Pope Paul VI prolonged impediment", he would renounce his office "both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the same holy Catholic Church". Paul VI did away with much of the regal splendor of the papacy. He was the last pope to date to be crowned; his successor Pope John Paul I substituted an inauguration for the papal coronation (which Paul had substantially modified, but which he left mandatory in his 1975 apostolic constitution "Romano Pontifici Eligendo"). At his coronation Paul wore a tiara that was a gift from the Archdiocese of Milan. At the end of the second session of
Pope John Paul II than replacing them. Pope John Paul II has been credited with inspiring political change that not only led to the collapse of Communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Eastern Europe, but also in many countries ruled by dictators. In the words of Joaquín Navarro-Valls, John Paul II's press secretary: The single fact of John Paul II's election in 1978 changed everything. In Poland, everything began. Not in East Germany or Czechoslovakia. Then the whole thing spread. Why in 1980 did they lead the way in Gdansk? Why did they decide, now or never? Only because there was