For some of the state's 1.2 million Roman Catholics, Pope John Paul II was a role model, admired for his deep personal faith, his global reach, his fight against communism and the relationships he forged with other denominations and faiths.

For others, he was a throwback, woefully behind the times on issues such as sexuality and the role of women in the church. Yet others thought he wasn't conservative enough on those and other issues.

And among the 800,000 Catholics in the Seattle Archdiocese, some may remember him most for launching a Vatican investigation two decades ago of former Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen.

Regardless of whether Catholics fully agreed with the pope, "the most striking feature of Pope John Paul's legacy will be his sheer strength, his longevity in office and the charismatic power of his character," said the Rev. Patrick Howell, a Jesuit and dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University.

During his papacy, John Paul II pushed for unity among Christians, and for understanding among different faiths, convening a historic 1986 gathering in Italy of rabbis, imams, bishops and other world religious leaders to pray for peace.

Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett said interfaith efforts were a priority for the pope — "not a peripheral life of the church, but an essential part of the ministry that we have."

Brunett, who heads an international group of Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders working on relations between the two churches, said the pope has inspired him "by giving absolute encouragement" to such efforts.

Bishop Vincent Warner of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia said he appreciated the pope's openness, saying his legacy will be that of "a prayerful man who just stayed with it through difficulties, through assassination attempts ... Whether you differ with his views or not, you have to respect that kind of courage and steadfastness."

Rabbi James Mirel of Bellevue's Temple B'nai Torah said the pope's own past was a factor in his reaching out to other faiths. His "unique experience of being a Polish Christian who experienced the Nazi regime in Poland and communism first-hand gave him a much deeper understanding of the importance of a relationship with the Jewish community."

"He brought that empathy to the discussion," said Mirel, who is also president of Washington Coalition of Rabbis.

Servando Patlan, a Seattle University sophomore, was also inspired by the pope's commitment to interfaith work. "I think that's something that's needed now that cultures are coming closer and closer together. He's inspired me to respect other religions."

Jeff Ryan, a senior at Seattle U., admired the pope, too, for "just being a very prayerful man. Spiritually, he's been a very good leader for the church. He's always been outspoken against societal evils of today, such as lack of regard for the sanctity of life."

Other Catholics expressed mixed feelings.

Carrie Sheehan of Seattle said she supported the pope's stance against the death penalty, his spirituality and his sensitivity to the beliefs of others. But she disagreed with him on issues such as ordination of women and reproductive rights.

"In society and culture, the role of women has changed," she said. "But the church has not kept up with that."

James Weston, president of Dignity/Seattle, a group for gay, lesbian and bisexual Catholics, admired the pope's outreach to other denominations and his world travels. But "he's not been nearly as pastoral in his approach to gays as he could have been."

Weston cited a 1986 Vatican letter to the nation's bishops that called homosexual activity immoral and warned church leaders not to allow groups that disobey church teachings to use church facilities. Dignity was one such group. And Dignity/Seattle, which had sponsored a weekly Mass at a Seattle church since 1980, was removed from sponsorship.

"With this conservative pope, it seems the church is really coming down more and more on gay and lesbian people," Weston said.

Louise McAllister, a local member of the progressive Catholic organization Call to Action, said while she agreed with the pope's opposition to capital punishment and the war in Iraq, "at the same time, he took a lackadaisical approach to the pedophile scandal" and "packed the ranks of the hierarchy with conservative bishops."

She had felt hopeful, she said, in the wake of Vatican II, which she saw as calling lay Catholics to have a greater voice in church governance. She also had hoped it would lead to greater discussion about ordaining women and making celibacy optional for priests.

But John Paul II "just stymied everything," McAllister said. "I think of it mainly as there was a momentum going and he put the brakes on."

In the Seattle Archdiocese, some Catholics have strong feelings to this day about the Vatican's intense scrutiny of Hunthausen in 1983, when it launched a two-year investigation of the archbishop for ignoring or deviating from official church teachings in several areas.

For some Catholics, especially liberal-minded ones, the investigation was seen as part of a larger effort by the pope to retain power in the Vatican, ensuring that local churches around the world followed church orthodoxy.

After the investigation concluded Hunthausen was too lax about such issues as divorce, homosexuality, liturgy and education of priests, the Vatican requested that Hunthausen surrender control in those areas to an auxiliary bishop appointed by the Holy See. It was an arrangement Hunthausen later deemed unworkable.

Eventually, the Vatican removed the auxiliary bishop, restored Hunthausen's powers and appointed a coadjutor archbishop, Thomas Murphy, who succeeded Hunthausen as Seattle Archbishop.

McAllister, the Call to Action member, remembered the investigation as divisive and hurtful and said it brought about a more conservative local church.

But some conservative Catholics saw the investigation of Hunthausen differently. For them, it was an overdue admonition of a radically straying bishop, and some thought the pope should have gone even further.

While the investigation "established the pope as something of a hero in the eyes of local conservative Catholics, the general hope that John Paul II would take further actions in this archdiocese went unfulfilled," said Peter Miller, president of Northwest Laity for Truth, a nonprofit organization of conservative Catholics in Western Washington.

Still, Miller said, he would remember the pope as a man of profound dedication to his beliefs, including his denunciations of war, violence, abortion and euthanasia.

"His very long and eventful pontificate has resulted in many people around the world personally identifying him with the papacy," Miller said. "He has left a distinctive mark upon the Catholic Church and the world as a whole."

Jason King, chairman of Una Voce Western Washington, which holds the only Vatican-approved Latin Mass in the archdiocese, said.

"I give him a tremendous amount of credit for his visibility and communication ability to bring people to Christ. ... He's reached out to people across the globe in a way most other spiritual leaders have not."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com