[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 313 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.Con.Res.313
                                     Agreed to November 19, 2003        

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the seventh day of January, two thousand and three


                          Concurrent Resolution

Whereas His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla 
  in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920, the youngest of 3 children, 
  born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska;

Whereas Pope John Paul II personally suffered and experienced 
  deprivation from an early age, losing his mother, eldest brother, and 
  father before turning age 21;

Whereas Pope John Paul II found comfort and strength in the example of 
  his father's faith, who he observed ``after my mother's death, his 
  life became one of constant prayer. Sometimes I would wake up during 
  the night and find my father on his knees * * * his example was in a 
  way my first seminary'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II was enrolled in Jagiellonian University in 
  Cracow in 1939, which was closed by the Nazis during their occupation 
  of Poland;

Whereas Pope John Paul II experienced the brutishness of a godless 
  totalitarian regime, which sought to eradicate the history and 
  culture of a proud people and sent many of his professors, friends, 
  and millions of Polish Jews to camps where they were systematically 
  murdered;

Whereas Pope John Paul II was himself arrested by Nazi occupation 
  forces in 1942, but his life was spared because of his employment at 
  a limestone quarry, work deemed essential to the war effort;

Whereas Pope John Paul II courageously defied the Nazi occupation 
  forces, risking his own life to protect Polish Jews from persecution, 
  helping to organize the underground ``Rhapsodic Theatre'', which he 
  intended to be ``a theatre * * * where the national spirit will 
  burn'', writing two religious plays considered subversive to the Nazi 
  regime, and enrolling in the clandestine seminary of Archbishop 
  Sapieha of Cracow, where he studied religion, theology, and 
  philosophy;

Whereas the Nazi occupation of Poland was ended only by the imposition 
  of a communist era of occupation that sought to subjugate Polish 
  citizens, extinguish Polish nationalism, and subjected the exercise 
  of individual religious liberty to the control of godless Stalinist 
  rulers;

Whereas Pope John Paul II was ordained in 1946, later becoming a 
  Professor of Ethics and Chaplain at the Catholic University of 
  Lublin, the only Catholic university behind the Iron Curtain, where 
  he, again at great personal risk, initiated activities that helped to 
  preserve the intellectual, cultural, and historical richness of his 
  homeland and protected the integrity and independence of the Catholic 
  Church in Poland;

Whereas Pope John Paul II was an articulate and outspoken advocate for 
  religious freedom and Christian humanism at Vatican Council II, 
  asserting that the Church could not claim religious liberty for 
  itself unless it was willing to concede it to others;

Whereas Pope John Paul II, upon returning to his homeland, frequently 
  cited the Council's declaration that religious freedom was ``the 
  first of human rights'', a phrase embraced by Polish Catholics in 
  their struggle against the hegemony of the communist regime;

Whereas Pope John Paul II, on October 16, 1978, was elected the 264th 
  Pope, making history by becoming the first-ever Slavic Pope and the 
  first non-Italian Pope in more than 400 years;

Whereas October 22, 2003, marked the Silver Jubilee of His Holiness' 
  inauguration of his ministry as Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of 
  the Catholic Church, signifying Pope John Paul II's completion of 25 
  years as the spiritual leader of more than 1,000,000,000 Catholic 
  Christians around the world, including more than 66,000,000 Catholic 
  Christians in the United States;

Whereas Pope John Paul II was a unique, substantial, and historic 
  catalyst in the demise of Soviet communism and the emancipation of 
  hundreds of millions of people from totalitarian rule;

Whereas Pope John Paul II, in his inaugural sermon, boldly offered hope 
  to oppressed peoples around the world while causing authoritarian 
  rulers to brace by proclaiming ``open the boundaries of states, 
  economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, 
  civilization and development. Do not be afraid.'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II returned to his native Poland for 9 days in 
  June 1979, unleashing patriotic and religious forces that would 
  ultimately lead to the peaceful toppling of the communist regime in 
  Poland and the dramatic demise of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet 
  Union;

Whereas Pope John Paul II, before visiting his native Poland in 1987, 
  met with President Ronald Reagan, who recognized the fruits of His 
  Holiness' labors by stating ``be assured that the hearts of the 
  American people are with you. Our prayers will go with you in 
  profound hope that the terrible burden of brave people everywhere who 
  yearn for freedom, even as all men and women yearn for the freedom 
  that God gave us all. * * * We see the power of the spiritual force 
  in that troubled land, uniting a people in hope, just as we see the 
  powerful stirrings in the East of a belief that will not die despite 
  generations of oppression. * * * For despite all the attempts to 
  extinguish it, the people's faith burns with a passionate heat: once 
  allowed to breathe free, that faith will burn so brightly it will 
  light the world.'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II was recognized by Lady Margaret Thatcher to 
  have ``provided the main impetus for the revival of Solidarity and 
  the pressure for reform [in his native Poland]'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II was acknowledged by Mikhail Gorbachev to have 
  played an essential role in the liberation of those who lived under 
  European communism when he stated ``everything that happened in 
  Eastern Europe * * * would have been impossible without this pope'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II carried on an active correspondence with 
  world leaders during the 1980's, involving the Church in efforts to 
  promote peace by reducing tensions, and exerting his moral authority 
  to persuade the superpowers to engage in a ``dialogue'' that 
  succeeded in reducing conventional and nuclear weapons and helped to 
  avert a nuclear war;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has used public and private diplomacy and the 
  power of moral suasion to encourage world leaders to respect the 
  inalienable rights of the human person;

Whereas Pope John Paul II, on May 13, 1981, was shot by a would-be 
  assassin, and nevertheless provided a remarkable example of the power 
  of grace, later visiting his attacker in prison, and stating 
  afterwards ``I spoke to him as I would speak to a brother whom I have 
  forgiven and who enjoys my confidence'';

Whereas Pope John Paul II has ministered to Catholic and non-Catholic 
  alike, providing a personal example of grace, endurance, compassion, 
  courage, sacrifice, and foresight;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has sought to heal divisions between the 
  Catholic Church and other Christian faiths, the Jewish faith, and 
  Islam, expressing sadness and regret for the individual acts of 
  present and former Catholics who persecuted members of other faiths, 
  and promoting reconciliation and dialogue through the first-ever 
  Papal visits to synagogues and mosques, as well as visits to areas of 
  historic conflict, including Ireland and the Holy Land;

Whereas Pope John Paul II visited Cuba to speak directly to the Cuban 
  people and their communist rulers in 1998, calling for political and 
  religious freedom, the release of political prisoners, a recognition 
  of the right to express one's faith ``in the context of public 
  life'', and the importance of fundamental human dignities, including 
  that ``each person enjoying freedom of expression, being free to 
  undertake initiatives and make proposals within civil society, and 
  enjoying appropriate freedom of association'' is a necessity;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has traveled farther than any other Pope in 
  history, traversing nearly three quarters of a million miles, 
  visiting more than 125 countries, including African nations never 
  before visited by a Pope, being seen by more people than anyone in 
  human history, and evangelizing to more than 6,000,000 people in the 
  closing mass of World Youth Day '95 in the Philippines;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has changed the course of history, leading 
  the Catholic Church through a dramatic and remarkable period, and 
  into Christianity's third millennium;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has devoted his life to the amelioration of 
  the human cost of terror and oppression through his dedication to 
  truth, forgiveness, and the development of a vibrant public moral 
  culture;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has articulated the importance of individual 
  liberty being undergirded by a ``moral order'', has embraced the poor 
  and oppressed masses of the world, and encouraged governments and the 
  faithful to attend to the needs of those who are less fortunate;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has brought hope and inspiration to hundreds 
  of millions of people around the world oppressed by tyranny, hunger, 
  disease, and despair;

Whereas Pope John Paul II has worked tirelessly to bring peace to 
  regions of the world that have been driven by strife, intolerance, 
  hatred, and violence for far too long; and

Whereas the Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest 
  civilian award of the United States Government: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress urges the President, on behalf of the United States, 
to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to His Holiness, Pope John 
Paul II, in recognition of his significant, enduring, and historic 
contributions to the causes of freedom, human dignity, and peace and to 
commemorate the Silver Jubilee of His Holiness' inauguration of his 
ministry as Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church.
  Attest:

                                 Clerk of the House of Representatives.

  Attest:

                                               Secretary of the Senate.