Health of Pope John Paul II another conclave". John Paul's obvious physical fitness and looks earned much comment in the media following his election, which compared his health and trim figure to the poor health of John Paul I and Paul VI, the portliness of Pope John XXIII and the constant claims of ailments of Pius XII. The only modern pope with a keep-fit regime had been Pope Pius XI (r: 1922-1939) who was an avid mountain climber. An "Irish Independent" article in the 1980s labelled John Paul "the keep-fit pope". However, after over twenty-five years on the papal throne, two assassination attempts (one of which
Criticism of Pope John Paul II Criticism of Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II was criticised, amongst other things, for lack of any response to sex abuse of children in the Church. John Paul II was criticised for his support of the Opus Dei prelature and the 2002 canonisation of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá, whom he called "‘the saint of ordinary life.’" More importantly, John Paul II has been criticised for hindering the investigation into the charges of sexual immorality leveled against Father Marcial Maciel Degollado. This is despite the fact that Maciel was already under investigation by the Vatican in 1956 for drug