The following story first appeared in the Summer 2005 Glenmary Challenge.
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John Paul II: A Missionary Pope
He was impelled, like Glenmary, to share the good news of Jesus Christ
By Father Dan Dorsey

When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, there was an immediate outpouring of grief. Watching the ensuing news coverage, I marveled at the struggle to somehow define him, to capture his essence.

What was it that defined him? Was it his doctrinal conservatism? His advocacy for the problems and concerns of the Third World? Perhaps it was his promotion of peace. Maybe it was that, as a Polish citizen, he had lived under the two great tyrannies of our century, Nazism and Communism. As each new expert was introduced, he or she seemed to examine the Holy Father from a particular angle.

I smiled to myself thinking that all of the analysis, while helpful, was missing the heart of the matter. It tried to understand the man from the outside in. But what was needed to understand Pope John Paul II—and it seemed so simple to me!—was to look at him from the inside out.

What can we see from this “inside out” perspective? That Pope John Paul II was a man of Jesus Christ.

The seed of faith planted in Karol Wojtyla at his baptism, nurtured by his mom and dad, took root under extremely adverse conditions. His love of Jesus Christ grew to maturity in the face of repression, horror, heartbreak and persecution.

His was an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. He spoke to the world of his profound experience of Jesus as Lord and Savior in the same way and in the same words as his predecessor St. Peter spoke to the man crippled from birth: “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise and] walk” (Acts 3:6).

This intimate relationship with Jesus Christ was the powerful, overriding force that directed this pope’s life. So it was for St. Paul, another great missionary to the world who expressed it this way: “For the love of Jesus Christ impels us…” (2 Cor 5:14).

John Paul II was catapulted upon the world scene and embraced it with enthusiasm. He visited 129 countries in 104 trips outside of Italy. At times he used the world as a pulpit: to decry hunger in Africa; to denounce the arms race in Hiroshima, Japan; to praise the generosity of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India.

And whether at home or on the road, he was the Church’s most active evangelizer, traveling to every corner of human society to share the good news of Jesus Christ. His message was simple: “Be not afraid.”

The simple act of kissing the ground upon arriving in a country captures the spirit of John Paul II. This act defined a man impelled to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the entire world. It also spoke of his love, humility, respect and reverence for other cultures, and of his deep desire for reconciliation.

Can you imagine any other religious leader or head of a nation doing such a thing?

I am deeply grateful for the leadership that Pope John Paul II provided these past 26 years. His papacy provided the model of a missionary in the modern world—and it is a model that will continue to inspire Glenmary for years to come. Like the Holy Father, we too are impelled to share the gospel of Jesus Christ—and we do it right here at home!