Charlotte, N.C., Feb 21, 2018 / 11:01 am
The evangelist Billy Graham died Wednesday at his home in Montreat, N.C., his family has announced. He was 99.
Born in Charlotte, N.C., Graham was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1939. During his work in ministry, he wrote more than 30 books and conducted the annual Billy Graham Crusades until his retirement from active ministry in 2005. His last book, Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond the Now, was published in 2015.
During his time in ministry, Graham insisted that his crusades and rallies be racially integrated, and was friends with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1981, Graham first met with St. John Paul II, who said that the two were "brothers." They would meet again several times. When John Paul II died in 2005, Graham said he believed that the Pope had been "the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world during the last 100 years," and praised his "strong Catholic faith" and perseverance through his illnesses.