NATURE OF THE AUTHORITY

Nature of the authority

Nature of the authority exercised by John Paul II

Pope John Paul II had a greater impact on contemporary history than any pope in centuries. Yet his capacity to shape the world of his times was not mediated through the normal instruments of authority and power. Rather, his papacy embodied a new, "post-Constantinian" approach to politics that was anticipated by the Second Vatican Council. The council's Declaration on Religious Freedom had broken the Church free from the embrace of political authority by asserting that the Catholic Church would no longer accept coercive state ...