Originally published at The Catholic Thing
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Pope St. John Paul II, and it’s a good time to focus on the most important lessons of his life. He was great, even outside the Church, because of his role in international affairs – helping to catalyze the collapse of Soviet communism, resisting efforts by worldly superpowers to impose international human rights abuses, and giving hope and courage to suffering peoples everywhere. He visited 129 countries, traveling more than 700,000 miles – more than all of his predecessors combined and nearly three times the distance of a round trip to the moon.
