In the 1970s, you were more likely to have a spaceship piloted by an extraterrestrial land in your backyard than the leader of the Catholic Church.
The era of regular papal travel had not yet begun, but that was about to change.
In 1979, John Paul II was already planning his first trip as pope to the United States when he received a two-page handwritten letter from Iowa farmer Joe Hays inviting him to visit America’s heartland.
A few short months later, Living History Farms near Des Moines hosted the pope, who drew an estimated 350,000 people – still the largest gathering in Hawkeye State history.
POPE BENEDICT XVI AND POPE JOHN PAUL II: CATHOLICISM’S DYNAMIC DUO
John Paul II proved he was a man of the people – in more ways than one.
Twenty years ago on Wednesday, the sainted pope ended his earthly pilgrimage. He died at the Vatican on April 2, 2005, at the age of 84.
Despite the two decades since his death, John Paul still has a great deal to teach us about human dignity, God’s boundless mercy and the treasures of our faith.
During his reign of over 26 years, the Polish pontiff became the most seen human being in history, visiting 129 countries and attracting crowds of up to 7 million people at once.
John Paul was undoubtedly one of the most influential world leaders of the 20th century. His legacy has been unpacked in dozens of books, and his impact will be discussed until the end of time. However, the essence of this philosopher-pope’s message was the inalienable dignity of each and every human person.
JOHN PAUL II – THE POPE OF LIFE
“Respect for life requires that science and technology should always be at the service of man and his integral development,” he wrote in 1995. “Society as a whole must respect, defend and promote the dignity of every human person, at every moment and in every condition of that person’s life.”
His profound respect for human dignity was, in a way, shaped during his formative years in Poland during and after the Second World War.
The first half of the 1900s saw horrific world wars and the progressive march of atheistic communism, which caused bloodshed unparalleled in human history. During the latter half of the century, the degradation of human dignity was unabated. War, euthanasia, abortion and genocide helped make the 20th century the bloodiest in human history.
John Paul was beginning his second year of college when Nazi tanks rolled into Poland. He saw man’s inhumanity to man firsthand, which lit a fire under him to help restore the truth about the human person, created in God’s image and likeness.
“Every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church’s very heart,” he wrote in his encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” “It cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the world and to every creature.”
JOHN PAUL II – A SAINT BEFORE HE HIT THE GROUND
Aligned with his effort to reawaken the truth about human dignity was John Paul’s initiative to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through the “New Evangelization.” He encouraged Catholics worldwide to join him in proclaiming the gospel in new ways, using new methods to reach those who may have already heard about Jesus.
The New Evangelization led to the rise of new Catholic media – television and networks, podcasts and online publications. The pope encouraged lay people to join him in telling the world about the saving power of Jesus Christ.
“As Catholic lay people, you have an important moral and cultural contribution of service to make to the life of your country,” he said during a 1987 address in San Francisco. “‘Much will be required of the person entrusted with much.’ These words of Christ apply not only to the sharing of material wealth or personal talents but also to the sharing of one’s faith.”
It could be said that everything John Paul did during his pontificate – his writing, preaching, world travels, his World Youth Day initiative and publishing the Catechism of the Catholic Church – were all geared toward this New Evangelization. After all, as Pope Paul VI said in 1975, “the Church exists to evangelize.”
For the Polish pope, that meant helping people come to know Jesus Christ as the answer to their deepest longing and most troubling questions, including the longing for love, happiness, and meaning.
He told pilgrims to World Youth Day in Denver that “Jesus came to provide the ultimate answer to the yearning for life and for the infinite which his Heavenly Father had poured into our hearts when he created us. At the climax of revelation, the incarnate Word proclaims, ‘I am the Life,’ and ‘I came that they might have life.’ But what life? Jesus’ intention was clear: the very life of God, which surpasses all the possible aspirations of the human heart.”
Where did John Paul II get the strength and wisdom to change the world? Prayer.
As a priest, bishop and pope, John Paul spent countless hours in prayer every day, rising before dawn to pray in his chapel. His daily routine was far from routine. He wrote many of his letters, books and encyclicals in front of the tabernacle.
John Paul could absorb Jesus like we absorb the summer sun’s rays. I’m thoroughly convinced that the not-so-secret to his success was his prayer life. How else could he convey the depth of God’s love to millions worldwide in a way that moved hearts closer to Jesus Christ?
It’s said that John Paul often received a rock star welcome. Indeed, his welcome by presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, princes and ordinary folks was far beyond what any rock star could imagine.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
Most people who saw John Paul in person – even in crowds up to 7 million strong – felt he was speaking directly to them.
That went for Farmer Joe Hays in Iowa, too.
“You are stewards of some of the most important resources God has given to the world,” John Paul told the sea of people gathered at Hays’ farm in 1979. “Therefore, conserve the land well so that your children’s children and generations after them will inherit an even richer land than was entrusted to you.”
In the New Evangelization, John Paul gives us a similar assignment: To leave our children and grandchildren with a deeper faith in Jesus Christ than our parents left us.
It’s a tall order, but the world needs us.
