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 Main | Biography | Successors | Selection Process | Photo Essay Quiz | Video Gallery | Pictorial Biography | Legacy World wishes Pope John Paul II a happy 80th birthday
VATICAN CITY -- Tributes from world leaders are pouring in to the Vatican today as Roman Catholics celebrate the 80th birthday of Pope John Paul II. The pope celebrated Mass this morning with 3,000 priests, 250 bishops and scores of cardinals in St. Peter's Square. In the evening, the London Symphony Orchestra will play Haydn's "The Creation" in a concert in the pope's honor.
Despite failing health, the pope has continued his travels around the world, often promoting the cause of peace. He has made 92 journeys outside Italy to 123 countries and territories, earning himself the title of the globetrotting pope. "An exceptional man" said Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, in a birthday message published in Thursday's Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano. "The pope did everything possible to help humanity out of its era of hate," Gorbachev said. Italian President Carlo Ciampi said: "Europe owes you so much. The world owes you much for your tenacious commitment to the defense of man." "Your sensitivity, your gestures conquered the hearts of all Israelis," said Ehud Barak, Israel's Prime Minister, recalling John Paul's trip to the Middle East. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said, "We pray God give you a long life, good health, serenity and peace so that you can continue to spread the Christian message of love and peace." Mass is 'largest concelebration' everIn the past the pope has celebrated his birthday privately, with a few friends and close aides. But with his 80th birthday falling during the Holy Year, 2000, he is marking the event publicly. "Usually he doesn't really celebrate his birthdays," said U.S. Cardinal John Patrick Foley. "He likes to celebrate his feast day, which is the feast of St. Charles Borromeo on November 4th because his name is Karol Wojtila, Charles, and he usually marks that date. "But in this case, on his 80th birthday, he will be concelebrating a Mass with many priests from all over the world. They say it will be the largest concelebration in the history of the world." On Friday John Paul will address ambassadors from the 173 countries and institutions that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Balloons' release to help Africa's AIDS-orphaned childrenBalloons released overnight carry a simple message: "Happy birthday John Paul II" as well as an Internet address. The idea is that people can visit the website from which they can send the pope a greeting and donate money to African children orphaned by AIDS. The event was organized by Cor Unum, the charitable foundation of the Vatican State, and by the Ele Foundation, a German company specializing in children's entertainment. The Polish pontiff, the first non-Italian to head the See of St. Peter in more than 450 years, has seen and touched more people, met more leaders and visited more countries than any before him. His pace has been unrelenting since, while Archbishop of Krakow, he was elected pope in October 1978. On his doctors' insistence, his recent trips have involved fewer encounters, but his pace hardly wavers despite infirmity. Stooped when he walks -- a legacy of hip surgery six years ago -- suffering from hand tremors and slurred speech associated with what many believe to be Parkinson's Disease, John Paul still believes that he, as Christ's representative on earth, has to be seen by the faithful. Pope still envisions trips to China, RussiaThe pontiff still wants to visit China and, if differences with the Russian Orthodox Church can be eased, he also wants to go to Moscow. This year alone he has seen Mount Sinai in Egypt, fulfilled his dream to walk in Jesus' footsteps in the Holy Land, and revisited Fatima and its shrine to the Virgin Mary. He believes Mary interceded to save his life when he was shot in an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in 1981.
John Paul's hard-line conservatism over dogma and morals have disillusioned many liberal Catholics, who had hoped his papacy would ease the Church's doctrine on birth control, women clerics, homosexuality and marriage for priests. But few would deny that he has used his moral authority for good, to stare down dictators in his fight for human rights and dignity. John Paul was instrumental in the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe through support for the Solidarity movement in Poland, where he is a national hero. On Thursday evening as the pope listens to "The Creation", there will be a concert of Polish pop musicians in the main square in Wadowice, the town in the south of the country where John Paul was born. Back in Rome, Italy's largest organ has been presented to the Roman Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs by Francesco Rutelli, Mayor of Rome, as a tribute to the pontiff's birthday. The 45-foot-high organ was built using traditional methods. Its construction took nine years. Concert to emphasize religion's common rootsThursday's celebrations will strike the note he has sounded throughout his papacy: acclaiming the roots shared by Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- this time in the Haydn concert directed under the baton of a Jewish conductor. "He wants to continue working I'm sure until the time God calls him," Archbishop Foley said this week in Rome. "And he won't give up before then." The ailing pontiff assured Catholics in a highly personal open letter to the elderly last year. "Despite the limitations brought on by age, I continue to enjoy life. "It is wonderful to be able to give oneself to the very end for the sake of the Kingdom of God." John Paul invited priests from around the world to join him in celebrating the Mass at St. Peter's. In addition, there will be special birthday Masses celebrated at churches throughout Poland. The celebrations sustain a theme of his papacy: building a bridge between Christians and Jews, and followers of other faiths worldwide. 'Statement about universality of man'Like his prayers at Jerusalem's Western Wall in March, the point is being made largely symbolically. John Paul chose Brooklyn-born Jewish conductor Gilbert Levine to conduct Haydn's "Creation" for the birthday serenade. The 19th-century work depicts the start of the universe by the common God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. "There's a tremendous statement there about the universality of man," said Levine. "It's who the pope is." Levine first met the pontiff in 1987, after Levine assumed the leadership of the Krakow Philharmonic in the pope's former diocese. "I've read all about you," John Paul said without preamble when the conductor walked into his private library at the pope's invitation. Soon after, Levine received an invitation to conduct at the 1988 10th anniversary of John Paul's papacy. It forged an alliance between Jewish conductor and Catholic leader whose symbolism was obvious to observers on both sides. In 1994, Levine took part in a solemn Vatican concert and prayers in mourning for the Holocaust. The pope and Holocaust survivors listened as the Jewish prayer of mourning was read in the center of the Roman Catholic faith. In 1993, Levine joined John Paul and 500,000 young people in a far more joyous occasion, World Youth Day held in Denver. John Paul's kindness to conductor's motherLevine saw other sides of the pope's nature over the years, including his kindness to Levine's mother-in-law, who watched Nazi guards shoot her mother and father to death at Auschwitz. John Paul, born in a small town within sight of the smokestacks of Auschwitz, would sit with the woman, talking quietly in Polish. When she died in 1998, at 75, there were only three pictures in her room -- a small room, Levine noted, because death camps seemed to have left her with a preference for small places. The photos: her dead mother. Her dead father. And the pope. "I believe he was able to soothe her," Levine said. "She actually became more devoted to Judaism ... and more comfortable, and also the pain in her eased." When John Paul paid the private visit to the shrine of the Madonna of Fatima last Friday, he placed before the statue a gold ring given him by his mentor, the late Polish Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. It was such a precious possession that newspapers speculated the gift meant John Paul is about to relinquish the papacy itself. The speculation was "150 percent wrong," the pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said. Given the pope's infirmities and age -- turning 80, he reaches the age when cardinals may no longer cast votes in conclaves to elect new popes -- talk at the Vatican naturally turns to possible successors. But the race is considered wide open, particularly because John Paul has outlived many cardinals seen as possibilities. The Italians, who lost the papacy after 455 years, would like it back. Their candidates include Cardinal Camillo Ruini, head of the Italian bishops' conference, and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the archbishop of Milan, the choice of liberals. Other candidates mentioned around the world include Miloslav Vlk of the Czech Republic, Godfried Danneels of Belgium, Carrera Narberto Rivera of Mexico and Jaime Ortega of Cuba. 'Now is the time to work'John Paul, however, has given no hint of giving up his duties -- although some around him have suggested he might if his symptoms of Parkinson's become incapacitating. Foley, the U.S. archbishop, repeats a saying he said the pope often cites on the subject: "'Heaven is the time to rest. Now is the time to work."' The pontiff was at work last Saturday when he opened another "first" in this Holy Year -- a summer-long "Sports Jubilee." It began with a special Vatican ceremony in which John Paul blessed the three-week Giro d'Italia cycle race. "The interweaving of a sports event and Jubilee celebration contributes to raising awareness of the relationship that must always unite sporting activity and spiritual values," said the pontiff, once a soccer player and skier. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Vatican ends mystery of the third prophecy of Fatima RELATED SITES: Vatican-related sites: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A critical shortage of priests is examined by CNN's Jim Bittermann.
