For all of his inspiring qualities – personal charm, deep spirituality, acceptance of other faiths – Pope John Paul II’s tight grip on church leadership and unwillingness to change unpopular teachings clashed with the more democratic approach that many of the 65 million American Catholics favor.

At the end of his pontificate, John Paul leaves behind an American church uplifted by his piety, yet struggling with several of the same problems that preceded him: a dramatically shrinking American priesthood, disagreement over the proper role for lay leaders, and a growing conservative-liberal divide over sexuality, women’s ordination, and celibacy for clergy.

“He was seen as an extraordinarily prayerful pope. There was a kindness to him that seemed to come through,” said a Purdue University sociologist who specializes in Catholicism, James Davidson. “But there were moments at which the pope and American lay people seemed to be on different pages on how decision-making in the church takes place. He tended to be more top down and they tend to be more bottom up.”

The cry for greater lay influence grew loudest after the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in 2002 with revelations that many American bishops had moved predatory clergy among parishes without notifying the public or police. Some Catholics responded by demanding the Vatican give them a greater say in choosing church leaders. Officials in Rome, not surprisingly, didn’t budge.

Many of the troubles buffeting the American church began before John Paul was elected in 1978 – though the pontiff ultimately was unable to arrest them.

Church attendance, among Catholics and other denominations, had already started on a steep decline. The 1968 decision by Pope Paul VI to uphold the church ban on artificial contraception sparked widespread dissent from Catholic teaching on sexuality. Men left the priesthood by the hundreds to marry and fewer people enrolled in seminaries to replace them.

Most importantly, American Catholics were still wrestling with the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which changed everything from the scope of lay involvement in parishes to where priests should stand during Mass. Conservative and liberal Catholics disagreed vehemently over the pace and substance of these reforms.

It was in this environment that John Paul launched his defense of Catholic orthodoxy and tried to reinvigorate the priesthood.

In five visits to America, more than any of his predecessors, he gained religious celebrity, especially among young people. When he arrived at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1979, a school band welcomed him with the theme from “Rocky.”

“I think what the pope did for the public credibility of the church in the United States was quite significant,” said his American biographer, George Weigel. “He was the great Christian witness of our time.”

John Paul inspired many to join the priesthood in America. Studies have found that younger American clergy tend to be more conservative than their older peers and many see this as evidence of John Paul’s influence, said a Catholic University sociologist who has researched the priesthood for more than three decades, Dean Hoge.

He emboldened conservative Catholics, who now have a greater voice through publications such as Crisis magazine and Eternal World Television Network.