Legacy of a great leader

It is hard to imagine that when Pope John Paul was consecrated Jimmy Carter was president of the United States and Leonid Brezhnev ran the USSR. His 27-year pontificate bestrides a world utterly changed and his quite singular and remarkable epitaph will be his part in effecting so much of that change.

By any standards - churchman, statesman, intellectual or even just a global superstar - his charismatic presence dominated for over a ...