Pope John Paul II Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Pastoral journeys === {{Main|List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II outside Italy}} [[File:Papież Jan Paweł II i kardynał Stefan kardynał Wyszyński w drodze na plac Zwycięstwa w dniu 2 czerwca 1979.jpg|thumb|John Paul's first papal trip to Poland in June 1979]] During his pontificate, John Paul II made journeys to 129 countries,{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}} travelling more than {{convert|1100000|km}} while doing so. He consistently attracted large crowds, some among the largest ever assembled in [[human history]], such as the [[World Youth Day 1995|Manila World Youth Day]], which gathered up to four million people, the largest papal gathering ever, according to the Vatican.<ref name=BaltimoreSun>{{cite news |url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-01-16/news/1995016078_1_pope-philippines-papal |title=Biggest Papal Gathering | Millions Flock to Papal Mass in Manila, Gathering is Called the Largest the Pope Has Seen at a Service |agency=The New York Times News Service |work=The Baltimore Sun |year=2012 |access-date=29 January 2012 |archive-date=24 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924125252/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-01-16/news/1995016078_1_pope-philippines-papal |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="AsiaNews" /> John Paul II's earliest official visits were to the Dominican Republic and Mexico in January 1979.<ref name="CBN2" /> While some of his journeys (such as to the United States and the [[Holy Land]]) were to places previously visited by Pope Paul VI, John Paul II became the first pope to visit the [[White House]] in October 1979, where he was [[List of meetings between the pope and the president of the United States|greeted warmly]] by President [[Jimmy Carter]]. He was the first pope ever to visit several countries in one year, starting in 1979 with Mexico<ref name="Mexico" /> and [[Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland|Ireland]].<ref name="Ireland" /> He was the first reigning pope to [[Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom|travel to the United Kingdom]], in 1982, where he met [[Queen Elizabeth II]], the [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England]]. While in Britain he also visited [[Canterbury Cathedral]] and knelt in prayer with [[Robert Runcie]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], at the spot where [[Thomas Becket]] had been killed,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_4171000/4171657.stm |title=BBC on This Day | 29 | 1982: Pope makes historic visit to Canterbury |work=BBC News |date= 29 May 1982 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> as well as holding several large-scale open air masses, including one at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]], which was attended by some 80,000 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/Visit-Background/A-Retrospective-of-the-1982-Visit|title=A Retrospective of the 1982 Visit / Visit Background / Home – The Visit|last=Systems|first=eZ|website=www.thepapalvisit.org.uk|access-date=16 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012084655/http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/Visit-Background/A-Retrospective-of-the-1982-Visit|archive-date=12 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[File:Sandro Pertini e Giovanni Paolo II insieme sulle cime dell' Adamello 21.jpg|thumb|left|John Paul II with the president of Italy [[Sandro Pertini]] in 1984]] He travelled to Haiti in 1983, where he spoke in [[Haitian Creole|Creole]] to thousands of impoverished Catholics gathered to greet him at the airport. His message, "things must change in Haiti," referring to the disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was met with thunderous applause.<ref name="Haiti: The Duvalier Years" /> In 2000, he was the first modern pope to visit Egypt,<ref name="PopeEgypt" /> where he met with the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic pope]], [[Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria|Pope Shenouda III]]<ref name="PopeEgypt" /> and the [[List of Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Alexandria|Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria]].<ref name="PopeEgypt" /> He was the first Catholic pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque, in [[Damascus]], Syria, in 2001. He visited the [[Umayyad Mosque]], a former [[Christian Church|Christian church]] where [[John the Baptist]] is believed to be interred,<ref name="Mosque" /> where he made a speech calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together.<ref name="Mosque" /> On 15 January 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered [[Catholic Mass|Mass]] to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in [[Rizal Park|Luneta Park]],<ref name="AsiaNews" /> [[Manila]], Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in [[History of Christianity|Christian history]].<ref name="AsiaNews" /> In March 2000, while visiting [[Jerusalem]], John Paul became the first pope in history to visit and pray at the [[Western Wall]].<ref name="BBCIsrael" /><ref name="ADL2006" /> In September 2001, amid post-[[11 September attacks|11 September]] concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years of [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian Christianity]].<ref name="NewYorkTimes3" /> In June 1979, John Paul II travelled to Poland, where ecstatic crowds constantly surrounded him.<ref name="OnThisDay" /> This first papal trip to Poland uplifted the nation's spirit and sparked the formation of the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] movement in 1980, which later brought freedom and human rights to his troubled homeland.<ref name="Memory" /> Leaders of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]] intended to use the pope's visit to show the people that although the pope was Polish, it did not alter their capacity to govern, oppress, and distribute the goods of society. They also hoped that if the pope abided by the rules they set, the Polish people would see his example and follow them as well. If the pope's visit inspired a riot, the Communist leaders of Poland were prepared to crush the uprising and blame the suffering on the pope.<ref name="Angelo M. Codevilla 2008">Angelo M. Codevilla, "Political Warfare: A Set of Means for Achieving Political Ends", in Waller, ed., ''Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare'' (IWP Press, 2008.)</ref> {{blockquote|"The pope won that struggle by transcending politics. His was what [[Joseph Nye]] calls '[[soft power]]' — the power of attraction and repulsion. He began with an enormous advantage, and exploited it to the utmost: He headed the one institution that stood for the polar opposite of the Communist way of life that the Polish people hated. He was a Pole, but beyond the regime's reach. By identifying with him, Poles would have the chance to cleanse themselves of the compromises they had to make to live under the regime. And so they came to him by the millions. They listened. He told them to be good, not to compromise themselves, to stick by one another, to be fearless, and that God is the only source of goodness, the only standard of conduct. 'Be not afraid,' he said. Millions shouted in response, 'We want God! We want God! We want God!' The regime cowered. Had the Pope chosen to turn his soft power into the hard variety, the regime might have been drowned in blood. Instead, the Pope simply led the Polish people to desert their rulers by affirming solidarity with one another. The Communists managed to hold on as despots a decade longer. But as political leaders, they were finished. Visiting his native Poland in 1979, Pope John Paul II struck what turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime, to the Soviet Empire, [and] ultimately to Communism."<ref name="Angelo M. Codevilla 2008" /> }} <blockquote>"When Pope John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport he began the process by which Communism in Poland — and ultimately elsewhere in Europe — would come to an end."<ref>[[John Lewis Gaddis]], ''The Cold War: A New History'', p. 193, Penguin Books (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-14-303827-6}}</ref></blockquote> On later trips to Poland, he gave tacit support to the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] organisation.<ref name="Memory" /> These visits reinforced this message and contributed to the collapse of East European Communism that took place between 1989 and 1990 with the reintroduction of democracy in Poland, and which then spread through Eastern Europe (1990–1991) and South-Eastern Europe (1990–1992).<ref name="Bottum" />{{sfn|Maxwell-Stuart|2006|p=234}}<ref name="OnThisDay" /><ref name="CBCNews" /><ref name="Gorbachev" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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