[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 38 (Wednesday, April 6, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3269-S3271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING POPE JOHN PAUL II

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today with a heavy heart to 
express my sorrow on the passing of his Holiness, Pope John Paul II.
  Karol Jozef Wojtyla, born in the village of Wadowice, Poland, grew up 
in a poor family, and was an orphan by the age of 21. But by the end of 
his long, energetic life, he had overseen a new outpouring of faith in 
the Catholic Church and a renewal of freedom around the world.
  With his election in 1978, John Paul became the first non-Italian 
pope in over 450 years. How fitting that of all the countries to 
produce the next pope, he came from Poland. In 1978, Poland, like most 
of Eastern Europe, was straining under the yoke of Soviet domination. 
The Soviet Communists had dubbed religion ``the opiate of the masses,'' 
and purposefully destroyed churches, detained or murdered priests, and 
terrorized worshippers.
  The last thing they wanted was a native son of Poland returning there 
to remind his people of the power of faith.
  Despite the Polish Communist government's attempts to prevent his 
visit, John Paul journeyed to Poland in June 1979. When he arrived he 
knelt down and kissed the Earth. He made over three dozen public 
appearances, in Warsaw, in Krakow, even in Auschwitz, and millions of 
Polish Catholics defined their government to see him. John Paul 
reminded the world that the

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power of faith was stronger than tanks. He told his listeners that 
Christ could not be removed from human history. He urged them, ``be not 
afraid.''
  With his visit, John Paul reminded Eastern Europeans that no economic 
system was more powerful than the human spirit. Within months, the 
Polish solidarity movement began, and was the first crack in the Iron 
Curtain. Thanks to continuous pressure by the Pope and other Western 
leaders, the Soviet empire finally crumbled 12 years later.
  John Paul knew something about the power of faith over 
totalitarianism. In 1944, while studying for the priesthood in Krakow, 
Poland, the Nazis began rounding up men to forestall an uprising 
against their brutal regime. They captured 8,000 in Krakow. But they 
missed 24-year-old Karol, by failing to look in the basement of the 
house he was staying in. He was down there praying.
  John Paul was not a political leader, but a religious one. He was a 
champion of human freedom because he believed that freedom was a right 
granted by God. And he wanted to share that message with others. 
Through his travels, John Paul took the Christian faith to more people 
in more places than anyone else has ever done. In his 27 years as Pope, 
he made 104 foreign trips, the most in papal history. Fluent in seven 
languages, he spoke directly to people the world over.
  More than any Pope before him, John Paul championed a brotherhood of 
faith between Christians, Jews and Muslims. He was the first pope to 
visit both a synagogue and a mosque. he referred to the Jewish people 
as `our elder brothers.'' His goal was to establish trust and peace 
between the world's great religions.
  In 1994, he established full diplomatic relations between the Vatican 
and Israel. And in the closing years of the 20th century, he issued the 
historic document, ``We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah.'' In it he 
apologized for the Church's failure to stop the Nazi holocaust.
  John Paul made history when, after so many years of working towards 
reconciliation, he became the first Pope to officially visit the Holy 
Land in 2000. He visited the sites of Jesus' birth, the Last Supper, 
crucifixion, burial and resurrection. In Jerusalem, he prayed at the 
Western Wall. Still in Jerusalem, he visited the al-Aqsa mosque, where 
Muslims hold that Muhammad ascended to Heaven.
  John Paul recognized that worshipers of Judaism, Christianity and 
Islam, who all too often clash with raised fists, also share the same 
holy ground. By visiting these sites he reminded us that they belong to 
none, yet are holy to all.
  John Paul was wonderful at delivering his message of love, hope and 
peace to millions at a time. He holds the record for having been seen, 
with the naked eye, by more people over his lifetime than anyone else 
in the world. As shepherd of the Catholic Church, he increased its 
number from 750 million to one billion over the globe. But he could 
also speak directly to just one man.
  Take a man named Mehmet Ali Agca. On May 13, 1981, Agca shot the pope 
as he rode in a jeep driving through St. Peter's Square, and wounded 
him in the abdomen, right arm and left hand. John Paul was rushed to 
surgery and remained there for 5 hours. Part of his intestines had to 
be removed, and this man, a former skier, hiker and mountain climber, 
never fully recovered from this murderous attack.
  But 2 years after the shooting, John Paul went to visit Agca in an 
Italian prison. The apostle and the assassin spoke face to face, and 
John Paul forgave Agca for attempting to kill him. In 1999, the Vatican 
endorsed clemency, and the Italian Government pardoned Agca a year 
later.
  Right up until the end of his life, John Paul continued to teach us 
moral lessons. By continuing his duties through his ill health, he 
reminded us that all life has value and there is no such thing as a 
disposable human being.
  We have lost a great moral leader, whose counsel will be missed as we 
continue to fight for freedom against the forces of violence, 
intolerance and hatred. it will be hard to fill the vacuum John Paul 
has left. His wisdom and fearlessness spoke not just to Catholics, but 
also to all Christians, Jews, Muslims, and the religions of the world. 
As we face a future without him, we must go forward as he did, with 
confidence in the human soul to find meaning amidst the chaos. And we 
must ``be not afraid.''
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II, 
who passed away on Saturday, April 2, 2005.
  I certainly will not be able to capture Pope John Paul's entire 
legacy in these few words. He was a truly remarkable individual who led 
a truly remarkable life.
  Pope John Paul II was a man who had a deep commitment to human 
freedom political freedom and economic freedom certainly, but more 
importantly, a freedom of the human soul from the bondage and burdenls 
of tyranny, oppression, and poverty. As a young man who came of age 
during World War II, he opposed Nazism. One of his first encyclicals as 
Pope was in support of workers' rights. During the 1980's, he was one 
of the leading world figures who helped bring about the end of 
communism. And he warned us all against the dangers of unbridled 
capitalism, particularly for those who are less fortunate.
  Without a doubt, Pope John Paul II was the most ecumenical Pope the 
world has ever seen. It is fitting that his passing has sparked an 
outpouring of appreciation not simply from Catholics, but from people 
of all faiths.
  John Paul II visited 129 countries outside of Italy by far the most 
of any Pope. He was the first Pope to visit a synagogue or a mosque. He 
visited the Western Wall in Israel and apologized for the Church's 
failure to resist and speak out against the Holocaust. Like no other 
Pope before him, he used his position to build bridges of understanding 
and respect between different faiths.
  Pope John Paul II did not merely give sermons. He led by example. 
This was particularly evident when it came to the issue of forgiveness. 
Many of us often talk about forgiveness in an abstract sense. In 
January 1981, the Pope survived a bullet wound from a would-be 
assassin. Two years later, he visited and forgave the man who made an 
attempt on his life.
  The Pope was an incredibly charismatic individual. A former actor, he 
used the skills he developed on stage to his advantage. I was fortunate 
enough to meet personally with him twice. Like so many, I was impressed 
not only by his thoughtfulness, and by the depth of his spiritual 
sentiment, but by his great human vitality, as well as his sense of 
humor.
  In many ways, John Paul II was the first ``modern pope.'' Born in 
this century, he lived through a world war and saw the emergence of the 
new threat of terrorism. He witnessed the dawn of the space age, as 
well as the developments of modern air travel, the computer, and the 
internet. A great deal of his time was devoted to addressing the 
tensions that often exist between modern society and Church traditions 
and doctrines.
  The world truly lost an extraordinary leader this past Saturday. His 
message of faith, hope, and peace inspired millions, even in his final 
days. I share in the mourning of his passing, and I add my words of 
tribute to those of so many who have offered them in recent days.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I pay tribute to Pope John Paul 
II, not only as a leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, but also 
someone who was a moral leader in our troubled world. I was privileged 
to have met this Pope twice in my life while representing the people of 
Florida. I will always remember his devotion to faith, his intellect 
and his charm but, mostly, I will remember his overwhelming humility.
  I was struck by how a man in a position of such awesome power could 
be so humble. And I believe people around the world saw this, too, 
which is why millions came to see and hear him during his visits to 129 
different countries. His words of freedom and peace penetrated the 
human heart.
  John Paul II was also a man of great courage, who learned firsthand 
the suffering of the Polish people he later would come to serve. As a 
young man, he performed forced labor at the hands of the Nazis but 
challenged their rule. As the archbishop of Krakow, he defied communist 
rulers, telling his countrymen no one could take faith and hope from 
their hearts.

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  He used his 26-year papacy to spread the message of freedom and peace 
to all corners of the world, and did so with vigor. His international 
trips always served a higher purpose, for he always sought to bring 
people together as equals in God's eyes. At one large gathering of 
youth, the faithful chanted, ``We love you; we love you.'' When they 
quieted, the Pope humbly responded, ``I love you more.'' He also 
inspired open communication among the world's faiths, as the first Pope 
to enter the main Jewish synagogue in Rome and the first to enter a 
mosque.
  When he was selected to be the church's 264th Pope, his first words 
to the public were: ``Be not afraid.'' Indeed, Pope John Paul II taught 
people around the world they need not fear those who try to oppress, 
nor fear those who might be different. As the world mourns his passing, 
we all should try to heed his words.

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