With Karol Wotyla’s election the Italian control of the papacy was blown wide open. John Paul II became the global pope. Traveling across the world, he was literally an international evangelist–an apostle of Christ for the whole world. The German Joseph Ratzinger consolidated the non-Italian papacy, and did his best to follow in JP2′s footsteps.

He served as a fine Pope and helped us make the transition from the ancien regime to another radical decision for the Catholic Church.