Pope John Paul II hasn't always been the most popular man in the world--even many Catholics have disregarded his opinions on crucial matters of morality. Award-winning investigative reporter Jonathan Kwitny draws a detailed portrait of the Pope that reveals a man of momentous significance, warts and all.

Through unrelenting research, Kwitny shows how John Paul's dynamic pastoralism and action-centered philosophy influenced and guided the intellectuals and workers in Eastern Europe who eventually dismantled the Iron Curtain. It was for one of John Paul's books that the underground presses in Poland began functioning. Czech intellectuals risked their lives to hear his ideas, and because they heeded his advice, Solidarity's workers held out against the Communists. Pulling the pieces all together, Kwitny makes a strong case for John Paul truly being the man of the century. He quotes Gorbachev, saying, "Everything that happened in Eastern Europe during these past few years would have been impossible without the pope."

When light breaks through the prism of this pope, no simple image appears; so that we can make up our own minds, Kwitny gives us the full spectrum.