Once again Pope John Paul II has escaped death by a hair's breadth. He returned to the Vatican from a Rome hospital, and we see the figure of suffering and of courage at the familiar window, though his voice is now barely audible. Even for non-Catholics like myself, this is an occasion to ponder what the world will lose when the Pope's body finally succumbs to his ailments.
The picture that emerges is one of a mixture of colors. For those of us who regard the collapse of communism in 1989 as a seminal event of twentieth-century history, Pope John Paul is a hero. In Poland, he was the focus of all the activities of civil society. While in other countries, most emphatically in Romania, but also in what was then Czechoslovakia and in Hungary, the alternative to communism was a vacuum or at best a few isolated organizations in civil society, Poland had an alternative source of legitimacy. Before and after his election, the then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was its most effective representative.
ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Cardinal Wojtyla's election as Pope therefore had a significance far beyond the confines of the Church. Actually he himself did not like the identification of his church with civil society. In a conversation he protested: "No, the Church is not civil society, it is sacred society." This points to another aspect of John Paul II's papacy, more relevant to insiders than to outsiders. In matters of doctrine and ethics, John Paul II represented the conservative view. He was the counterpoint to Pope John?XXIII, who, through the Second Vatican Council of the 1960's and in numerous other ways, tried to reconcile Catholics with the modern age.
Pope John Paul arrested this process and even tried to reverse it. For progressive theologians like Hans Kng, he was and is therefore a force of anti-modernism, even counter-enlightenment.
At the same time, the Pope became the first great traveling Pontiff of modern times, almost a symbol of a globalized world. This meant that his image if not his words reached out to millions who do not belong to his church. There can be few people who will be recognized as widely all over the globe as John Paul II.
By that fact alone, he added a spiritual dimension to an age which is dominated by worldly concerns, such as wealth and show business. Those of us who believe in a multidimensional culture will be grateful to him for his enormous efforts, thus for his "catholicism" in the original sense of the word, his all-embracing concerns.
On the other side of the balance sheet, and despite his global outreach, Pope John Paul II cannot be described as particularly ecumenical. The beginnings of Christian ecumenicism under his predecessors did not advance much in his 25 years.
Paradoxically, he found it easier to reach out to non-Christian religions. The Catholic-Jewish dialogue in particular was in good hands with him. When a distinguished Jewish scholar thanked him for what he had done to cultivate Catholic-Jewish relations, he replied: "That was not me, that was Providence," and then added with his inimitable smile: "And me."
Has he been a man of peace? Yes, of course. But his reign spans a time in which numerous regional conflicts turned violent. There was little he could do in Kosovo or the Congo.
The years of John Paul II's papacy have not actually been a time in which "soft power" could achieve a great deal anywhere, so that Stalin's famous question, "How many divisions has the Pope?," remained topical. This was all the more relevant to the extent that Pope John Paul II is not enamored with the US. There are indications that he shares the old central European prejudice of America as a materialist civilization that provides the wherewithal -- but not the ideas -- for what needs to be done.
The Pope's legacy is, in other words, a story of great strengths and considerable weaknesses. It would be incomplete, however, were one not to mention the warm, curious, friendly, and humorous human being underneath it all. Pope John Paul II is in many ways an intellectual; he may have been underrated in that regard. However, he is also a simple man who connected without effort to others. He bore his suffering since the assassination attempt of 1981 with dignity. As a person, he never failed to impress his many visitors. Even in his current reduced state due to his illness, Pope John Paul II symbolizes human potential.
Ralf Dahrendorf, author of numerous acclaimed books and a former European Commissioner from Germany, is a member of the British House of Lords, a former Rector of the London School of Economics, and a former Warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
In a world increasingly defined by unpredictability, two actors stand out as islands of stability: Europe and Taiwan. One, a sprawling union of democracies, but under immense pressure, grappling with a geopolitical reality it was not originally designed for. The other, a vibrant, resilient democracy thriving as a technological global leader, but living under a growing existential threat. In response to rising uncertainties, they are both seeking resilience and learning to better position themselves. It is now time they recognize each other not just as partners of convenience, but as strategic and indispensable lifelines. The US, long seen as the anchor
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to