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Pope John Paul II did more harm than good

As the most widely-travelled Pope in history, John Paul II spread the word of God to more places than anyone before him. When he spoke out in Poland he hastened the fall of Communism. His apologies for the Catholic Church’s historical cruelties to Jews, Galileo, women and Muslim victims of the Crusades heralded a new age of reconciliation with people of other beliefs.

The problem however, is that whatever his personal popularity, praising John Paul as a unifying moral authority means ignoring the criticisms directed at the Church under his leadership. Under John Paul II, the Vatican was firmly opposed to homosexuality, contraception and divorce; it held outdated views on female subservience and it was intolerant of dissent. And John Paul’s record at forging links with other religions certainly wasn’t perfect.