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Pope John Paul II in popular culture

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As one of the best known and well-travelled people of the 20th century, there are many cultural references to Pope John Paul II (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005), who was the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 16 October 1978 until his death in April 2005. He was the second-longest reigning pontiff, having served for 27 years, short of Pius IX's 31 years. In addition to his own extensive writings, many films, television programs, books, and journal articles have been written about John Paul II.

Films

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Films made about John Paul II include:

 
John Paul II at an open-air mass at Yankee Stadium, New York City 1979.
  • Karol: A Man Who Became Pope,[2] Polish title: Karol. Czlowiek, który zostal papiezem, 2005, a documentary, directed by Giacomo Battiato, based upon the book Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of John Paul II by Gian Franco Svidercoschi.
  • Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005), a movie based on the life of Pope John Paul, shot on location in Rome and Lithuania, was broadcast on Thursday, 1 December 2005 (8:00–10:00 pm. ET/PT).
  • Pope John Paul II (2005),[3][4][5] a four-hour mini-series event based on the remarkable life of Pope John Paul II, shot on location in Kraków, Poland and in Italy, was broadcast Sunday, 4 December (9:00–11:00 pm, ET/PT) and Wednesday, 7 December (8:00–10:00 pm, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Cary Elwes portrays Karol Wojtyla in his adult years prior to being elected Pope on 16 October 1978, and Academy Award winner and multiple Golden Globe Award winner Jon Voight portrays him during his extraordinary 26 1/2-year reign that ended with his death on 2 April 2005. It was approved and blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.
  • A Time Remembered – The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland (2005), a film produced by Radio Telefís Éireann, the national broadcaster of Ireland, showing footage from the three-day visit in 1979.
  • Karol: The Pope, The Man world debut was on Easter Sunday and Monday of 2006, and is the continuation of Karol: A Man Who Became Pope. It stars the same actors as the first mini-series.
  • Credo: John Paul II a 2006 film containing highlights of John Paul II's pontificate, his spiritual heritage, his most significant meetings with heads of states, but also his contact with people from all over the world, from the day of his election to his funeral, with music by Andrea Bocelli.
  • The Life of Pope John Paul II, a 4 chapter series by NBC News
  • John Paul II – The Friend of All Humanity 60-minute cartoon available on multilingual DVD by Cavin Cooper Productions
  • John Paul II, the Pope who made History – 5 DVD by Vatican Television Center (distr. by HDH Communications)
  • John Paul II, this is my story – 1 DVD by Vatican Television Center (distr. by HDH Communications)
  • John Paul II the Keys of the Kingdom – 1 DVD by Vatican Television Center (distr. by HDH Communications)
  • The Pope's Toilet, a 2007 Uruguayan film located in Melo.
  • In 1984, Pope John Paul made a cameo appearance on the Malayalam film Minimol Vathicanil. While child actor Shalini's character is visiting Rome, John Paul is seen taking her from the crowd and kissing her. The clip was included in the film.[6]

Animation

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  • John Paul II is the only Pope who appears as a main character in an animated feature.[7]

Books by and about John Paul II

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Main article: Bibliography of Pope John Paul II

Literary references

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  • The action-thriller novel, Red Rabbit (2002) by Tom Clancy, detailed a fictional KGB attempt to assassinate a newly elected Polish Pope, who, though only mentioned by the name "Karol", obviously refers to John Paul II.[8]
  • Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in 1998, the first made by a Pope to this Caribbean island, was featured in Daína Chaviano's novel The Island of Eternal Love (Riverhead, 2008).[citation needed]

Comics references

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  • A comic book biography of Pope John Paul II, The Life of Pope John Paul II, was published by Marvel Comics in January 1983.[9] It was written by Steven Grant and illustrated by John Tartaglione.[10] NBM Publishing released a comics biography of the pope in October 2006.[11]
  • Belgian cartoonist Zak and writer Bert Verhoye featured Pope John Paul II in a satirical comic album named De Vliegende Paap (1985).[12]
  • Belgian comics artist Luk Moerman drew the satirical comic book album De Papevreters – Popebusters (1985), which satirized John Paul II's visit to Belgium that same year.[13]
  • French comics artist Guy Lehideux created a biographical comic book about Pope John Paul II.[14]
  • French comics artist Jean Lucas featured John Paul II in a cameo in his album Le Secret de la Lune au Temple du Soleil.[15]

Music

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  • The pope is one of many famous people seen in Killing Joke's 1984 music video to their song "Eightie".[16]
  • John Paul II has been featured on at least seven popular albums in his native Poland. Most notably singer-songwriter Stanisław Sojka's 2003 album, "Jan Pawel II – Tryptyk Rzymski", a ten-track collection of the Pope's poems set to music, reached No. 1.[17]

Television

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  • Like many celebrities of the 1980s and 1990s Pope John Paul II was featured in the satirical puppet TV series Spitting Image. In parody of his frequent world tours he was depicted as a rock 'n' roll star with an American accent.[18]
  • In 1987, Pope John Paul made a cameo appearance on the television soap Brookside. While Bobby and Sheila Grant were visiting Rome, John Paul made an appearance at a window for the crowd, clearly being seen in the finished production.[19]
  • Pope John Paul II appears in the 2002 South Park episode "Red Hot Catholic Love".[20]

Video games

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  • Pope John Paul II is one of five world leaders to be featured in the 1989 video game Spitting Image.[21]

Miscellaneous references

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  • John Paul II's apostolic motto was Totus Tuus ("totally yours"); and according to his Rosarium Virginis Mariae he borrowed the motto from the Marian consecrating prayer as found in "True Devotion to Mary" by Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. The complete text of the prayer in Latin is: "Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt" ("I am all Yours, and all that I have belongs to You"). Furthermore, he singled out Saint Louis de Montfort as a key example of Marian spirituality in his Redemptoris Mater encyclical, and in an address to the Montfortian Fathers said that reading one of de Montfort's books had been a "decisive turning point" in his life.[22][23]
  • A new form of the Stations of the Cross, called the Scriptural Way of the Cross which calls for more meditation, was introduced by Pope John Paul II on Good Friday 1991. He celebrated that thereafter at the Colosseum.[24][25]
  • The Pope was named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 1994.[26]
  • According to a New York Post article of 19 February 2002, John Paul II personally performed three exorcisms during his tenure as pope. The first exorcism was performed on a woman in 1982. His second was in September 2000 when he performed the rite on a 19-year-old woman who had become enraged in St Peter's Square. A year later, in September 2001, he performed an exorcism on a 20-year-old woman.[citation needed]
  • The John Paul II International Airport (IATA: KRK), in Balice, Poland, near Kraków where he served as Archbishop before being elected Pope, was named in his honor.[citation needed]
  • His favorite football team had always been Cracovia, whose games he attended while living in Kraków.
  • In 2006 a white hybrid tea rose was named "Pope John Paul II" in his honour, with a percentage of sales going to charity. Ten of the rose bushes were planted in the Vatican gardens.[27][28]
  • John Paul II sent the first papal e-mail in 2001.[29]
  • Solar eclipses took place both on the day he was born and the day of his funeral 9:22 pm.[30]
  • In 2004, Ferrari made a special F1 car for the pope to celebrate his 26th anniversary as the pontiff.[citation needed]
  • In 1988, when the Pope delivered a speech to the European Parliament, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, shouted "I denounce you as the antichrist!" and held up a poster reading "POPE JOHN PAUL II ANTICHRIST". The Pope continued with his address after Paisley was ejected from the auditorium, primarily by then 77-year-old Otto von Habsburg, former crown prince of Austria-Hungary and a well-known and devout Catholic, with Habsburg snatching Paisley's banner, punching him in the face and, along with other MEPs, pushing him out of the chamber.[31][32][33][34]
  • A popular story in chess circles states that a certain Karol Wojtyla had published a chess problem in 1946. Although the young Wojtyla was indeed an accomplished chess player, the story of this publication appears to be a hoax whose roots were uncovered by Tomasz Lissowski.[35]

References

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  1. ^ Dudek, Duane (20 April 1984). "Finney's Rainbow: Verstile English actor adds Polish pope to his repertoire". Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  2. ^ FaithStreams Communities, Our Television Programs Archived 10 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ CBS Archived 8 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Pope John Paul II (2005) (TV)
  5. ^ Poniewozik, James (27 November 2005). "Television: Pope John Paul, Times II". Time. Archived from the original on 30 November 2005. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  6. ^ "Rediff On The Net, Movies: Child star Shalini makes it big as an adult". Rediff. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Cartoon tribute to Pope John Paul". BBC News. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  8. ^ Meagher, L.D. "Review: Clancy's 'Red Rabbit' rotten". CNN. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. ^ "The Life of Pope John Paul II #1 (January 1983)". Grand Comics Database.
  10. ^ "John Tartaglione". Lambiek Comiclopedia. 5 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020.
  11. ^ "The Life of Pope John Paul II ... In Comics! (October 2006)". Grand Comics Database.
  12. ^ "Zak". lambiek.net. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Luk Moerman". lambiek.net. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Guy Lehideux". lambiek.net. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Jean Lucas". lambiek.net. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Director Recalls Killing Joke's "Eighties"; "They Were A Frightening Band"". Golden Age of Music Video. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Pope rocks Polish pop music charts", MSNBC News, 14 May 2005 (accessed 11 June 2005).
  18. ^ Colgan, Stevyn (1 October 2013). Constable Colgan's Connectoscope: How One Thing Leads to Another. Unbound. ISBN 9781908717825.
  19. ^ Graham Kibble-White; Phil Redmond (4 November 2002). 20 Years of Brookside. Carlton. p. 160. ISBN 9781842227640.
  20. ^ "South Park – Season 6, Ep. 8 – Red Hot Catholic Love – Full Episode". South Park United States. 3 July 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  21. ^ Blouin, Michael; Shipley, Morgan; Taylor, Jack (2 September 2014). The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781443868037.
  22. ^ Pope John Paul II on Saint Louis de Montfort "The Catholic Register - Embracing Mary's maternal tenderness". Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  23. ^ Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/jp2mot.html
  24. ^ Joseph M Champlin, The Stations of the Cross With Pope John Paul II Liguori Publications, 1994, ISBN 0-89243-679-4
  25. ^ "Vatican Description of the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum". Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  26. ^ Time magazine 1994 Person of the Year
  27. ^ Langlois, Ed (21 March 2006). "Oregon company develops hybrid tea rose in honor of late pope". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  28. ^ "Pope John Paul II Hybrid Tea Rose". Jackson & Perkins. Archived from the original on 12 January 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  29. ^ BBC, "Pope sends first e-mail apology", 23 November 2001. Retrieved on 4 March 2007.
  30. ^ The solar eclipse on 18 May 1920 5:22–5:33 Archived 8 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine and on 8 April 2005 Archived 8 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine on NASA web site.
  31. ^ MacDonald, Susan (2 October 1988). "Paisley ejected for insulting Pope". The Times.
  32. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (1 September 2004). "The Return of Dr. No". The Guardian.
  33. ^ McKittrick, David (10 October 2006). "An amazing conversion? The Big Man makes a long journey". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  34. ^ "HEADLINERS; Papal Audience (Published 1988)". The New York Times. 16 October 1988. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  35. ^ "Karol Józef Wojtyla, 1920–2005". Chess News. 8 April 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
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