In Pope John Paul II, John Moody, former chief of Time magazine's Vatican bureau, draws upon his deep connections in both Poland and Rome to give us a portrait of a man whose upbringing and national roots created his unparalleled faith. Based on interviews with Wojtyla's childhood friends and high-ranking members of the Curia and on his intimate knowledge of the Vatican's inner workings, Moody traces the pope's painful yet triumphant journey to the Throne of Peter. From the untimely deaths of his brother and parents to establishing an underground theater company in World War II; from his difficult choice between the stage and the priesthood to his complex and constant battle with Communist authorities in Poland; all the way to the Vatican itself and his controversial struggle to fashion the Church, Pope John Paul II shows with firsthand accounts and visual impact a man who believes that the only path to salvation leads through the desert of human suffering.