Frontline

John Paul II: The Millennial Pope (1999x12)

Air date: Sep 28, 1999

FRONTLINE presents a comprehensive biography on the world leader who has emerged as a man at war with the twentieth century itself. In the two decades John Paul II has commanded the world stage, re-invigorating the Catholic Church in much of the world, he has defined himself by his opposition to many of the dominant secular ideologies and passions of our time: communism, feminism, capitalism and consumerism. The program draws on hundreds of interviews--from intimates of the Pope, to those whose lives have intersected with his. Their stories are evocative of major themes in the Pope's life: the shaping influence of his youth in Poland, his remarkable relationship with Jews, his part in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, his battle with liberation theology, his repudiation of the ordination of women, and his relentless exhortation to faith. The film is a journey through the 20th century to the sources of Pope John Paul II's character and beliefs, and a journey into the passionate reaction to him. It's a journey that says as much about us as it does about him.