Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (Hardcover)

Just as I brought my own preconceptions to the man, so have the media who have been covering him since that day in 1978 when he was elected. The press have distorted this man because they have read him through glasses tinted by their own secular conditioning. As a result there is a "good" John Paul who affirms some of their social agendas, and then there is the "bad" John Paul, who seems not to understand their progressive preferences. Weigel makes it clear that they have profoundly misunderstood him because will not measure him on his own Christian terms.

To grasp the significance of John Paul, we need to come to terms with the complexities of his personality and his origins in a family beset by tragedy in his early years. But that is not enough. From there we need to explore his own personal Christian journey, his theological formation, his philosophical studies, and the tough environment in which he grew to adulthood and exercised the first 30 years of his ministry. Furthermore, this man who cannot be understood unless we see him first and foremost as a priest, a pastor, and a man of mystical prayer. "The sheer drama of Karol Wojtyla's life would defy the imagination of the most fanciful screenwriter," says Weigel.

The Poland in which Wojtyla grew up briefly emerged from Nazi tyranny, only to be swept into the Russian sphere of influence and be subjected to a different kind of totalitarian repression as a result of the unfortunate dealings at Yalta. In the brief twilight between these two oppressions, he was ordained and sent to Rome to study. If we are to understand the Pope's perception of world affairs, we have to realize the significant part Yalta plays in his grasp of global realities.

An actor, playwright, priest, philosopher, pastor, and athlete, John Paul II seems almost too good to be true. "Given the expectations of contemporary biography, a writer almost regrets the absence of detractors and critics of his subject. Perhaps even more striking is the fact that Karol Woytyla's intelligence, creativity, and pastoral success did not attract clerical jealousies... He lived a singularly integrated priestly and personal life."

The opening 250 pages focus on Wojtyla's life prior to the papacy. The remainder deals life since. In the years before his election, Wojtyla had become a major player in world Catholicism, having been appointed Archbishop of Krakow and then a cardinal at an exceedingly early age. Only after he was installed as archbishop did the authorities realize the sort of man they were up against. What they seemed not to have understood is that Wojtyla's approach was not direct confrontation of authorities who only seemed to understand the language of power, but the longer term task of undermining them through Christian "cultural resistance." He was not going to roll over and play dead before his oppressors, but would gradually pull the rug out from beneath their credibility, revealing their spiritual, moral, social, political, and cultural bankruptcy.

Because of his Polish heritage in a country trapped between totalitarian Germany and Russia, the Pope has had a lifelong passion for human freedom. His two doctorates in philosophy were built around this topic, and it has been the subject of his most significant pronouncements. However, he is misunderstood if interpreted through the lenses of secular liberalism. His perception of freedom is that ultimately it is focused in obedience and self-giving to the One who died upon the Cross.

In the middle is a chapter entitled "In the Eye of the Storm." It is pivotal. The honeymoon was over, and the principalities and powers were out to neutralize his papacy. His approach had literally put him in the eye of political, social, and theological storms. This chapter deals with his response to and encouragement of the Gdansk shipyard strike in August 1980, and the rise of Solidarity in Poland. His affirmation of such activities put him on a collision course with the Soviet empire, and led to the unsuccessful assassination attempt of 1981. Weigel suggests that his constant challenge eroded the ability of an undemocratic Communism to survive. The Pope was a catalyst for world-shattering change. While all this was going on, the Pope was proceeding against what he perceived to be error within the church. It would seem that the policies he had outlined in the first years of his primacy were now taking on a shape and form that would have a profound impact upon the future -- these were an affirmation of human dignity, a passion for prayer and truth, the yearning for unity among Christians and peoples, and the evangelization of the world.

His concern for evangelization is a key component of this man. He believes that for a human being to be truly free and whole, that person must surrender to the One who died for us. The Pope's faith is utterly Christ and Cross centered. He sees mission, unity, and truth belonging together, and that if truth or unity are compromised then mission suffers. Put simply, John Paul wants the world to know the good news about Jesus Christ that has led him throughout his own life to be utterly self-surrendering in order that the one to whom he surrenders may have the whole of him. This book is a winner.