Pope John Paul II praying at the 'Death Wall' at the former Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland, June 1, 1979.
No Pontiff -- indeed no world leader -- has visited so many countries as Pope John Paul II. One of his first visits after being elected Pope was to his homeland. When he first returned to Poland he told a million strong crowd, living under the harsh Communist regime, 'You are men. You have dignity. Don't crawl on your bellies.'
In His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time Carl Bernstein (yes, the Watergate reporter!) and Marco Politi argued that 'the fall of Communism was the direct result of a covert confederation between the United States government and the Vatican. Citing meetings between Pope John Paul II and high officials in the Reagan administration, they point to a "secret alliance" as the tipping factor in the collapse of Communism.'
Lech Walesa, the Gdsank shipyard electrician who was elected Poland's first post-Communist president, put it best in an interview to AFP: 'Before Karol Wojtyla's election just a few dozen of us wanted to fight Communism. But when he became Pope, when he arrived in Poland for the first time as John Paul II and (in 1979) uttered the famous words 'do not be afraid' millions of us became committed to the fight.'
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