Thought by some to be the most important visit Israel had ever hosted, Pope John Paul II's "personal spiritual journey" to the Holy Land turned out to be one of the most political of his 22-year pontificate.

Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II by Jonathan Kwitney Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1997

He has urged people to seek the meaning of life while viewing scientific advances through the perspective of spiritual values.

John Paul II lived in momentous times. He saw Eastern Europe freed from the shackles of communism and the European Union coming together to form a potential new superpower to eventually challenge the United States. He would personally impact these...

Hundreds of millions of people around the world kept a daily vigil as the pope lay on his deathbed. Even more tuned in by television to watch his funeral. No funeral in the history of the world was seen by...

Pope John Paul II is 83, now with seriously failing health.

Pope John Paul II came out in August in favor of an international peacekeeping force to quell the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and peace, forgiveness and life," said Pope John Paul II.

The maneuvering for the next pope is in full but silent swing during what Pope John Paul II, now 81, calls the "twilight years" of his papacy.

John Paul II is fully aware that he is 80 years old and infirm. He also knows that his present actions will help shape and undergird the Vatican's policies for the next papal government. He has never been one to...

The latest trip by John Paul II to the Americas underscores the popularity of an aging yet dynamic religious figure.

"The Pope has asked a team of top astronomers to try to find 'the fingerprints of God' amid the chaos of the cosmos," writes Jonathan Leake.