Book Log 2010 #20: The Pontiff in Winter by John Cornwell

Written shortly before his death, this book seeks to set the terms to John Paul II's legacy, weighing the positive and negative aspects of his papacy against each other while also showing how his formative years helped to shape JP's complex, and sometimes contradictory, personality.

Generally, the argument is made that JP, by working to reduce the influence of Vatican II while consolidating power in Rome, forced the church to lose the benefit of local input and governance. This helped to exacerbate conflicts, from the strict orthodoxy required on certain teachings to the lack of local response when the sex abuse crisis first broke. On top of this there's a more personal issue where JP saw himself as a pivotal figure for the church, a viewpoint developed from his earlier study of mysticism, a devotion to Mary, the assassination attempt against him, and the secrets of Fatima.

All in all it's a fairly even-handed treatment, I think, and pretty readable to boot. I don't know that I agree with Cornwell in all things, but he does make a decent case that the benefits of JP's papacy may be outweighed over time by the conservative structure and strict adherence to orthodoxy that he left behind.