John Paul II

Life

He was born Karol Józef Wojtyła in Poland in 1920. After his ordination to the priesthood, he served as archbishop of Kraków and as a cardinal. In 1978 Pope John Paul I died suddenly, little more than a month after his accession, and on October 16 of that year Wojtyła was elected the 264th pope. He was the first Slav to become pope in the history of the church. The Catholic Church observes his feast day (memorial) on October 22, the date on which he inaugurated his pontificate.

During his pontificate he was shot and underwent major surgery. On December 27, 1983, he visited his would-be assassin in a Rome prison and spoke with him privately. From the mid-1990s his health declined severely because of Parkinson's disease and other ailments. He died on April 2, 2005, and after his funeral Mass he was buried in the crypt beneath St. Peter's Basilica. In his case the Catholic Church waived the rule that the cause for beatification may not begin until five years after a person's death. As a result, he was beatified in 2011 and canonized in 2014.

Ministry and Accomplishments

Over a pontificate of more than twenty-six years, he traveled throughout the world and came to be called the "pope of action." His journeys are reported to have covered a total of roughly two million kilometers (about 1.2 million miles). He brought to completion the revision of canon law that had continued for some twenty years after the Second Vatican Council, promulgating the new Code of Canon Law on January 25, 1983. In his teaching he defended traditional doctrine against secularism and sharply criticized consumerism and materialism. He supported Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Communist bloc, which arose in his native Poland. This support gave rise to suspicions that the Soviet Union was behind the assassination attempt, but no conclusive evidence has emerged, and the Soviet Union denied any involvement.

Influence on the Korean Church

On the occasion of the bicentennial of Catholicism's arrival in Korea, he became the first pope to visit the country, from May 3 to 7, 1984. Upon landing at Gimpo Airport, he kissed the ground and greeted the Korean people by reading the opening line of the Analects of Confucius in Korean. On May 6, at Yeouido Plaza in Seoul, he canonized 103 martyrs of the Joseon-era persecutions, including Father Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul Chong Hasang. Approximately one million people attended. Canonizations had customarily been held at the Vatican, and this ceremony broke with that custom by taking place in Korea itself. During the visit he also traveled to Gwangju, Daegu, and Busan, meeting with laborers, farmers and fishermen, people with Hansen's disease, and others. He is reported to have visited Sorokdo Island despite government opposition.

In October 1989 he returned to Korea to attend the 44th International Eucharistic Congress in Seoul. A Eucharistic Congress is an international gathering honoring the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist, the rite corresponding to what Protestants call the Lord's Supper. At a Mass in Yeouido Plaza, he prayed for reconciliation and peace between North and South Korea. In the history of Catholicism in Korea, his two visits are regarded as events that made the Korean church widely known both to the global church and to Korean society.

Assessment

The Catholic Church holds him in high regard, calling him an "apostle of peace." Korean Catholics in particular remember him as a pope who showed special affection for Korea as a land of martyrs.

At the same time, he placed strong emphasis on the intercessory role of Mary, who prays to God on behalf of the faithful, and he encouraged the praying of the Rosary. On this point he clearly diverges from Protestantism, which, on the basis of 1 Timothy 2:5–6, confesses Christ alone as the one Mediator (the one who stands between God and humanity). Protestant denominations likewise do not accept the practice of canonization, by which the church declares particular individuals to be saints and venerates them. For Protestant readers, therefore, he is understood both as a religious leader of great social and moral influence and as the supreme leader of a Catholic Church whose doctrine differs markedly from their own.