Examines the transformation of the once static papacy into a globe-trotting, high profile office which wields great power behind the scenes. John Paul II is recognized as one of the most "political" Popes in modern history, with unparalleled influence over almost one billion Catholics - one fifth of the world's population. A master of the media, he receives rapturous welcomes wherever he travels - from Eastern Europe to Latin America, from the poorest continent, Africa, to the richest, North America. Yet as the author of this book shows, John Paul's benign image is increasingly undermined by an authoritarian style of government and by the larger uncertainty over the proper role of the papacy at the end of the second Christian millennium, as the Catholic church is overtaken by Islam as the world's leading faith.