7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7demoralizing Solidarity. In 1989 the Communists asked
for negotiations with the trade union. This was followed
within months by the dissolution of the Soviet bloc and,
eventually, the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Visits from John
Paul also weakened several dictatorships and juntas in
such countries as Brazil, the Philippines, Haiti, Paraguay,
and Chile. He was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold
Medal in January 2001.
John Paul made constant efforts to reach out to people
of other religions, most notably Jews and Muslims. He
declared anti-Semitism a sin and held numerous meetings
with Islam’s top religious authorities.
Hoping to strengthen the Catholic faith in many cul-
tures, John Paul canonized many more Catholic
saints—drawn from a broader geographic and occupa-
tional spectrum—than had any of his predecessors. With
the February 2001 installation of 44 cardinals represent-
ing five continents, John Paul had named more than 150
new cardinals during his long pontificate. He directed the
rewriting of several major church texts and spoke out on
an array of highly contentious issues, denouncing abor-
tion, premarital sex, and homosexual practices (though
not homosexual inclination). He continually rebuffed
new pleas for priests to be allowed to marry and, although
he blocked women from entering the priesthood, he
nonetheless advocated full equality for women in other
realms of life.
Julius Nyerere
(b. March 1922, Butiama, Tanganyika—d. Oct. 14, 1999, London, Eng.)
J
ulius Nyerere was the first prime minister of indepen-
dent Tanganyika in 1961 and later the first president of
the new state of Tanzania in 1964. He was also the major