Pope John Paul II: Reaching Out Across Borders

Book Summary

In this remarkable work, Reuters has assembled a collection of stunning images of Pope John Paul II alongwith a powerful text that gives fresh insight into the leader of the worldUs one billion Catholics andcharts his implacable opposition to communism, which changed the course of history. The book depicts the tension between a reformist pope, reconciling churches and reaching out to ordinarypeople across the globe, and a conservative pope with uncompromising views on issues like women priestsand birth control. Tracing the most traveled popeUs spiritual odyssey across continents, the book uses informative colorgraphics to illustrate his determined mission to extend the ChurchUs reach. The gallery of pictures rangesfrom the majesty of Vatican ceremony and papal trips to glimpses of the popeUs intense faith and goodhumor. The book ends with a detailed and forwardlooking examination of the popeUs legacy, the state in which hehas left the Church and the succession. The narrative looks at the standing of the Catholic Church in therest of the world as it enters the third millennium. The book draws on the expertise of a wealth of Reuters specialists, including Vatican correspondent PhilipPullella, a world-renowned expert on the pope and the workings of the tiny but powerful state. -- Combines a vivid personal portrait of John Paul II with powerful new insight into the church and the world he bequeaths his successors. -- John Paul II: poet and prophet, leader and servant, destroyer of Communism, critic of capitalism, evangelist, healer -- and human being. In this book, Reuters correspondents bring together fresh, unique, and first-hand insights about Pope John Paul II, a vivid portrait of him as a man -- and a realistic, forward-looking assessment of his achievements, his legacy, and the Church he leaves to his successors. You will meet the man who, before joining the priesthood, was an athlete, an actor, a soldier, a stonecutter, and a published poet - who changed history by taking on Communism in Poland, then later denounced the spiritual impoverishment of untrammeled capitalism - who transformed the Church's tortured relationship with the Jewish community. You will meet the moral conservative and reformer who led the Church into its third millennium, watching him face storms of debate and scandal within his church, as he carries its message of faith to every corner of the world, and presides over its explosive growth throughout the developing world. This is the only book on Pope John Paul II to draw upon the extraordinary global resources of Reuters, the world's leading news agency. Notable amongst those resources: Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella, a world-renowned expert on Pope John Paul II who organized Reuters' highly-successful exhibition of Reuters photographs of the Pope that has been traveling through Europe and will appear throughout the United States to coincide with this book's publication.

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