concern. In his religious writings, he strongly supports democracy and free enterprise, but also highlights inequities of capitalism and globalization.

A driving aim of his papacy has been to detail a Christian alternative to the humanistic philosophies and theories of the late 20th century. His voice was crucial in prompting the Jubilee 2000 campaign that won significant debt relief for the world's poorest countries.

The pope's greatest legacy, most people agree, is his role in spurring Communism's collapse, a role acknowledged by Mikhail Gorbachev. His trips to Poland helped give rise to the independent trade union Solidarity, and he intervened with Soviet and Polish leaders when crackdowns seemed imminent. Solidarity's success lit the flame of nonviolent revolution in Eastern Europe.

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