Pope Celebrates 25 Years as Pontiff

The Polish-born Karol Wojtyla was the first non-Italian to ascend to the holy seat and in the quarter century since he was named Pope John Paul II, he has helped to make history, redefining his role in a new media age, contributing to the fall of communism and helping to bring the Jewish and Catholic faiths closer together. For many, he embodies the modern face of Catholicism, for others he is too deeply tied to the past.

A modern Pope in touch with the people?

Pope John Paul II re-invented the role of the pope like no other pontiff who served before him. Born on May 18, 1920, in Poland, he was the first pope to travel the world and the first to take advantage of the new media age, where his words and image were disseminated around the world. In short, he become a worldwide superstar.

Whether he traveled to war-torn Beirut, a youth conference in Canada, communist Poland, or the Philippines, he always attracted a crowd that hung on to his every word. In the Philippines, he spoke before an audience of four million people, the largest group ever gathered together for a single event.

Indeed, the pope -- then and now -- is celebrated like a popstar. The world has never before seen a pope who seems so close to the people, so genuinely in touch. In younger years, he went hiking, swimming, and skiing. And during all his travels -- more than 100 trips -- he has always sought closer contact to his audiences.

Helping to shape history

Two events, the Holocaust and the fall of communism, have helped shape Pope John Paul II's time as pontiff, and those watershed moments may largely define his legacy.

When he was growing up in Poland, the young man then known as Karol Wojtyla went to school alongside Jews. During WWII, the theology student was himself oppressed by the Nazis and forced to hide his studies for the priesthood. However, after the end of the war, he was still alive -- the same could not be said for most of his childhood friends.

The pope has since done much to bring the two faiths together. He went to the death camps to apologize for the Church's role in anti-Semitism. Four years ago, he visited the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and Yad Vashem, a memorial center dedicated to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis. "The Catholic Church is deeply saddened by the hatred and persecution and display of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians," he said.

At the same time, the pope witnessed the end of communism, and according to many experts, helped to bring about its demise through his support for the Polish resistance group Solidarity. On frequent visits to his native Poland, where the people were ruled by an often oppressive communist regime, he offered words of encouragement. The Church, particularly in Poland, was active in opposing the communist regime.

And most recently, the pope voiced his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a move which gained him even more supporters.

Critics charge the pope is too conservative

Yet despite these credentials, the pope still has many critics, who point to his conservative sexual politics, position on abortion, women in the church and celibacy -- among many other things -- and claim they are simply too stringently tied to the past.

Most recently, the Catholic Church ignited a firestorm of controversy, when it claimed that condoms were not effective in AIDS prevention. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, said that, "relying on condoms is like betting on your own death." These statements prompted the U.N. to respond with a statement stating that the Vatican's position was scientifically incorrect.

In Germany, the bishops engaged in a back-and-forth with the pope over the issue of counselling pregnant women. Under German law, women seeking an abortion must go to counselling and obtain an official certificate. The counselling was often provided by the Catholic Church, but the pope wanted bishops in Germany to put an end to the practice -- no longer counselling these women and no longer providing them with the certificate.

It sparked a revolt within the ranks of Germany's bishops, who argued that by providing the service, they were sometimes able to convince women not to go through with an abortion. In the end, the German bishops settled for a compromise: they continue to offer the counselling, but they now insert a disclaimer into the certificate, stating that it cannot be used to obtain a legal abortion. It seems in matters of morals and sexual ethics, the German bishops -- who are slightly more liberal by conservative Vatican standards -- wish they had a more modern leader.

An ailing pope

At times Pope John Paul II's openness cost him dearly, particularly in 1981 when Turkish right-wing extremist Ali Agca made an attempt on his life. An emergency operation saved him, but today the pope still suffers complications from those injuries. And with the onset of Parkinson's disease in the early 1990s, he has been forced to retreat further from public life, significantly reducing his schedule.

But as the pope advances in age and ever more visibly suffers the effects of Parkinson's disease, some wonder if he is still calling the shots and how much longer he will be able to do so. He can't walk anymore and his speech is often hard to understand and slurred.

"He's clear as a bell and as sharp as he ever was," Cardinal Edmund Casimir Shokai, the chief administrator of the Vatican and a former archbishop of Detroit told the New York Times recently. "Clearly, he can't cover as much territory as he once did."

Ten pontiffs serving before Pope John Paul II have stepped down. But those on the inside of the Vatican say the pope is very unlikely to do the same. He himself has said that the father of the family never resigns.

The pope, at the age of 83 after 25 years in service has seen the number of Catholics worldwide increase by 40 percent during his tenure, to 1.1 billion.

With an ever-growing extended family, he continues to press on.