A moment with the Pope
20 May 03

'The pope took 86 steps to approach Judaism's sacred Western Wall. I counted them. They were tiny steps, and the pope walked with the aid of a cane, but in the eyes of the world he had taken a giant leap toward reconciliation, a symbolic gesture asking Jews to forgive centuries of Christian sins.'

This moving episode is extracted from a new book, Pope John Paul II: Reaching out across borders. The book features stunning photographs and captivating stories of unique moments from the life of the Polish village boy who became the world's 265th pope.

From manual labourer to the head of the world's oldest, continuously run institution, the former Karol Wojtyla's story is one of suffering and strength, travail and transformation, controversy and conviction. In Pope John Paul II Reuters journalists and photographers share first-hand accounts in an extraordinary look at the spiritual leader of the world's one billion Catholics.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former Polish President Lech Walesa also contribute to the book with forewords that recount the Pope's role in sparking far-reaching political and social change through his implacable opposition to Communism.

Pope John Paul II is the story of a man who, prior to being ordained as a priest, was a labourer in a chemical company, an athlete, an actor, a soldier, a stonecutter, and a published poet. The book explores his legacy of fighting communism in Poland, his transformation of the Catholic Church's painful relationship with the Jewish community, his denouncement of the spiritual impoverishment of unrestrained capitalism; and his reign as the most traveled pope in history.

Pope John Paul II: Reaching Out Across Borders includes the work of Reuters Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella, a world-renowned expert on Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II: Reaching Out Across Borders by the Journalists of Reuters with forewords by Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, published by Pearson Education, priced £19.99. To order a copy of this book click here.

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