JOHN PAUL II

born May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland Latin Johannes Paulus, original name Karol Jzef Wojtyla the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic church since 1978, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first ever from a Slavic country. His crusades against political oppression have been widely praised, and his trips abroad90 by the year 2000have attracted enormous crowds (some of the largest ever assembled). With these trips, John Paul has covered a distance far greater than that traveled by all other popes combined. They have been an outward sign of the efforts at global bridge-building between nations and between religions that have been central to his pontificate. The journeys also played a role in the final years of the Cold War, when his nonviolent activism spurred movements that contributed to the peaceful dissolution of the communist Soviet Union in 1989. John Paul's constant efforts to reach out to people of other religions, most notably Jews and Muslims, culminated in a dramatic trip to the Holy Land in March 2000. His teachings on personal and sexual morality, however, have caused controversy, and Eastern Orthodox leaders have remained cool to his repeated entreaties to mend their 1,000-year schism with Rome. His Catholic critics add that while reinforcing world peace, he has neither reversed the general decline in vocations and church attendance nor allowed an expected increase in the authority of bishops. His critics aside, John Paul has sought to help Catholics and the world avoid new violencea concern that is clearly rooted in the tragedies he witnessed in his formative years. Additional reading Biographies of John Paul II include Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, The Biography (1995), which is especially valuable for perspectives on Karol Wojtyla's early development and accomplishments in Poland; George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The biography of Pope John Paul II (1999), which offers rich detail but little criticism of the pope; and Jonathan Kwitney, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II (1997), valuable for analysis of John Paul's geopolitical impact. An assessment of John Paul relative to two of his predecessors is Wilton Wynn, Keepers of the Keys: John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul IIThree Who Changed the Church (1988). Critical examinations include Garry Wills, Papal Sins (2000). Luigi Accattoli, When a Pope Asks Forgiveness: The Mea Culpas of John Paul II (1999), documents his unprecedented church apologies.