Perhaps his most unexpected appearance was on the cover of The Advocate, an LGBT-focused magazine who named him "Person of the Year" for his landmark statement, "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?" The Rolling Stone cover shows that the world's fascination with the "People's Pope" is still going strong.
It was as an intellectual catalyst, however, that he influenced the passage of the council's landmark statements on religious liberty, the church in the modern world and the church's relations with other religions, especially Judaism.
Abe's departure from the landmark 1995 statement by the then prime minister, Tomiichi Murayama, in which he issued a "heartfelt apology" for Japan's "aggression" and "colonial rule" on the Asian mainland, quickly drew criticism from China.
"In the landmark 1995 statement, then prime minister Tomiichi Murayama voiced 'feelings of deep remorse' and offered a 'heartfelt apology' for Japan's past 'aggression' and 'colonial rule'," Yonhap said.
He had a significant influence on what became the landmark 1965 statement "Nostra Aetate" (In our time), a turning point in Christian-Jewish relations.
Produced by Dennis Bovell, the reggae-infused Cut is justly celebrated as a landmark statement that includes strong songs such as Newtown, Shoplifting and, of course, Typical Girls – an enduring manifesto for young women who seek to reject the norm.
"He's not the only one to share homophobic beliefs as the Internet was littered with anti-gay tweets, messages and posts following Sam's landmark statement".
Last August, on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, Abe expressed "sincere condolences" to Japan's wartime victims but stopped short of issuing a fresh apology to replace a landmark statement made by his predecessor in 1995.
But he stuck mostly to his past language, expressing "deep remorse" for Japan's wartime conduct and saying he upheld previous Japanese apologies, including a 1995 landmark statement by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama.
Although she was fierce in her ambition, she seemed not to care about creating the big, male, landmark statements designed to last for ever.
