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	The Legacy of John Paul II By Bill Williams NorthJersey.com March 20, 2005 THE PONTIFF IN WINTER: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II, by John Cornwell; Doubleday, 336 pages, $24.95. As one of the longest-serving and most active popes in history, John Paul II has left an indelible mark on the Roman Catholic Church. But how will history judge his pontificate? It is a question that pervades John Cornwell's account of John Paul's remarkable life. As a Polish cardinal, he was an unlikely choice in 1978, when the College of Cardinals elected him to, in Cornwell's words, "the strangest, most impossible and isolating job on earth." John Paul II became the first non-Italian pope since 1522 and, at age 54, the youngest since 1846. Cornwell adequately covers the highlights of John Paul's career, including his extensive travels; his role in the collapse of Communism; his dedication to peace; the assassination attempt on his life; and his controversial interpretations of papal infallibility, women as priests and issues relating to sex and marriage. The doctrine of papal infallibility, pronounced in 1870, generally has been interpreted to mean that rulings will be based on the collective wisdom of the pope and the cardinals. But John Paul has shown little desire to consult with anyone. The starkest example is his declaration that women will never become priests and that the issue is forever closed to debate. John Paul's major legacy, Cornwell believes, will be his centralization of authority in the Vatican and his enfeeblement of local dioceses - an important reason why bishops did so little to rein in the priest sexual abuse scandal. Bishops thought they lacked the authority to act decisively. John Paul's unyielding pronouncements on sexuality, Cornwell argues, are driving Catholics out of the church. Those who remarry after divorce are forever barred from receiving communion. Also, Catholics may never use condoms, even if a husband has AIDS and risks transmitting the deadly disease to his wife. As a British journalist who has covered the pope extensively, Cornwell has solid credentials, but his account fails to convey in any depth what the pope is like as a person. John Paul comes across as a stick figure. Cornwell offers tidbits, such as the pope's displays of anger, but without elaboration. The book also is marred by mistakes, gossip and irrelevant detail. During Lent in 2002, Cornwell writes, "hardly a day passed without a priest being arrested" in the United States on sexual abuse charges. In reality, arrests were rare, despite widespread allegations. Aside from these slips, the book offers a timely overview of a papacy increasingly defined by John Paul's failing health, linked to Parkinson's disease. Many have speculated that John Paul might step down, but Cornwell notes that no pope has ever relinquished the papal throne for health reasons. More important, perhaps, is John Paul's stated conviction that the Blessed Mother saved him from an assassin's bullet, which he interprets as evidence that he is on a divine mission until he dies.