Paul Ii

Pope Benedict XVI unveiled yesterday an itinerary for his first trip to the United States that will take him to the White House, the United Nations and Ground Zero in April, giving many Americans an up-close glimpse of the pope. Pope Benedict, who became pontiff in 2005, has not traveled as much as his globe-trotting predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who drew tens of thousands of the faithful at stops around the world. The six-day trip is limited to Washington and New York, and does not include a Baltimore stop that had been sought by Cardinal William H. Keeler, the city's former archbishop.

With the start of the Catholic Holy Year scheduled for Christmas, the question of Pope John Paul II's health takes on fresh urgency.Millions of pilgrims will visit Rome for the rare combination of millennial and Holy Year observances, highlighted by an extraordinary number of papal audiences. Away from Rome, the pope is planning a March visit to the Holy Land, and is said to want to visit biblical sites in Iraq and Mount Sinai as well.The ordinary demands of the modern papacy are crushing enough for a young man. But with an assassination attempt and six subsequent surgeries behind him, John Paul II will be 80 on May 18. He has served as a bishop of Rome for more than 21 years, and will soon become the eighth longest-reigning pope in history.

Karol Wojtyla, the Polish archbishop of Krakow, made history 20 years ago today when he became Pope John Paul II and the first non-Italian pontiff in 456 years.And that was just the beginning.The most traveled pope in history, he has visited 119 countries. He has likely been seen in person, and on television, by more people than anyone before him. He has put a lasting stamp on the church by appointing 90 percent of the cardinals who will vote on his successor.And at age 78, he is not ready to quit yet. Just yesterday, he issued his 13th encyclical, "Faith and Reason," which asserts the existence of divine, eternal truth and emphasizes the importance of a philosophical underpinning, especially the classical masters such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, for theological study.

FEW PEOPLE in the Archdiocese of Baltimore were surprised to see the name of Archbishop J. Francis Stafford on the list of 22 new cardinals announced by Pope John Paul II this week. As a native of Catonsville, graduate of local Catholic schools, former head of Associated Catholic Charities, auxiliary bishop and urban vicar for the archdiocese, Cardinal Stafford has a deep and lifelong association with this community.While archbishop of Denver, Cardinal Stafford played host to Pope John Paul II and some 400,000 other Catholics at World Youth Day in August 1993, a huge but peaceful gathering sometimes referred to as the "Catholic Woodstock."

THOUGH he's remarkable in so many ways, today Pope John Paul II adds to his distinction by marking his 20th anniversary as ++ head of the Roman Catholic Church. He joins just 11 other popes who served beyond two decades.The average ministry of the previous 260 or so bishops of Rome lasted less than eight years. On average, a papacy of 20 years or more occurs only once every 150 years.Writing around 1866, the eminent Cardinal John Henry Newman (who John Paul II wants to canonize) said that such lengthy pontificates are bad for the church, inducing too much hardening of ecclesiastical arteries.

HAVANA -- Calling himself a "pilgrim of love, of truth and of hope," Pope John Paul II arrived in Cuba's capital yesterday for a historic five-day visit to the euphoric cheers of the hundreds of thousands who lined his parade route.The pontiff slowly descended from his Alitalia jet into the bright tropical sunshine to kiss a box of Cuban soil raised to his lips by four children.Pope John Paul, the 77-year-old, staunch anti-Communist who helped tear down the Iron Curtain, was greeted by President Fidel Castro, Cuba's 71-year-old Communist dictator, dressed in a blue double-breasted suit instead of his usual military fatigues.

Critique of pope's 20 years in Vatican is praised, criticizedThe Opinion Commentary article by Father Joseph Gallagher "Pope John Paul II's reign" (Oct. 16) follows his Perspective article "Holy Father, holy truth" three years ago (Oct. 1, 1995), presented on the occasion of the Pope's visit to Baltimore.In his earlier article, Father Gallagher virtually claimed papal primacy and authority to be a fraud, a "papal myth" foisted on the church over the centuries. In his recent article, Father Gallagher attempts to document the historical development of this presumed fraudulent teaching.

HAVANA -- Pope John Paul II issued a stern denunciation of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba yesterday in a letter to the nation's youth, calling such sanctions "deplorable because they always hurt the most needy."The letter was released during a Mass dedicated to Cuba's youth celebrated in Camaguey, a city about 300 miles east of the capital. During his homily, which Pope John Paul read in slow, deliberate and sometimes slurred Spanish, he quoted the Epistle to the Romans in instructing the youth: "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

ONE can only cry so much about Cuba's sorry condition after 39 years of Communist dictatorship. Crumbling buildings, prostitution running rampant -- not even in dictator Fulgencio Batista's day was it that bad.Here I was watching television, staring at the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a huge mural that the Communist government placed into Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion for the pope's Sunday Mass, and crying.Here I was watching a frail-looking but forceful pope calling for political pluralism and human rights for Cuba.

HAVANA -- Gladis Pose, clutching a plastic bag of groceries, walked across Plaza de la Revolucion yesterday morning and saw an unbelievable sight: a giant picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus overlooking the Communist nation's political center."

Calling for a "sanctuary in a suffering city," Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien dedicated the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden in downtown Baltimore yesterday before unveiling a bronze statue of the late pontiff. Speaking at Charles and Franklin streets, the archbishop said he hoped the new green space - the site of the demolished 100-year-old Rochambeau apartments - would become a symbol of the rebirth of "many, many more Baltimore street corners." He described Baltimore as a city "where too many street corners are just places where drug deals take place and where gunfire inevitably follows."

WASHINGTON -- With his visits to a synagogue and a mosque, his acknowledgment of the sins of Christians against Muslims and Jews, and his decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, Pope John Paul II won the appreciation and trust of believers of other faiths the world over. His successor, meeting today with leaders of other faiths during his first American visit, is developing a very different kind of reputation. In his three years as spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI has alienated other Christians with his repeated assertion that his is the one true church.

It may seem an unlikely story, but Joe Sheppard's career as portraitist to popes and cardinals had its genesis in a boxing ring. "Years ago, I used to box every Saturday at Mack Lewis' gym on Broadway," recalls the 77-year-old Maryland artist, who now lives part of each year in Pietrasanta, Italy. "One day, this guy who had been playing basketball comes over and says, `Can I box with you?' So I said OK. I never knew his name or anything." Years later, Sheppard ran into the fellow at a party.

Baltimore native Joseph Sheppard has painted public figures including former President George H.W. Bush and filmmaker John Waters, and his portraits can be found in government buildings, churches and galleries. But his latest work of art will be in the open for all to see: a 7-foot- tall bronze statue of the late Pope John Paul II. Sheppard's statue will be the focal point of the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden, a $1.5 million monument and contemplative space planned for the southwest corner of Charles and Franklin streets.

Pope Benedict XVI unveiled yesterday an itinerary for his first trip to the United States that will take him to the White House, the United Nations and Ground Zero in April, giving many Americans an up-close glimpse of the pope. Pope Benedict, who became pontiff in 2005, has not traveled as much as his globe-trotting predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who drew tens of thousands of the faithful at stops around the world. The six-day trip is limited to Washington and New York, and does not include a Baltimore stop that had been sought by Cardinal William H. Keeler, the city's former archbishop.

ROME -- In life, Pope John Paul II moved crowds like a rock star. Now a cadre of theologians, cardinals and medical doctors from the Vatican will determine if the late pontiff should soar to the level of sainthood. A third-floor office that overlooks St. Peter's Square, which echoed in April 2005 with funeral prayers for the former Karol Wojtyla, is where the decision will be weighed. By April 2, all documents on the spiritual life and times of the Polish pope will be carted into the rarefied sanctum of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

When Pope Benedict XVI was elected almost 18 months ago, some people within and outside the Roman Catholic Church predicted that his background would shift the papacy away from the interfaith outreach that was the legacy of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. They say the flap over Pope Benedict's comments regarding Islam and the Prophet Muhammad support their predictions and illustrate the need for him to recognize that he has grown from high-ranking Vatican...

Local and national Muslim leaders denounced yesterday a recent speech by Pope Benedict XVI that included a 14th-century reference describing the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman" and urged the pope to carry on the outreach of his predecessor. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Muslim-Catholic dialogue and said it is seeking a meeting with the Vatican's Washington representative. "Let us all continue the interfaith efforts promoted by the late Pope John Paul II, who made great strides in bringing Muslims and Catholics together for the common good," the council said in a statement released yesterday.

WARSAW, POLAND -- Pope Benedict XVI began a four-day pilgrimage to the Polish homeland of his predecessor yesterday, honoring the legacy of the late Pope John Paul II while praising this overwhelmingly Catholic country as a model of faith. Thousands of Poles, curious to see a pope who wasn't Polish, lined many miles of roadway along the German-born Benedict's route into Warsaw. They cheered his motorcade and waved banners with his picture and the slogan of the visit: "Stand firm in your faith."

Two major networks are about to unveil their competing biographical treatments of Pope John Paul II, arriving as sober-minded preludes to later, lighter holiday fare. First, there's ABC's TV movie Have No Fear: The Life of John Paul II (8 p.m. tonight), then CBS' two-part miniseries, Pope John Paul II (beginning 9 p.m. Sunday). The verdict is fairly straightforward. The more star-studded CBS effort (which concludes at 8 p.m. Wednesday) is twice as long and twice as effective. ABC's Have No Fear is dignified and respectful, and it covers an even wider span of the late pope's life than the CBS venture.