Figure 1.--Pope Paul II visited the Mission Dolpres Church in SanFrancisco (1987). There he embraced Brendan O'Rourke who was stricken with AIDS. Brendan sucumed to the disease 3 years later.

John Paul II is perhaps the most beloved modern pope. He was the first Polish pope, notable because of the country's long history of Catholocism. He was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in the small town of Wadowice near Krakow (1920). This was shortly after Poland was reserected as a result of World War I. There were in the city 8,000 Catholics and 2,000 Jews. Wojtyla was called "Lolek." He was the second son of Karol Wojtyla Sr. who was a retired army officer and worked as a tailor. His mother was Emilia Kaczorowska Wojtyla, a schoolteacher of Lithuanian descent. The family were strict Catholics, but unlike many neighbors were not anti-Semitic. A close friend was Jerzy Kluger, a Jewish boy. Kluger later played a role in Vatican's recognition of Israel. Karol not only had Jewish friends, but was intreagued by Judiasm. He reasoned as a youth that anti-Semitism was pantently absurd as Jesus and his appostles were all Jews. Karol lost his mother at a young age and his father as a youth. He studied to be a priest during World War II at a time that the NAZIs attacked the Church and other Polish institutions. At the time the NAZIs were arresting seminarians. As a young priest he faced Stalinist repression in Poland after the War and perfected the Church's tactics of sucessfully confronting an athiest police state. Later as a Polish prelate he led the fight for a church at Nova Huta. His success in confronting Communism in Poland was largely responsible for his elevation to the Papacy. This proved to be a key event in the Cold War. His Pontificate played a key role in the collapse of Communism in Poland. One of the ironies of history, given the contempt which Stalin held for both Poles and the papacy (he once sarcastically asked how many army divisions the pope had), is that a Polish pope would pay a central role in the implosiom of the Soviet Empire. Pope John moved the heel the breech between Jews and Christians. He prayed at the infamous NAZI Auschwitz Concentration Camp when he visited his native Poland (1979). He recognized Israel (1994) and on a visit to the Holyland left a note of contrition for Christian persecution of the Jews at the Wailing Wall (2000).

Created: 8:36 AM 10/26/2010
Last updated: 8:36 AM 10/26/2010