In a recently published article, A Saint Among Men, historian Craig Shirley presents a condensed but very complete biography of St. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) on the 20th anniversary of his departure from this world.
The text concludes by stating that "St. John Paul II passed away, but his legacy lives on."
In this article we want to emphasize some of the themes that are part of this living legacy.
First, his fervent exhortation at the beginning of his pontificate to "open wide the doors for Christ" ("Homily for the Inauguration of His Pontificate," Oct. 22, 1978).
At a historical moment in which the two geopolitical blocs that confronted each other both in their political actions and in their ideological and doctrinal foundations — capitalism and communism — were in force, the papal exhortation anticipated what was to be the axis of his pontificate: the proclamation of Jesus Christ and his Gospel message, both inside the Catholic Church and outside it to christianize the world: "To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development" (ibidem).
In this regard, the polish Pope worked tirelessly to ensure that Christian doctrine had a concrete and permanent presence in the economic, social and political life of peoples.
Thus, the spiritual strengthening of the Church was not the ultimate goal of his pontificate, but to bring Christ to the world and make him present in daily life, in order to "recapitule all things in the Lord", according to the famous Pauline phrase (Eph 1: 10)).
Today, more than ever, the world needs to open its doors to Jesus Christ and to place at his feet all things, all realities, so that he may renew them so that the world can be a home for God, not only for man.
Second, in close relation to the above, another component of his living legacy is his constant promotion of the fruitful encounter and dialogue of faith (a divine gift) with Culture (human effort through which man, as man, becomes more human, by instituting principles and values that constitute the ethos of peoples).
This promotion was institutionalized in the life of the Church with the creation of the Pontifical Council for Culture (1982), to forge the synthesis between Culture and Faith, since "a faith that does not become culture is a faith that is not fully accepted, not fully thought out, not faithfully lived" ("Letter for the Creation of the Pontifical Council for Culture," May 20, 1982).
If we consider that today's world is facing an unprecedented challenge — the cancellation of religion in human life and the promotion of transhumanism that conceives of the human being as a purely biological entity, without spiritual reality and without historical memory — that looks to the future but without roots in living Tradition, this papal proposal for the dialogue of the faith with culture becomes more urgent and necessary today than ever before in human history.
In this context, the magisterium of Pope Wojtyla expressed in his famous encyclical "Fides et Ratio" (1998), in which he expresses the ultimate foundation of this dialogue, as the only and indispensable way for the human being to develop fully, by reaching the full knowledge of the ultimate Truth that is God, is increasingly valid: "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves" ("Introduction").
If both faculties function autonomously, not united or integrated, with the sole contribution of reason one can know reality as it is, but without reaching the why and the for what, that is, the ultimate meaning; and with the sole contribution of faith, without rational knowledge, one can only wander in unreality and delirium.
In both cases, the human being can only "live" in an inhuman world: in a world without God or with an imaginary God, without the world that He has created.
Third, his impulse to carry out the new evangelization in accordance with the needs and challenges of the 21st century remains valid in the Wojtilian legacy, but without renouncing the perennial content of the Gospel mandate to proclaim Jesus Christ.
That is to say, the Church must invariably proclaim the Risen Lord until the end of time — "Jesus Christ is the same today as yesterday and forever" — but in new ways and in accordance with the historical epoch we are passing through — an evangelization new in its ardor, new in its methods and new in its forms of expression, always with the same eternal content.
Fourth, the papal exhortation to bring the Reason-Faith dialogue and the evangelization of cultures into the context of the inescapable and inexcusable commitment of all believers in politics remains fully relevant, "In order to achieve their task directed to the Christian animation of the temporal order, in the sense of serving persons and society, the lay faithful are never to relinquish their participation in "public life," that is, in the many different economic, social, legislative, administrative and cultural areas, which are intended to promote organically and institutionally the common good. […] every person has a right and duty to participate in public life, albeit in a diversity and complementarity of forms, levels, tasks and responsibilities."
And so that there is no doubt about the obligation to assume this inexcusable political commitment, he affirms that "the charges of careerism, idolatry of power, egoism and corruption that are oftentimes directed at persons in government, parliaments, the ruling classes, or political parties, as well as the common opinion that participating in politics is an absolute moral danger, does not in the least justify either skepticism or an absence on the part of Christians in public life" (Source: "Christifidelis Laici," n. 42.)
In short, for St. John Paul II the Christian faith must be lived as it was lived by the first believers and the fathers of the church, not only by adoring God in the intimacy of consciences and praising in community worship, but also by caring, beautifying and perfecting the divine Creation, bearing in mind that God has created the world to be a home for human beings. and that, consequently, the latter finds the ultimate meaning of its existence in the effort to make the world forever the home of God.
José Arturo Quarracino, was born in Buenos Aires in 1953. He is the nephew of the Cardinal of Buenos Aires Antonio Quarracino (1923-1998). He is a freelance teacher and translator, and a graduate of the University Buenos Aires. He is involved in Argentine political life, inclusive of the the anti-abortion movement.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.