POPE JOHN PAUL II

The Pontiff's Progressive Legacy

The world is in mourning this week over the death of Pope John Paul II, a magnetic leader who many believe is one of the most influential popes in history. With his strict adherence to conservative Church doctrine, the pontiff does leave behind a mixed legacy. His devotion to the Christian message of "Be Not Afraid," however, led to a lifelong commitment to fierce battles for the rights of the downtrodden, impoverished and oppressed around the globe, including the rights of workers, political freedom and religious tolerance. As one retrospective pointed out, he "changed the world without armies" as "he went places no pope had been, met people no pope had met, fought battles no pope had fought." Here's a look at the progressive side of Pope John Paul II.

POVERTY: On his first papal trip overseas in 1979, John Paul II said, "I am the voice for the voiceless." During the next two decades, he became a tireless champion of closing the gap between rich and poor. He demanded social justice, jobs, and decent health care for the impoverished around the world. In 2000, he joined forces with the political activist and front man of the Irish band U2, Bono, for Jubilee 2000, a campaign for debt relief in Africa. As a result of the campaign, the debts of 23 poverty-stricken countries were cancelled.

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE: The pope was a force for religious tolerance in the world. In 1986, he was the first pope to visit the main Jewish synagogue in Rome. He also organized a prayer-for-peace meeting that year, attended by the Dalai Lama. In 1993, he established diplomatic relations with Israel. He was the first to "go to Greece since the Eastern Orthodox and Roman churches split over a thousand years ago." He also used his role to apologize to others for past failings of the Catholic Church. He apologized to the Muslims for the Crusades. And in 1998, he formally apologized for the failure of many Catholics to help Jews during the Holocaust and was the first to call anti-Semitism a sin "against God and man." And in 2001, during a trip to Syria, John Paul II became the first pope to enter a mosque.

A PROPONENT OF PEACE: John Paul II was an unflagging advocate for peace. He traveled the world, warning against global scourges such as genocide and ethnic cleansing. In Japan, he stated, "To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace." At Auschwitz, he asked, "How far can cruelty go?" John Paul II also staunchly opposed war. In the 1990s, he spoke out against the fighting in Iraq, Kosovo and Yugoslavia. He condemned the 2003 invasion of Iraq, calling it a "defeat for humanity." And he was unafraid to take a strong stand against the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, saying it was a "deplorable event" that "troubled the civic and religious conscience of all," and made "a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values" difficult while "in the absence of such a commitment, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome."

COMMUNISM: The pontiff helped end the 70-year reign of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, said after the fall of Communism, "Everything that has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would have been impossible without the pope's efforts and the enormous role, including the political one, he has played in the world arena." Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright concurred, saying, "If there's one single person who can be credited with change in Central and Eastern Europe, it's the pope." (The pope took a much more modest view of his role, saying, "The tree was already rotten. I just gave it a good shake.") John Paul II held face-to-face talks with communist leaders in Poland in 1979, 1983 and 1987, "upholding the rights of Poles to form independent unions." He threw his support to the Polish labor movement, Solidarity, which eventually led to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

WORKERS' RIGHTS: The pope was a champion for the rights of workers around the world, speaking of the "dignity and rights of those who work." (For more on the Catholic church dedication to the dignity of work, check out the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, newly published in English.) In 1981, John Paul II delivered "On Human Work," an encyclical in which he called for "ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers. This solidarity must be present whenever it is called for by the social degrading of the subject of work, by exploitation of the workers and by the growing areas of poverty and even hunger." He then went on to "reaffirm the support of the Roman Catholic Church for a just wage, available and affordable health care, the right to a retirement pension and workers' compensation for work-based injuries or illnesses."

CATHOLICS IN THE U.S. TODAY: American Catholics today are in mourning for the man two-thirds believe will go down as one of the greatest popes in history. A majority of U.S. Catholics surveyed want the next pope to have a theological outlook similar to that of Pope John Paul II, but many are also looking ahead for an opportunity to adapt to an evolving society. According to CNN, "Seventy-eight percent said the next pope should allow Catholics to use birth control, 63 percent said he should let priests marry and 59 percent said the next pope should have a less-strict policy on stem cell research." And according to a new poll by the Associated Press, 64 percent of Catholics in the U.S. think "it's time women were allowed to become priests."