WITNESS:

John Paul the Great: he turned the world away from communism and made the papacy a public institution (Father Richard John Neuhaus, April 3, 2005, San Diego Union Tribune)

I believe it is more than likely that the 264th successor of St. Peter will be known to history as John Paul the Great. If so, there will still be continuing dispute over the reasons for his greatness. Only two other popes are known by that title: Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, in the fifth and sixth centuries respectively. They were pivotal figures in the transition from the Roman Empire to western Christendom.

Western Christendom, often dismissively called the Middle Ages, is the source of most of the institutions, laws and culture-forming ideas that shape our life today. The suceeding period is loosely called modernity, and John Paul II may be seen as the pivotal figure from secular modernity to whatever comes next. Some call it postmodernity, while others claim it is really hyper-modernity, and yet others see something like a new Christendom. John Paul repeatedly spoke of the 21st century as the beginning of a new springtime – of evangelization, of Christian unity, of human solidarity and of a victory of the culture of life over the culture of death.

Political historians will emphasize his indispensable role in the fall of Soviet communism. He never believed in the desirability or possibility of coexistence between freedom and tyranny. In this he was in a small minority among intellectuals and political leaders. In the political world, his view of the unsustainability of communism was shared by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and a relatively few others. Political, military and economic factors played their part, but the fate of the "evil empire" was sealed when the Polish pope called upon oppressed peoples to stand up and live in the truth. In private conversation, the Holy Father would say that the two great surprises of his life were, first, that he was elected pope and, second, that the end of the Soviet empire was relatively unbloody.

"Be not afraid!" was the theme of his first homily as pope on Oct. 22, 1978, and it was the continuing theme of his pontificate of more than 26 years. That was his word to all of humanity. The best phrase to describe the person and message of John Paul is "prophetic humanism." The human project, the humanum, will not fail, not finally; and that is because, in Jesus Christ, God has irrevocably allied Himself with the cause of humanity. John Paul's worldview was emphatically Christo-centric. This means that the story of the birth, life, death, resurrection and promised coming again of Jesus Christ is nothing less than the story of the world.

Some said John Paul was an optimist. This is gravely misleading. Optimism is merely a matter of optics, of seeing only what you want to see and not seeing what you don't want to see. Optimism is not a Christian virtue. He was not an optimist but a "witness to hope," which is the title of George Weigel's authoritative biography of the man and his pontificate. Living under the life-denying terror of Nazism and communism, the bitter fruit of radically secular humanism, Karol Wojtyla had looked long and deeply into the heart of darkness. At the heart of darkness he discovered the crucified Christ and the hope of resurrection.

From that experience emerged the world's premier champion of "the culture of life." The culture of life is all-embracing. It entails the protection of the vulnerable at the beginning and end of life, the defense of the integrity of the human against biotechnical manipulation, and the inclusion of the poor in freedom's ways of productivity and exchange. Over the years of his pontificate, much attention was focused on abortion, but the defense of the unborn child is of a piece with an inclusive worldview in continuity with the exhortation in the Book of Deuteronomy: "Behold, I have set before you today life and death; choose life that you and your children may live."

At the center of the church's witness, John Paul said again and again, is the dignity of the human person.

MORE:
-Interactive Feature: The Life of Pope John Paul II
Frank Bruni looks back on the extraordinary papacy of John Paul II. (NY Times)
AUDIO: The Religious Legacy of Pope John Paul II (Speaking of Faith, April 2, 2005, NPR)

John Paul II's papacy was dramatic and historic on many fronts. Speaking of Faith explores some of the critical religious issues of his 26 years as pontiff and discusses the great and contradictory impact he made on the Catholic Church in America and abroad. Host Krista Tippett speaks with NPR's senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli, priest and author Donald Cozzens, and Yale theologian Margaret Farley.

-John Paul II: The Miillennial Pope (Frontline, Sept. 1999, PBS)

-The Papacy: TIME.com presents a look at Pope John Paul II