male narrator: One of the most powerful men on Earth
holds a position that has existed
for nearly 2,000 years.
As the world changes and faith evolves,
his authority remains.
What began with one apostle
has become 1.2 billion followers
under one man.
He is the head of the Catholic Church,
the pope,
and this is his path to power.
In this episode,
a young man of faith
challenges the tyranny of communism,
changes the face of the Catholic Church,
and reimagines the future of the oldest office on Earth.
John Paul II is perhaps the most recognizable pope
of the modern era.
- Deliver us, Lord, from every evil.
narrator: Often called the TV Pope,
he brings the papacy directly into the homes of Catholics
and non-Catholics alike.
Over the course of his 28-year reign,
John Paul II makes the Pope an international icon.
- I would challenge anyone to think of the names of two
or three Popes before JP II.
No pope, under any circumstance,
has ever had the impact that JP II had.
narrator: Before John Paul II,
the papacy is a quiet vestige of an ancient tradition.
Popes are religious figureheads
atop a hill in Rome,
notorious for their measured diplomacy
in the face of war and injustice.
- In the earlier part of last century,
secular society wouldn't listen to papal authority,
and the papacy became insulated.
- The Pope seemed to be very far away.
The Pope didn't seem to be involved in your everyday life.
narrator: But Karol Wojtyla, the young Polish scholar
who will become John Paul II,
changes the face of the Catholic church forever.
- His mother died when he was eight years old.
His brother died shortly after that.
He was raised by his father in a very pious household.
His father was a man of deep prayer, a man of piety.
Wojtyla once referred to his home as his first seminary.
- He prayed every day.
There was a kneeler in their living room.
- He was a very deeply spiritual and religious man,
even as a young man.
narrator: In 1938, 18-year-old
Wojtyla moves to Krakow
to attend the Jagiellonian University.
- Wojtyla, as a young man, wanted to be an actor.
- He wanted to study theater and literature,
but he's only able to do that for a year.
- The Nazis invade Poland.
- World War II begins.
It was the Nazis' goal to eviscerate Polish culture,
so the Jagiellonian University in Krakow is closed.
narrator: With his life and country in turmoil,
Wojtyla remains grounded in his faith
and searches for a creative outlet.
- He gathered together with others in an acting troupe
that met in secret.
It was really plays that combined religious
and themes of Christ with anti-Nazi resistance.
- They call it the Rhapsodic Theater.
narrator: But in February 1941,
Wojtyla returns home to find his father,
his only remaining relative, dead of a heart attack.
- He writes at one point that, "At the age of 20,
I lost everyone I ever loved."
So he has to deal with this incredible adversity
of the Nazis
and no college to attend without any family members.
- It is profoundly affecting this young man
who is deeply religious.
He wanted a different kind of Catholicism
than just going to church on Sunday.
- This becomes the catalyst for Karol, which he had to think
about a vocation to the priesthood.
- But he had to make up his mind.
Did he want to be a priest, or did he want to be an actor?
He decided that the priesthood was his calling.
- He joins up with this underground seminary
at great risk to his life.
I think if these people were found out by the Nazis,
they would probably be put to death.
narrator: As war rages around him...
Wojtyla continues to study for the priesthood in secret,
until finally, in 1945, the Allies liberate Poland,
and the Nazis flee.
But as Polish society attempts to rebuild,
a new regime rises to fill the political vacuum,
the Soviet Communist government.
- The Polish church had been almost destroyed
under the Nazis
and then suppressed again under the communism.
- Communism means the state rules over all,
and that faith is frowned upon
because that takes you away
from the imperative of the good of the people.
Your faith is put into the state
instead of being put into God.
People thought of communism as a religion in and of itself,
and so for Karol Wojtyla, this becomes a very big deal.
- Imagine being ruled in succession by Nazism
and then suddenly by communism.
narrator: Religion is not outlawed,
but the communist regime
distributes anti-religious propaganda
and continues persecuting clergymen.
- The church in Eastern Europe had to operate
silently, under government control.
- Wojtyla insisted
that the person has priority over the state,
but that was a message that was very unwelcome
in Communist Poland at the time.
There is this defiance that takes shape
at a very early age.
narrator: Wojtyla holds secret masses in the mountains,
preaching the importance
of spirituality and religious freedom
to his young congregation.
- Karol Wojtyla would have been happy to be a parish priest
for his whole life,
but that wasn't to be.
- Particularly because of his counseling to young people,
he became greatly respected by the hierarchy of the Vatican.
narrator: In 1958, he is named Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow.
- The other Bishops and Cardinals said,
"This is someone who has a lot of promise."
narrator: And in 1962, the young bishop from Poland
will make a splash at a Vatican Council,
where he catches not only the attention of the Pope,
but the entire world.
narrator: The Catholic Church is an institution
rooted in traditions of the past,
but the 1960s were a time of radical social
and political change.
- Beginnings of when we start to see priests and nuns
marching in the Civil Rights Movement,
nuns ditching their habits
and wearing street clothes to teach.
- The world is changing,
and the church has to change to keep up
with what's going on in the world.
The church needed renewal. Needed updating.
male announcer: This is the first Ecumenical Council
in 92 years and only the second in 400 years.
It is solemnly opened as Pope John XXIII--
narrator: In 1962, officials from all over the world
gather in St. Peter's Basilica for a series of meetings
that will shake the foundation of Catholicism.
The event is called The Second Vatican Council,
or Vatican II.
- Vatican II is the biggest story in the Catholic Church
of the last 200 years.
It called for a decentralization
of Church authority.
- It suggested that the church might be run in different ways.
It produced liturgy in which people could worship
in their own languages.
It also, very cautiously,
began to think about the position of women
in the church.
- It called for an intensified dialogue with Protestants
and with non-Christians.
It called for a healing with the Jews,
greater sensitivity in foreign missions to the local cultures,
a total pivot of a church
that for 200 years considered modernity suspect.
narrator: During Vatican II, Karol Wojtyla
makes an impression on top Vatican officials.
- Dear brothers and sisters, a warm welcome to you all.
- He was an eager participant who often spoke.
- He was able to take part
in many of the debates about theology and ecclesiology.
They came to recognize him as a man who could speak
about the faith with courage and clarity.
They came to appreciate his charismatic character,
his personal magnetism.
narrator: In 1967, Wojtyla is appointed Cardinal,
adding momentum to his ongoing fight for religious freedom
under communist tyranny in Poland.
- He wanted to build a church in Nowa Huta,
and the communists said no,
but he wouldn't take no for an answer.
narrator: Wojtyla erects a large cross
in the center of town,
but communist authorities remove it.
He erects another cross, and again, it is removed.
- He was a very persistent man,
so he's gonna try everything in his power
to get the church built.
narrator: The struggle goes on for a decade,
but eventually, with the help of hundreds of volunteers,
the church is built and becomes a symbol
of unwavering faith
in the face of communist persecution.
- He was always trying to carve out space for church freedom.
- He just believed that ultimately,
truth and justice are going to prevail.
- Wojtyla had taken on the communists.
narrator: In August 1978 a new pope, John Paul I, is elected.
- In an extraordinary turn of events,
he has a massive heart attack, dies in his sleep.
- John Paul I dies after 30 days.
You have to have another election immediately.
- The cardinals saw the death of John Paul I
as a message from God that maybe they needed to think
in a little bit more of an unconventional way.
Why elect a non-Italian Slavic Pope
to make this radical change from the past?
- And that election brings forth Karol Wojtyla,
who comes to be John Paul II.
- The conclave that elected him,
they didn't know what they were gonna get.
narrator: In October 1978, after a conclave lasting only
two days,
58-year-old Karol Wojtyla takes the name
John Paul II to honor his predecessor.
- He was young, he was vigorous, boundless energy,
and this tremendous sense
of having survived two totalitarian regimes.
John Paul II was a larger then life person.
who said, "Open your hearts to Christ."
I think it was watched by millions of people
and hundreds of thousands went to St Peter's Square.
It was a rather extraordinary event.
- The feeling in the square
was one of amazement and some confusion.
Who was this guy, Wojtyla?
- The election of JP II really just gave Poland
an electrifying jolt forward.
narrator: Under the thumb of the Soviets, Karol Wojtyla
had rarely been able to speak to large audiences,
but as John Paul II,
his inaugural papal address is broadcast all over the world,
and on this stage,
he gives a special message to his homeland.
- He said, "Be not afraid."
- The idea to the modern Poland
in the late 1970s of
"be not afraid" carried enormous impact.
"Don't pay any attention to those communist rats
that are oppressing you."
- Now that he's Pope, communists realize
he was gonna cause more problems for them.
narrator: With the power of the Church at his disposal,
Pope John Paul II prepares to face communism head on.
narrator: In 1978,
the U.S. and the Soviet Union reign as global superpowers.
Communism and democracy stand at odds,
and the world teeters on the edge of nuclear war.
In the Vatican, a Pope who came of age
under Soviet oppression in Poland,
brings a fresh and hopeful voice to the world stage.
- I can still remember the elation of his early years
and the tremendous sense
that God had sent us a megastar as Pope.
He brought this vision to the church.
- When Pope John Paul II was elected,
he pushed the church's influence into areas
where the church had never had a voice before.
- The Vatican realizes that having its own media--
they have a daily newspaper, the Vatican Radio,
they have a press office--
it's another way to get the message out.
- He took the papacy to the people.
He became the evangelizer in chief.
narrator: Media and technology allow his pontificate
to reach the furthest corners of the globe.
- This was a real break from the past
because Popes kept to themselves,
but Pope John Paul II was determined to get out there
and let people see him.
It marked a real change in the papacy.
- His access is a completely different kind of access.
The Pope became a household figure
instead of this distant robed figure
who lived behind the walls of Vatican City.
- His outgoing personality, his training as an actor,
all of that becomes a way
to make people feel like the Pope
means something to me.
narrator: As the Pope's message of freedom and faith
permeates the West,
the Soviets tighten their grip on the Eastern Bloc.
John Paul II, the first Polish pope in history,
acts as a beacon of hope to his ravaged homeland.
- For Poland, this was a triumph of the Polish church,
which had been suppressed under the Nazis
and then suppressed again under the communists.
- This young man who's remembering the life
that he had in Poland under communism
and wanting to really rid the world
of what he considered to be a scourge.
narrator: In the spring of 1979,
under the watchful eye of communist authorities,
John Paul II makes his first visit as Pope to Poland.
Millions watch the historic event on TV,
including future U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
- I happened to be with Ronald Reagan watching JP II
get off the airplane in Poland...
Descend the steps, bend over, and kiss the ground.
Really, really emotional.
I looked at Reagan, and he had a tear in his eye.
I interpreted it as having enormous historical experience.
- Reagan recognizes what this pope represents
because Reagan,
of course, is this anti-communist,
and he recognizes this kindred soul
who he believes is gonna change the world.
narrator: An estimated 3 million people
attend his mass.
The Pope tells his countrymen
that they cannot be controlled by their government.
He urges Polish Catholics to persevere with the strength
that comes from faith.
- The people who had gathered en masse began to sing
"We want God, we want God."
What could the authorities do?
The Pope's assistant whispers to him
after a number of minutes,
"Perhaps we should put an end to this,"
and the Pope said back, "No, no, this is why I came."
- He spends nine days there, nine very significant days.
He tells people,
"Don't listen to what the government says about you.
"You're Poles, you're Christians,
"and have a certain dignity
that the state does not uphold."
This lit a spark
that led the Polish people to resist communism.
- Two thirds of the people of the population of Poland
saw him in person.
This was an earthshattering event.
narrator: The Pope's visit inspires an anti-communist
uprising called Solidarity.
- He supports the Solidarity Movement in Poland.
He's able to move forward
the movement against communism in Eastern Europe.
- There are strikes,
the workers are demanding a union,
and the Pope supports them.
Unions and totalitarian systems can't coexist.
The two don't go together,
so the Soviet Union saw him as a real threat.
They followed him.
There was a lot of surveillance of his residence.
They're quite worried about him.
narrator: Threats from the soviets do not derail
John Paul II's mission.
He embarks upon a world tour.
- He makes the world his parish.
- He is someone who was seen in person
by more people than anyone in the history of the Earth.
narrator: Popes had traveled in the past,
but never before had one Pope reached
so many people in so many different places.
- I began flying on John Paul II's jets around the world
as part of the journalistic corps.
He visited 129 countries. He logged over 700,000 miles.
He made 14 trips to Africa.
During that time, the Catholic population of Africa doubled.
- Huge screens, rock and roll screens up behind him.
Today it might seem, "Well, everybody does that."
Not when he started to do it.
The idea of a Pope in stadiums all over the world--
he had a great understanding of his power.
narrator: John Paul II drives through the streets
in what will come to be known as the Popemobile,
an open vehicle
allowing the Pope to truly connect with the millions
who flocked to see him.
- It wasn't glassed in or anything like that.
He would reach out to the crowds.
He'd pick up babies.
Mingle with people in a very different way
than when he's standing behind an altar.
This left him open, but it also left him open
in ways that may be dangerous.
narrator: As the Pope reaches more and more people,
and his message of defiance becomes louder,
the target on his back becomes larger.
narrator: As John Paul II tours the world,
spreading his message of faith and freedom,
the superstar Pope amasses millions of adoring fans--
and one powerful enemy.
- The Pope, former Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland,
shot today in serious condition.
narrator: In the middle of a cheering crowd
in St Peter's Square...
Pope John Paul II is shot.
The shooter is immediately apprehended and arrested.
- The bullet misses the main artery by fractions of inches.
He always credits Blessed Mother with saving him.
One hand fired, but another guided the bullet,
and that other is the Blessed Mother.
narrator: The would-be assassin claims the order
to kill the Pope came down from the KGB,
a bombshell accusation that Italian police
are never able to prove.
- Whether there were orders from Moscow,
nobody's ever been able to find them,
but the Soviets,
they understood what a threat he was.
I think the most credible explanation
is that the would-be assassin
undertook an opportunistic moment
to carry out what the Soviets wanted.
narrator: Eventually, Pope John Paul II
visits his shooter in prison.
- He decides to meet with the man who tries to kill him.
He's offering forgiveness to this person
who has done this horrible thing to him.
That's a profound moment.
- That's justice for an unjust act.
Yet the Holy Father shows him mercy
by forgiving him,
and it says something about leadership.
It's about sacrifice on behalf of the people you lead.
narrator: Just 22 days after eluding death, the resilient
Pope returns to the Vatican.
- His papacy is not adversely affected
in any significant way
by the assassination attempt.
There's a short interruption, but he continues to travel.
narrator: In June 1981,
the Kremlin declares martial law in Poland.
Thousands of activists are jailed,
and almost 100 members of the Solidarity Movement
are killed.
- He grew up under Nazism, and then communism
further represses Polish society.
That's his formation. This is his culture.
He wants to try to restore
this fundamental principle of justice.
- Pope John Paul II sees a people
that are oppressed by the Soviet Union,
and he sees something that is wrong,
and he wants to set it right.
narrator: Breaking with hundreds of years
of Vatican political neutrality,
Pope John Paul II meets with President Ronald Reagan,
determined to unite in a common mission.
- So, many people thought Ronald Reagan had to be
a Catholic, but wasn't.
- As you know, Your Holiness,
this is my first visit to Europe as president.
- Reagan had a basic desire to throw off
the shackles of communism,
and the Pope is an international figure
who has enormous moral suasion and force,
and he wanted to do something,
so there was a combination of forces.
narrator: The Vatican and White House
work together to fund the Polish Solidarity Movement.
- John Paul II would show up in major cities
where the Solidarity Movement was strong,
and there would be a million people
there listening to his every word,
and every time he used the word Solidarity,
they knew he was speaking their language.
- The Solidarity Movement probably would have died
but were it not for
the involvement of Reagan and the Pope,
a holy alliance between the Church
and the Reagan presidency,
to help undermine communism in Poland.
narrator: With the support of Reagan and the Pope,
Solidarity membership grows to more than ten million.
In July 1983, the movement overthrows the Polish military
and martial law is lifted.
The Pope is praised all over the world as a brave activist,
capable of catalyzing real global change.
- It was a convergence of time,
and the commitment of will by the Holy Father,
the commitment of the United States made this possible.
Just an extraordinary moment.
- It's because of actions he took in Poland,
that really sets forward a chain of events
that helps lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
narrator: John Paul II fundamentally changes
the role of the papacy for generations to come.
He takes an institution known for its quiet piety
in the face of war and tragedy
and uses the platform to change history.
- This doesn't mean that every one of his decisions
as Pope was perfect.
It doesn't mean he never made mistakes.
- John Paul II made the papacy glamorous and exciting.
But the danger now is that people remember the glamour,
and they don't recognize
the really serious defects in his papacy.
He did nothing about the sexual abuse
by priests all over the world,
not just here in the United States.
- He did not seek to aggressively investigate,
didn't much want to know about it,
and it's a stain.
- He knew how to be heroic in front of tyranny,
but he could never really grasp
how to deal with the modern Western World.
narrator: In a world rapidly changing its views
on civil rights and sexual freedom,
John Paul II's social policies remained deeply traditional.
- He spoke out about human rights
almost everywhere he went,
but John Paul II did not hesitate
to wade into controversial issues--
the reproductive rights, population control--
and he was known as somewhat an authoritarian.
- He shut down debates on major issues.
He wanted everybody to believe what he believed.
- The great irony of John Paul II's papacy
is that while he tried to boost papal authority,
at his death,
despite the millions at his funeral,
papal authority was lower and respect for the papacy
was lower than at any time in recent history.
He was a rock star,
but even people who respected the papacy
knew they couldn't trust it anymore.
- It took his successors to finally say,
"We must deal with this."
narrator: Despite all he accomplished,
John Paul II's successors are tasked
with renewing the world's faith in a broken church.
narrator: At the beginning of the 20th century,
popes keep quiet in the face of secular unrest.
But John Paul II uses his platform
to ignite real change in the name of faith
and human rights.
- We now, today, expect the Pope to be a global spokesman
for people who are oppressed.
We expect him to be a moral voice.
That is, in part, the legacy of John Paul II.
narrator: Although he is responsible
for making the Pope a player on the world stage,
he is also responsible for many of the obstacles
the modern papacy is still working to overcome.
- He had a tendency to regard any other view
of being a Catholic as a piece of treachery.
- He came down hard on some issues
that were not popular, like birth control.
With Pope Benedict, we got more of the same.
Benedict was a teacher and a very doctrinal Pope.
- Benedict was one of the cleverest Popes
in papal history,
one of the best educated,
but he was scared by the revolutionary energies
which Vatican II unleashed,
and he spent his day fighting against that.
Benedict could not see that the tide will come in,
and there's nothing you can do about it.
narrator: Pope Benedict XVI is known as a scholar.
Through his prolific writings,
he defends fundamental Christian values
and rarely travels or makes public appearances.
- John Paul II makes it very difficult for his successors.
Benedict XVI was more of a theologian.
This is a strenuous position for him
because he's not the kind of guy
who's out in front of the camera.
It's difficult for him.
He doesn't have that same kind of charisma.
narrator: In 2013,
unable to meet the demands of the modern papacy,
Benedict XVI resigns.
- Benedict resigns chiefly because he could not keep up.
narrator: After Benedict's resignation,
the College of Cardinals
realizes that the church needs a progressive voice.
The first Jesuit Pope and the first Pope
to come from the Americas is elected.
- Francis is a tremendously interesting man in that
he is Argentinian.
- There's a simplicity and a humanity.
- As a cardinal, as a Bishop,
he went into dangerous areas.
He shared people's lives and homes and meals with them.
It's part of a larger movement
within the South American clergy
to ally themselves with the poor, unlike any other Popes.
narrator: With Pope Francis comes an era
of unprecedented change.
he has made revolutionary statements about divorce,
birth control,
even offered forgiveness for women who've had abortions.
He also rejects traditional church pomp and circumstance.
- Right off the bat, of course, Francis rode the bus
with the Cardinals,
refused the chauffeured car;
he kept his old pair of black shoes.
These are small, token things,
but in the popular imagination of Catholics,
they count for quite a bit.
- Giving communion to divorced Catholics who were remarried,
trying to say that homosexuals
who are trying to follow Christ in their lives
should not be spoken against.
This is what gives him his tremendous popularity,
his ability to talk to all sorts of different people,
and to listen.
- His project is to get the church to grow up,
to live with difficulty of difference, to be more open,
to be more welcoming and more merciful,
and he's having to use all the weight of the papacy
to achieve that.
narrator: Francis continues to challenge
some of the core tenets of Catholicism.
As the world changes faster than ever before,
how will he lead this ancient office into the future?
narrator: 2,000 years ago,
one could not have envisioned the world
contemporary popes would have to navigate,
and yet, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis,
have reimagined the ancient institution in a modern world.
- The papacy is a complex institution.
It develops even in spite of some of the popes.
- From day one, Pope Francis said the papacy
has to be adapted to modern times.
He has let it be known that the church's main role
is not to issue decrees, rules and documents,
but to get as close as possible to everyday people.
narrator: With 21st century technology,
the papacy is able to reach more everyday people
than ever before.
- The Pope's on Twitter,
and when we thought about a Twitter handle,
one of the titles of the pope is pontifex,
which is an old title of the Roman Emperor
which is about the bridge builder,
and we thought bridge building would be a nice image,
because what the pope was trying to do
in social media was build bridges.
- His predecessor, John Paul II,
had answers before the questions had been asked.
Francis is a listener.
- We're trying to build now is a structure
where if somebody has a question out of an interest,
or as happens very often, the pope tweets
and there's somebody coming back saying,
"My child is sick, could somebody pray for my child?"
We're trying to get communities around the world
to give a response to the people
so that our communication isn't just one way.
It's interactive.
- A Pope embracing change can move the world.
narrator: The last three men to hold the Holy Office
have taken an ancient tradition
and translated it for a modern era.
- John Paul throws open the doors of the papacy
and says we will engage at the highest level.
Then you have Benedict who is a professor, who revives
the great philosophical tradition of the church.
And then you have Francis, who said, "In God is mercy."
So in those three men, we have the mind
and the soul and the heart,
and the combination, I think,
really present a holistic picture
of what the papacy is,
especially in this modern time.
- The word pope comes from the Greek, papas,
which means father.
- This is something that in some eras
was probably lost when popes
acted like princes or kings
and ruled over their subjects, but in the modern age,
I think it's come back very much to the forefront.
Francis kids around with people, he makes jokes,
he listens, takes selfies.
His whole mode of being Pope is fatherly.
narrator: 2,000 years after God deems Peter the rock
upon which he would build his church,
the papacy remains a beacon of faith and unity.
- Being pope today is totally different than being pope
in the early days of the church,
but Peter is always kept in mind
by every single person who sits on Peter's throne.
- The reason the papacy has been able to be so vibrant,
- Francis understands what the papacy is,
but at the same time, he's made it his own.
- We have generations of young people who are not
going to automatically join the church
just because their parents did.
Francis wants to bring a new energy
and a whole new perspective to get people's attention.
- He's been a huge encouragement
to a huge number of Catholics
who have felt increasingly ashamed of the institution,
worried by it,
and he's put a spring back
in the step of a great many Catholics.
- If I could answer the question of what's next,
that would be a very marketable skill
that I could bring anywhere in the world,
and I wouldn't presume to know what's next.
The thing I'm interested-- how the patterns
of communication are going to change things,
and I think we're only at the beginning of that.
narrator: Throughout the ages,
popes have been revered and disgraced.
Some have built walls while others have torn them down,
but despite war and famine,
through enlightenment and innovation,
the 266 men who've held this sacred office
have made the pope
the most powerful man in history.