Pope John Paul II

<p>He is not deity but i can tell u bigjake that u don't need power to be somebody in the world, power isn't everything in one person's life.</p>

<p>I take my comment back. Upon further analysis of his life, i can see that he was a good person. I'm not Catholic, so i will not worship him. And i don't agree that the fall of Communism was, as somebody said, "largely" attributed to him, but considering the Catholic Church's history and what this person was willing to do in promoting peace, he was a good man.</p>

<p>I am half Polish and my mom lived in communistic Poland and I can tell u for sure Pope John Paul II is the main reason of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe without any doubt.</p>

<p>I'm glad to hear that bigjake. But once again, Catholics do NOT worship the pope. It's WRONG to worship anyone but God (according to Catholic doctrine). If anyone tells you differently, he/she is wrong.</p>

<p>Yeahmeh...saying that the pope is the main reason for the fall of communism is ridiculous. The Soviet Union's collapse is the result of military and economic matters...the country could not care less about what the Pope said.</p>

<p>You should have lived that then u could say something.</p>

<p>U can't imagine what was the Pope for the Polish people it gave them the strength to oppose to the regime, strength they wouldn't have without him coming to Poland in 1979. He is not the only reson for which the communism ended Regan is also very important, but he sure was one the main causes. </p>

<p>The Pope made Solidarnosc possible to exist, to be brave enough, without a bloody revolution to take place, and Solidarnosc made the communism fall.</p>

<p>and to be sure,</p>

<p>"The election of Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla for a pope John Paul II in 1978, was not only a cheerful event but a boost for our democracy. It helped so much to destroy the Soviet-based communistic system. Our official administration reaction was restrained. But it was a big push to our anti-communistic forces. It was definitively the event which triggered Solidarity movement in 1980." - Jagoda Urban-Klaehn
BellaOnline's Polish Culture Editor</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bellaonline.com/Article.asp?id=717%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bellaonline.com/Article.asp?id=717&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And what's more it's not just me saying this but also G.W. Bush and Gorbachev even Gorbachev said the Pope made it possible for the wall of Berlin to fall down.</p>

<p>This really can't be under discussion cause it's a matter of fact.</p>

<p>and finally,</p>

<p>"John Paul II's 1979 trip was the fulcrum of revolution which led to the collapse of Communism. Timothy Garton Ash put it this way, "Without the Pope, no Solidarity. Without Solidarity, no Gorbachev. Without Gorbachev, no fall of Communism." (In fact, Gorbachev himself gave the Kremlin's long-term enemy this due, "It would have been impossible without the Pope.") It was not just the Pope's hagiographers who told us that his first pilgrimage was the turning point. Skeptics who felt Wojtyla was never a part of the resistance said everything changed as John Paul II brought his message across country to the Poles. And revolutionaries, jealous of their own, also look to the trip as the beginning of the end of Soviet rule." - Jane Barnes & Helen Whitney</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/communism/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/communism/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The pope was a major contributing factor to the fall of Communism. Hikki and yeahmeh are right. Although he didn't CAUSE the fall of communism, he was a big part of it.</p>

<p>Yup. Right after becoming Pope he was able to unite an entire people against Communism. He went to Cuba as well, but I guess that didn't take.</p>

<p>And it didnt take because Castro refused to loosen his iron grip. Same with the Soviet Union. If it wanted to maintain its border states, it would have done so militarily regardless of what the Pope said. But it didn't do this because it of its economic troubles. In the end, the collapse of Communism is related to economic problems. People were united against Communism in the 1950s as well. But it didn't end then...</p>

<p>do you just not read newspapers, or watch tv, or listen to the radio, or read the posts we put up, bigjake? Every single one of the things I just listed have agreed on one salient fact about the pope: that he was a crucial part in the fall of Communism in Poland.</p>

<p>You know what...if you're religious and you want to so desperately believe that YOUR religious leader singlehandedly toppled a superpower, go for it. Hey...some people blindly follow their religion...i can't hate you for it. I maintain my REALISTIC opinion.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone even insinuated that.</p>

<p>Bigjake, so you're not religious?? I highly doubt, really</p>

<p>Here nobody is talking about religion on this issue.
Are u a communist? Cause only a communist would think the Pope didn't contribute to the fall of communism. Gorbachev even said so himself so u still want to deny the fact? Unbelievable!!!</p>

<p>Have u ever benn in Poland? Cause I've been there many times, so how can u say it didn't if u've never experienced that country? Do u know what meant the visit of the Pope for the Polish people during that period? I don't think so.</p>

<p>Pope John Paul II was a father, a leader, a man blessed by God. He loved his flock, and we love him and though he has gone to God, we should not forget his work and his message. That being said, we should not dilute and destroy the work he did and the traditions of the Church.</p>

<p>A major part of the legacy of Pope John Paul II is indeed the fall of communism. He and Ronald Reagan were instrumental in its collapse. In a communist society in which religion and personal freedom were oppressed, the outward expressioin of faith by the Polish people and the Holy Father's support of the Solidarity movement led to the fall of the communist government.</p>