Teachings of Pope John Paul II

The teachings of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II are contained in a number of documents. It is widely believed that these teachings will have a long-lasting influence on the Church. [cite book | last = Weigel | first = George | authorlink = George Weigel | title = Witness to Hope | publisher = HarperCollins | date = 1999, 2001 | isbn = 0-06-018793-X ]

His philosophical and theological teachings and writings were characterised by explorations in phenomenology and personalism. He was influenced by Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, Yves Cardinal Congar, Karl Rahner, his predecessors as Archbishop of Krakow Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak and Adam Cardinal Sapieha, and his predecessors as Pope- Blessed Pope John XXIII and Venerable Servants of God Popes Paul VI and John Paul I.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

A significant achievement of John Paul II was the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which became an international best-seller fact| date=June 2007. Its purpose, according to the Pope's Apostolic Constitution "Fidei Depositum" was to be "a statement of the Church's faith and of Catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He declared "it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith" to "serve the renewal" of the Church. [http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm]

Holiness and morality

Right after being elected as Pope, he told the cardinals who elected him that he saw that his main work was to implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, an important centrepiece of which is a universal call to holiness. This is the basis for his canonization of saints from all walks of life, as well as for establishing and supporting the personal prelature of Opus Dei, whose mission is to spread this call to laity and to secular priests through its association the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

His first encyclical letters focused on the Triune God; the very first was on Jesus the Redeemer ("Redemptor Hominis"). He maintained this intellectual focus on God throughout his pontificate.

In "The Splendor of Truth" ("Veritatis Splendor"), a papal encyclical concerning morality, he emphasised the dependence of man on God and his law ("Without the Creator, the creature disappears") and the "dependence of freedom on the truth." He warned that man "giving himself over to relativism and scepticism, goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself."

Master plan

In his master plan for the new millennium, the Apostolic Letter "At the beginning of the third millennium", ("Novo Millennio Ineunte") a "program for all times", he emphasised the importance of "starting afresh from Christ": "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person." Thus, the first priority for the Church is holiness: "All Christian faithful...are called to the fullness of the Christian life." Christians, he writes, contradict this when they "settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity." He highlighted "the radical message of the gospels," whose demands should not be watered down. The "training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer." His last Encyclical is on the Holy Eucharist, which he says "contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself." Building on his master plan further, he emphasised the need to "rekindle amazement" on the Eucharist and to "contemplate the face of Christ."

Mariology

Pope John Paul II's strong Marian devotion was highly influenced by the Mariology of Saint Louis de Montfort. According to his Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae", the pontif's personal motto "Totus Tuus" was inspired by St. Louis' doctrine on "total consecration to the Virgin Mary", which he quoted:

:"“Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ."

:"Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ." [Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html]

In an address to the Montfortian Fathers, the pontiff also said that his reading Saint Louis de Montfort's work "The True Devotion to Mary" was a "decisive turning point" in his life [Pope John Paul II on de Montfort http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/1402/857/] . On September 19th 1996, Pope John-Paul II made a papal trip to Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre to meditate and pray on the adjacent tombs of Saint Louis de Montfort and Blessed Marie Louise Trichet, whom he beatified himself.

His encyclical "Redemptoris Mater" further emphasizes his focus on Mariology [Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Redemptoris Mater" http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/jp2mot.html] .

ocial and family doctrine

John Paul II also wrote extensively about workers and the social doctrine of the Church, which he discussed in three encyclicals and which the Vatican brought to the fore through the recently published "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church". Through his encyclicals, John Paul also talked about the dignity of women and the importance of the family for the future of humanity.

Other important documents include the encyclicals "The Gospel of Life" ("Evangelium Vitae") and "Faith and Reason" ("Fides et Ratio"), and the Apostolic Letter "Orientale Lumen" ("Light of the East").

John Paul II reaffirmed the Church's clear opposition to contraceptive methods, abortion and homosexual activity. His book "Memory and Identity" claimed that the push for same-sex marriage might be part of a "new ideology of evil... which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man." He refined some of these positions in their theological context in his Theology of the Body lectures.

ee also

*List of Encyclicals of Pope John Paul II

References