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Pope John Paul II Comparison

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Karol Józef Wojtyła, famously known as Pope John Paul II, was the Bishop of Rome and the pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October 1978 until his death on April 2005. As a pope, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries and the first Polish pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His papacy lasted for 27 years, which is to this day the second longest in history (Blakemore, 2017). He was also one of the most polarizing figures during the late twentieth century. Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II was more than just a pope because he had a different style of papal leadership, diplomacy, and a high charisma unlike his previous predecessors such as Pope Pius XII and Pope Paul VI (Scott, summer of 2000). Pope John Paul II transformed his influence as a pope to a worldwide office and used it to preach more than a billion of people across the globe. According to Scheller, Schaffer, Kurlantzick, Kulman, and Stille (2005), the pope was “a trained actor and philosopher who understood the power of word and symbol and wielded both with precision, whether in meetings with heads of state or before teeming crowds of the faithful (first paragraph).” John Paul II also believed that the church can have a much bigger impact by having world communications from different countries and he delivered the gospel by travelling around different parts of the world. The late pope was also well-known for inventing the World Youth Day, which is bringing about real transformation

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