Dear FRONTLINE

Pope John Paul II will undoubtedly bequeath a formidable and enduring legacy to the world, one that a successor Pope will find difficult to equal let lone surpass.

As a devout Muslim, I have the highest respect for this noble high priest. Indeed, he is considered controversial; however, his actions and rulings must be measured against the equally controversial issues he has been faced with throughout his papacy.

Finding the right balance between the forces striving for accommodation on such issues as abortion, contraception, homosexuality, women in the priesthood, etc and remaining faithful to Biblical teachings is a difficult and challenging undertaking, especially in light of the immense attitudinal changes at the end of the 2oth century.

John Paul II does what he believes in his heart to be right. In my view, this is not a weakness but a distinct mark of true faith and conviction.

Despite certain setbacks, I especially admire him for this powerful stand and statements on human rights. No other contemporary leader today has the credentials to project and wield the sword of moral authority as this honorable Pope.

Mohamad Yusuff
Washington, DC

Dear FRONTLINE

After being a devout Catholic my loss of faith began with my divorce and the death of my nephew.

With no support from my church thoughout my despair I turned exclusively to Jesus and his word. Being so dependent in the past to the Catholic Church Without the Catholic church and it's teachings,I was able to have a one on one relationship with my God for the first time and my faith has grown and I know peace as never before.

I felt limited and contained in my thoughts, words and deeds as a woman of the Catholic church. I went to Mass everyday since I was a schoolgirl and left at 40 years of age feeling "free at last, thank God I'm free at last.

Barbara Owsian

Dear FRONTLINE

I can only hope that you are getting a tremendous amount of e-mails from Catholics speaking out against the anti-Catholicism so prevalent in your "special." I'm still appalled... two days later. I can't stop thinking about how much you've twisted history. Your "experts" did nothing but pretend to know how the Pope thinks and why he does what he does. Why not ask an orthodox Catholic? Why would anyone, even for a second, believe that the church should change to match our human "selfish" society? Many Catholics may be quiet on the issue... but they pray for our separated brethren. In our world of free speech, we can't stop you from bashing Catholics, we can't force people to see what we see, but we can try... and we can pray.

judy niese

Dear FRONTLINE

Dear Frontline,

Analgous to the maxim "We do not judge greatness, rather it judges us," Frontline's examination of the Pope reveals more of the political inclinations of its producers than of the great holiness and profound impact on the world of Frontline's subject, Pope John Paul II.

brian gedicks
Arlington, Va

Dear FRONTLINE

I always find Frontline to be uniformly excellent. The program on John Paul II proved to be no exception. I found the program to be deeply moving and as complex as the man and the issues it explored. Its treatment of the sanctity of life and the meaning of faith were particularly good. Thank you for tackling some tough issues in a thoughtful way.

tom baldy
ellicott city, md

Dear FRONTLINE

The usual PBS liberal bias not withstanding, the last 30 minutes of the program redeem the earlier one-sided, anti-Catholic pieces on liberation theology and women in the church.

It was the best 2 1/2 hours I have seen in television in quite some time.

Charles Horton
Springfield, MO

Dear FRONTLINE

Very interesting but uneven. The segment "Jews" was very distorted. Your writers/researchers should have quoted the full text of Cardinal Hlond's letter which prohibited persecution of the Jews. Also, Poland is not all gloom and doom and centuries of suffering. Poland had a quite wonderful history until the mid-eighteenth century. That a country and people could have endured so much misery from the late eighteenth century until this decade and emerge from it with a vital intact culture and a dynamism seen nowhere else is truly remarkable. And to have a produced a person of the depth and character of John Paul II is an achievement beyond words. Frontline, it's time you did something positive in your portrayals of Poles and Poland.

Marina Papaj
New York, New York

Dear FRONTLINE

First of all, I don't think the Pope is as concerned with his legacy as you are. We don't build "Papal Libraries " the way we do for ex-presidents.

But as far as I'm concerned, his legacy will be the Gospel of Life, and his confrontation of the Culture of Death. His serene faith that we are "a peculiar nation, a people set apart" ensures that what the media says about his legacy doesn't really matter as long as they don't change his message.

Paul Cauchon
Norfolk, VA

Dear FRONTLINE

This program on the Pope was really hit and miss. You hit it well with the Pope's crusade against the culture of death and his uncompromising faith. You missed it by a mile on the issues of the Holocaust, Liberation Theology and women.

When it comes to trying to understand Catholic doctrine and beliefs, why not consult a respected Vatican theologian such as Cardinal Ratzinger or a Cardinal of the United States who could adequately explain these things. Rather, you leave it to book authors and former ex Catholics to explain or rather condemn the inner workings of the Catholic Church. Case in point, the ordination of women. There are deep theological reasons while women cannot be ordained to he priesthood. You give the listener the impression that the Church is an arbitrary discriminator without allowing someone who is qualified to explain the theological reasons why it can't happen. The part on Pius XII was flawed as well. You neglected to inform the audience that Pius' actions saved 800,000 to 850,000 Jews who otherwise would have perished. Unfortunately, I have to give the program a B-. May God bless and keep this man, Pope John Paul II.

Kevin Larson
Placentia, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

Believe it or not, there is a "right" wing critique of JPII's papacy which states that he is leading the Church to ruin not because he is too conservative, but that he is not conservative enough.

While refusing to use his authority to discipline dissident theologians who preach heresies of all shades, he quashes the Traditionalist dissent from good Catholics such as the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who merely wanted to continue practicing the Faith as it has always been practiced.

In a word, the Holy Father is a tormented revolutionary king who on the one hand wants to preserve his authority and the integrity of the Church, but on the other hand, refuses to do what is necessary to accomplish this. He is in my prayers, and hopefully he will be guided by the Holy Spirit to lead the Church back in the right direction.

Arturo Vasquez
Oakland, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

I think your program on John Paul II tried to be as insightful on an extremely complex man as it was possible to be. In the end a man of his intellect and convictions will defy labels. It will take centuries for all of the ramifications of his ponticate to even be glimpsed. One trailer to the program noted the difficulty people have of following where the Pope goes. But at the end, one of the interviewees made the comment/question that, if this man is a prophet, we have some serious thinking about what we do next.

Robert Warden
San Antonio, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE

I've always been a Catholic. When I was 14 I encountered Christ in a profoundly personal way through the retreat associated with my Confirmation process. I went and worked on many retreats after that, growing deeper in love with Jesus and my faith. This continued all through college.
When challenges came to my faith or doctrine, I have always, I believe, been blessed with a basic trust in the Church's official teachings on faith and morals - only to find out through study that how incredibly sensible they were. How they all hang together so beautifully. That does not mean that I have always known what they were in all cases, however. Often I have been lazy. There have been areas that I "didn't want to know" what the Church taught - at least not just yet. Once I knew, I'd be responsible!. This created a situation in which, for most of my life due to my intellectual laziness, I have felt overwhelmed and abused by the world and even friends. If someone said a boldfaced lie about my faith, I didn't know how to answer it, so I just took it like a punch in the gut.
About a year ago, I began to discover apologetics - the art of defending the faith. What I have learned is that I have never been very well cathechised - and even though I'm a cradle Catholic - I have been IGNORANT about much of my faith and how to defend it. I've discovered that there are powerful and most often irrefutable answers to every attack I have yet heard. I've learned that most attacks on Catholicism are misinformed, misdirected, or simply ignorant of historical facts, and are always loaded with some political or idealogical agenda with an anti-Catholic bias throughout.

Steve Hicks
San Diego, CA

Dear FRONTLINE

The holiness of this man can't be doubted. The beauty of his faith was evident, despite unbalanced interviews and opinions that held little factual base.

At one point an individual blamed the Catholic Church and the pope for an increase in abortions because of our stance on contraception. He implied that if the church only allowed the use of the pill there would be much less abortion. What a sensational accusation! Yet the pill itself has an abortificant character that continues to be ignored. So the church is responsible for overpopulation and famine?? More nonsense. Why weren't population experts who have data disputing the UN's stance on overpopulation interviewed? Why not interview farmers who are paid not to grow food?

Perhaps it is easier to blame one man and a church than it is to look at oneself in the mirror and ask, "what have I done to feed, to care for my brothers and sisters?" The church's stance on contraception is rooted in scripture and is an affirmation of life. Historically, all protestant churches were in agreement with the biblical affirmation of life and the Catholic teachings on contraception until the 1930's. Why wasn't that explored?

Women were portrayed as having a love/hate relationship with the church. Why weren't women who agree with the pope & the church's stance on the role of women interviewed? Why weren't their number's counted? The church affirms the sacred role of women and is fighting to protect it.

I can't help but wonder if women who seem so bent with the idea of being ordained have missed the boat. It's as if they are more concerned about having their own way & pleasing their own egos than in truly serving God, His church, His people.

M.P. Guard
El Paso Cnty , CO

Dear FRONTLINE

We were surprised by the persistent question of whether we live in a culture of death or is it Pope John Paul’s obsession? We absolutely can not understand how anyone could question whether or not we live in a culture death, just the mere footage shown on this program of violent, senseless deaths and destruction of human life was overwhelming.

In this program there were more corpses and signs of death than there were the joys and the happiness of living, such as the smiles of the people the Pope touched.

We felt the program was biased and clearly showed how the producers wanted the viewers to react and respond to John Paul: with disgust and anger, unfortunately it had the opposite effect on us it only made us appreciate him even more.

Our culture needs more people with the strength and persistency as John Paul to "Be Not Afraid" and stand for what is right even though it is not popular.

Kevin & Melissa Paquet

Dear FRONTLINE

My wife & I are devout Catholics and appreciated this series immensely. While I felt it to be biased and one-sided in many respects, I have come to expect this in the secular media & press. Indeed,this bias is inherent to those who do not understand the Catholic Faith. Dissenters were featured from every circle, accentuating the pope's profound impact thoughout the world. One should recall the "controversy" Christ invoked two thousand years ago.

What this show demonstrated most effectively was how even a "secular pilgrimage" such as this ultimately leads to the same questions and truths. Thank you Frontline for this superb production and thank you PBS for providing the best programming on modern television.

Christopher DeAngelis, D.O.
Brownstown, MI