[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 313 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 313
To urge 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 28, 2003
Mr. Sensenbrenner (for himself, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Tauzin, Mr.
Boehner, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Smith of
New Jersey, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Ballenger, Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Burr, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Shaw, Ms.
Hart, Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia, Mr. Kleczka, Mr. Obey, Mr. Leach, Ms.
Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. Kennedy of Minnesota,
Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Bordallo, Mr.
Acevedo-Vila, and Mr. Renzi) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To urge 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.
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.
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