Synopses & Reviews
UNIVERSAL FATHER: A Life of John Paul II
Pope John Paul II is universally considered one of the great leaders of the twentieth century for his resolute resistance to Soviet Communism, for his steadfast opposition to war, and for opening up the papacy to ordinary people. He will go down in history not only as the third longest-serving pope, but possibly the most politically influential of all 305 popes and antipopes since St. Peter.
Born in Poland in 1920, Karol Wojtylas early life experiences were of intense love and intense loss: he was eight when his mother died, twelve when his older brother died of scarlet fever, and twenty when his severe but loving father died during the Nazi occupation. An athlete, a gifted poet, playwright and actor, by 1944, after a near fatal accident, Wojtyla was studying for the priesthood in secret. So began a lifelong quest to understand good and evil in the human heart.
Five years in the making, Universal Father is a vivid and scrupulously researched portrait of this extraordinary man. Beginning with Wojtylas trying childhood and his early years as a priest in rural Poland, and continuing on to his travels to Rome, and his subsequent papal reign, OConnors biography is unparalleled for the attention it also gives to the inner manincluding a subtle analysis of the popes own poems, plays, and philosophical works. An exploration of both the personal tragedies in the popes life, among them the assassination attempt in 1981, and the public triumphs, such as the great public confrontations with Soviet Communism in his native Poland, Universal Father is a revealing and profoundly moving testament.
Review
"A warm, humane, and lively portrait, fresh and original in its depiction of the pope."
New York Sun
Synopsis
Pope John Paul II will go down in history not only as the third longest serving pope, but possibly the most politically influential of all 305 popes and antipopes since St. Peter.
Born in Poland in 1920, Karol Wojtylas early life was filled with intense love and intense loss: he was eight when his mother died, twelve when his older brother died of scarlet fever, and twenty when his severe but loving father died during the Nazi occupation. An avid soccer player and skier, a gifted poet, playwright and actor, by 1944, after a near fatal accident, Wojtyla was studying for the priesthood in secret. Garry OConnor, an accomplished biographer of the likes of Sir Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson and William Shakespeare has spent the last five years writing and researching this book. Unlike the competition, this book details not only Wojtylas life before he became pope, his friendships with men and with women, his nationalism, his early years as a priest in rural Poland and his travels to Rome, but it also explores the popes own poems, plays, and philosophical works to find clues to what makes him tick.
Synopsis
“At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved… I was not old enough to make my first communion when I lost my mother. My brother Edmund died from scarlet fever in a virulent epidemic at the hospital where he was starting as a doctor. After my fathers death, which occurred in February 1941, I gradually became aware of my true path.”
—POPE JOHN PAUL II
About the Author
Garry OConnor has been a major and prolific English biographer since his life of Ralph Richardson, published in 1980, was hailed in
The New York Times Book Review as “Stunning… the best biography of an actor Ive ever read,” and by the
London Sunday Times as an “astounding book, original in form and fascinating in content.” He has subsequently written highly praised lives of Sean OCasey, Peggy Ashcroft, Paul Scofield and William Shakespeare and, most recently, Alec Guinness. He lives in England with his wife and six children.