[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 29534-29543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 URGING THE PRESIDENT TO PRESENT THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM TO 
                    HIS HOLINESS, POPE JOHN PAUL II

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the concurrent resolution (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.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 313

       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,

[[Page 29535]]

     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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

                              {time}  2000

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 313, a 
resolution that urges the President on behalf of the United States to 
present the Presidential Medal of Honor to his Holiness, Pope John Paul 
II.
  Pope John Paul II has been the Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church 
for 25 years and the spiritual leader to over one billion Catholic 
Christians all over the world including 66 million Catholic Christians 
in the United States alone. During this time he has been to more than 
125 countries and traveled farther than any other Pope in history to 
advance the cause of the oppressed and the poor masses of the world, as 
well as to bring peace to all

[[Page 29536]]

regions of the world. It is with great humility and great pride that I 
speak tonight in favor of this resolution that honors one of the 
greatest human rights advocates of our time.
  Today my colleagues and I will be voting on a bill that will present 
this honor to Pope John Paul II in recognition of his profound 
contributions to the causes of human dignity, unity, peace and freedom. 
Since his historic election to his position in October of 1978 as the 
first Polish Pope, he has been a model of courage in the defense of the 
downtrodden, the oppressed, and the most persecuted and defenseless.
  Pope John Paul II has stated throughout his life that it is possible 
to change the course of events once good will, trust in others, and 
cooperation between responsible partners are allowed to prevail.
  Throughout his tenure, he has empowered many under communist rule by 
strengthening them spiritually and implanting his message to not be 
afraid. He has seen the unification of a once-divided Europe. He has 
called world leaders onto a higher level of accountability as he worked 
to provide solutions to the various problems which they faced. It is 
the Holy Father's belief that all people together, Jews, Christians, 
Muslim, Israelis, Arabs, believers and nonbelievers, must create and 
reinforce peace; and he has worked to make this ideal a reality.
  As an ardent advocate of human rights for all, especially those 
suffering political and religious persecution, I join our Holy Father 
in his desire to see a world where all may live and work together in a 
spirit of peace, mutual respect, and solidarity and where the sanctity 
of human life is preserved on all levels.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Pope John Paul II for his 
love and dedication to all people of the world and urge my colleagues 
to vote in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 313.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, despite failing health, Pope John Paul II has continued 
to travel around the world promoting the cause of peace. He has made 
over 102 journeys outside Italy to 123 countries and territories to 
spread peace and God's word. He has used his moral authority to 
challenge dictators in his fight for human rights and dignity.
  Pope John Paul II has been one of the most significant figures of the 
20th century. Until John Paul II, most Popes confined themselves to 
Rome and the surrounding area. They were often distant and 
unapproachable. But John Paul has revolutionized the papacy. The Pope 
is conservative and is a champion of long-standing Church traditions. 
He is also the most traveled Pope in history and a man of the world. He 
has brought much attention to his role of helping and encouraging the 
Church around the world.
  John Paul was instrumental in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe 
for support for the Solidarity movement in Poland where he is a 
national hero. With the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the 
subsequent visit of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Rome, the 
papacy reached a height of moral and political influence in the world. 
He has used that influence to further the cause of human rights so that 
people have the right not to be fearful, the right to be able to work 
and to practice their faith.
  This resolution urges the President to present the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom to Pope John Paul II for his contributions to the cause of 
freedom, human dignity and peace. He is certainly deserving of such an 
honor, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from the State of Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), the 
sponsor of this important resolution.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida 
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for yielding me time.
  I rise to pay tribute to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, who in 
October marked his 25th year as bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of 
the Catholic Church.
  I also wish to offer my sincere appreciation to all my friends and 
colleagues in the House who have joined together to urge the President 
to present the Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II.
  The celebration of the Silver Jubilee of Pope John Paul II 
pontificate is but the latest in the series of remarkable milestones 
that have characterized his life and his ministry.
  From his birth on May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla's life has been 
intertwined with the fate of his native Poland and synonymous with the 
struggle for his individual freedom and dignity.
  In 1978 when then-Cardinal Wojtyla, the Archbishop of Krakow, was 
elected Pope, the world was such a different place. For more than 3 
decades since Winston Churchill delivered his famous ``Iron Curtain'' 
speech, people around the world prepared for what many regarded as the 
inevitable new war that would someday engulf the East and the West. To 
win the Cold War, geopolitical strategists honed and implemented 
various policies including the doctrines of attainment and mutual-
assured destruction.
  At this pivotal moment in history when the status quo included the 
subjugation of half the populations of Europe and the omnipresent 
threat of nuclear annihilation, a remarkable and energetic new Pope set 
foot on the world stage. To many in the West, this new Polish Pope was 
an unknown entity. While we recognized immediately his energy, courage 
and leadership, these same qualities were reviewed with suspicion by 
some in the East, particularly the communist rulers in Poland.
  Pope John Paul II's commitment to freedom, his affection for his 
native Poland, and the devotion of his countrymen to him were never 
more evident than the summer of 1980. That August, the Solidarity 
Workers Union, which Cardinal Wojtyla had nurtured and protected, 
organized a peaceful strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk.
  With the Pope's portrait suddenly appearing everywhere and the 
admonition from his inaugural sermon, ``Do not be afraid,'' on the lips 
of the workers, his support and reassurance provided vital sustenance 
for the strikers and ignited a spiritual spark in their struggle to 
secure dignity and freedom. Ultimately, that spark would lead to the 
demise of Soviet communism and the liberation of hundreds of millions 
in Eastern and Central Europe. History has recorded the remarkable 
achievement of Pope John Paul II and his relentless advocacy in pursuit 
of individual dignity, freedom, and peace.
  The Pope has not confined his efforts solely to the struggle against 
totalitarianism. He has engaged wherever people are downtrodden and 
oppressed.
  Mr. Speaker, the Congress should pass House Concurrent Resolution 313 
and urge the President to present the Medal of Freedom, our Nation's 
highest civilian award, to His Holiness.
  In authorizing the first Medals of Freedom in 1963, President Kennedy 
proclaimed that persons who have made especially meritorious 
contributions to the security or national interests of the United 
States, world peace or cultural or other significant public or private 
endeavors should be so recognized. By any measure it is apparent that 
there is no individual more deserving of this recognition than Pope 
John Paul II.
  Two other recipients of the Medal of Freedom, President Ronald Reagan 
and Lady Margaret Thatcher, shared the Pope's commitment to Solidarity 
in the 1980s. In my estimation, their leadership changed the course of 
human history. In 1984, while welcoming the Pope to the United States, 
President Reagan spoke of the connection between freedom, the founding 
of our own Nation, and America's debt to His Holiness.
  President Reagan stated, ``I can assure you, Your Holiness, that the 
American people seek to act as a force for peace in the world and to 
further

[[Page 29537]]

the cause of human freedom and dignity. Indeed, in appreciation for the 
unalienable rights of every human being is the very concept that gave 
birth to this Nation. Few have understood better than our Nation's 
founding fathers that claims of human dignity transcend the claims of 
any government, and this transcendent right itself has a transcendent 
source.''
  The President went on to state, ``To us, Your Holiness, the Holy See 
and your pastorate represent one of humanity's greatest moral and 
spiritual forces,'' and ``your words, your prayers and your example 
have made you, for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war, 
a source of solace, inspiration and hope.''
  It is no exaggeration to recognize that this remarkable man has 
brought hope, comfort and faith to literally billions of people around 
the world during the course of his ministry.
  Three weeks ago today I was honored to be joined by 30 Members of the 
House in introducing this resolution. Since that time we have gained 
additional support for which I am grateful, and I particularly 
appreciate the work of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) and 
the Committee on Government Reform who reported our resolution to the 
floor in such a timely manner.
  As stated previously, our bipartisan resolution calls upon the 
President on behalf of all the people of the United States to present 
the Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II as a sign of our gratitude 
for his significant, enduring, and historic contributions to the causes 
of freedom, human dignity, and peace. We urge the President to do so 
without delay.
  Finally, I include an article by Carl Bernstein entitled ``The Holy 
Alliance,'' which appeared in the February 24, 1992, edition of Time, 
as well as an article by Father Robert A. Sirico entitled ``The Cold 
War's Magnificent Seven; Pope John Paul II; Awakener of the East,'' 
which was published in the winter 1992 edition of Policy Review.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would invoke President Reagan once more. 
When asked his assessment of the Pope before meeting him the first 
time, the President replied, ``He is an example of what so many people 
have always said about Christian and Judaic tradition, and that is, 
when really needed, God provides a man. And I think in Pope John Paul 
he did just that.''
  Billions around the world are thankful that God has provided such a 
man.
  The articles referred to are as follows:

                  [From Time Magazine, Feb. 24, 1992]

                           The Holy Alliance

                          (By Carl Bernstein)

       Only President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were 
     present in the Vatican Library on Monday, June 7, 1982. It 
     was the first time the two had met, and they talked for 50 
     minutes. In the same wing of the papal apartments, Agostino 
     Cardinal Casaroli and Archbishop Achille Silvestrini met with 
     Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Judge William Clark, 
     Reagan's National Security Adviser. Most of their discussion 
     focused on Israel's invasion of Lebanon, then in its second 
     day; Haig told them Prime Minister Menachem Begin had assured 
     him that the invasion would not go farther than 25 miles 
     inside Lebanon.
       But Reagan and the Pope spent only a few minutes reviewing 
     events in the Middle East. Instead they remained focused on a 
     subject much closer to their heart: Poland and the Soviet 
     dominance of Eastern Europe. In that meeting, Reagan and the 
     Pope agreed to undertake a clandestine campaign to hasten the 
     dissolution of the communist empire. Declares Richard Allen, 
     Reagan's first National Security Adviser: ``This was one of 
     the great secret alliances of all time.''
       The operation was focused on Poland, the most populous of 
     the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and the birthplace of 
     John Paul II. Both the Pope and the President were convinced 
     that Poland could be broken out of the Soviet orbit if the 
     Vatican and the U.S. committed their resources to 
     destabilizing the Polish government and keeping the outlawed 
     Solidarity movement alive after the declaration of martial 
     law in 1981.
       Until Solidarity's legal status was restored in 1989 it 
     flourished underground, supplied, nurtured and advised 
     largely by the network established under the auspices of 
     Reagan and John Paul II. Tons of equipment--fax machines (the 
     first in Poland), printing presses, transmitters, telephones, 
     shortwave radios, video cameras, photocopiers, telex 
     machines, computers, word processors--were smuggled into 
     Poland via channels established by priests and American 
     agents and representatives of the AFL-CIO and European labor 
     movements. Money for the banned union came from CIA funds, 
     the National Endowment for Democracy, secret accounts in the 
     Vatican and Western trade unions.
       Lech Walesa and other leaders of Solidarity received 
     strategic advice--often conveyed by priests or American and 
     European labor experts working undercover in Poland--that 
     reflected the thinking of the Vatican and the Reagan 
     Administration. As the effectiveness of the resistance grew, 
     the stream of information to the West about the internal 
     decisions of the Polish government and the contents of 
     Warsaw's communications with Moscow became a flood. The 
     details came not only from priests but also from spies within 
     the Polish government.


                            down with yalta

       According to aides who shared their leaders' view of the 
     world, Reagan and John Paul II refused to accept a 
     fundamental political fact of their lifetimes: the division 
     of Europe as mandated at Yalta and the communist dominance of 
     Eastern Europe. A free, noncommunist Poland, they were 
     convinced, would be a dagger to the heart of the Soviet 
     empire; and if Poland became democratic, other East European 
     states would follow.
       ``We both felt that a great mistake had been made at Yalta 
     and something should be done,'' Reagan says today. 
     ``Solidarity was the very weapon for bringing this about, 
     because it was an organization of the laborers of Poland.'' 
     Nothing quite like Solidarity had ever existed in Eastern 
     Europe, Reagan notes, adding that the workers' union ``was 
     contrary to anything the Soviets would want or the communists 
     [in Poland] would want.''
       According to Solidarity leaders, Walesa and his lieutenants 
     were aware that both Reagan and John Paul II were committed 
     to Solidarity's survival, but they could only guess at the 
     extent of the collaboration. ``Officially I didn't know the 
     church was working with the U.S.,'' says Wojciech Adamiecki, 
     the organizer and editor of underground Solidarity newspapers 
     and now a counselor at the Polish embassy in Washington. ``We 
     were told the Pope had warned the Soviets that if they 
     entered Poland he would fly to Poland and stay with the 
     Polish people. The church was of primary assistance. It was 
     half open, half secret. Open as far as humanitarian aid--
     food, money, medicine, doctors' consultations held in 
     churches, for instance--and secret as far as supporting 
     political activities: distributing printing machines of all 
     kinds, giving us a place for underground meetings, organizing 
     special demonstrations.''
       At their first meeting, Reagan and John Paul II discussed 
     something else they had in common: both had survived 
     assassination attempts only six weeks apart in 1981, and both 
     believed God had saved them for a special mission. ``A close 
     friend of Ronald Reagan's told me the President said, `Look 
     how the evil forces were put in our way and how Providence 
     intervened,''' says Pio Cardinal Laghi, the former apostolic 
     delegate to Washington. According to National Security 
     Adviser Clark, the Pope and Reagan referred to the 
     ``miraculous'' fact that they had survived. Clark said the 
     men shared ``a unity of spiritual view and a unity of vision 
     on the Soviet empire: that right or correctness would 
     ultimately prevail in the divine plan.''
       ``Reagan came in with very simple and strongly held 
     views,'' says Admiral Bobby Inman, former deputy director of 
     the CIA. ``It is a valid point of view that he saw the 
     collapse [of communism] coming and he pushed it--hard.'' 
     During the first half of 1982, a five-part strategy emerged 
     that was aimed at bringing about the collapse of the Soviet 
     economy, fraying the ties that bound the U.S.S.R. to its 
     client states in the Warsaw Pact and forcing reform inside 
     the Soviet empire. Elements of that strategy included:
       The U.S. defense buildup already under way, aimed at making 
     it too costly for the Soviets to compete militarily with the 
     U.S. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative--Star Wars--became 
     a centerpiece of the strategy.
       Covert operations aimed at encouraging reform movements in 
     Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
       Financial aid to Warsaw Pact nations calibrated to their 
     willingness to protect human rights and undertake political 
     and free-market reforms.
       Economic isolation of the Soviet Union and the withholding 
     of Western and Japanese technology from Moscow. The 
     Administration focused on denying the U.S.S.R. what it had 
     hoped would be its principal source of hard currency in the 
     21st century: profits from a transcontinental pipeline to 
     supply natural gas to Western Europe. The 3,600-mile-long 
     pipeline, stretching from Siberia to France, opened on time 
     on Jan. 1, 1984, but on a far smaller scale than the Soviets 
     had hoped.
       Increased use of Radio Liberty, Voice of America and Radio 
     Free Europe to transmit the Administration's messages to the 
     people of Eastern Europe.
       Yet in 1982 neither Reagan nor the Pope could anticipate 
     the accession of a Soviet leader like Mikhail Gorbachev, the 
     father of glasnost and perestroika; his efforts at reform 
     unleashed powerful forces that spun out of his control and 
     led to the breakup of the

[[Page 29538]]

     Soviet Union. The Washington-Vatican alliance ``didn't cause 
     the fall of communism,'' observes a U.S. official familiar 
     with the details of the plot to keep Solidarity alive. ``Like 
     all great and lucky leaders, the Pope and the President 
     exploited the forces of history to their own ends.''


                             the crackdown

       The campaign by Washington and the Vatican to keep 
     Solidarity alive began immediately after General Wojciech 
     Jaruzelski declared martial law on Dec. 13, 1981. In those 
     dark hours, Poland's communications with the noncommunist 
     world were cut; 6,000 leaders of Solidarity were detained; 
     hundreds were charged with treason, subversion and 
     counterrevolution; nine were killed; and the union was 
     banned. But thousands of others went into hiding, many 
     seeking protection in churches, rectories and with priests. 
     Authorities took Walesa into custody and interned him in a 
     remote hunting lodge.
       Shortly after Polish security forces moved into the 
     streets, Reagan called the Pope for his advice. At a service 
     of meetings over the next few days, Reagan discussed his 
     options. ``We had a massive row in the Cabinet and the 
     National Security Council about putting together a menu of 
     counteractions,'' former Secretary of State Haig recalls. 
     ``They ranged from sanctions that would have been crushing in 
     their impact on Poland to talking so tough that we would have 
     risked creating another situation like Hungary in '56 or 
     Czechoslovakia in '68.''
       Haig dispatched Ambassador at Large Vernon Walters, a 
     devout Roman Catholic, to meet with John Paul II. Walters 
     arrived in Rome soon after, and met separately with the Pope 
     and with Cardinal Casaroli, the Vatican secretary of state. 
     Both sides agreed that Solidarity's flame must not be 
     extinguished, that the Soviets must become the focus of an 
     international campaign of isolation, and that the Polish 
     government must be subjected to moral and limited economic 
     pressure.
       According to U.S. intelligence sources, the Pope had 
     already advised Walcsa through church channels to keep his 
     movement operating underground, and to pass the word to 
     Solidarity's 10 million members not to go into the streets 
     and risk provoking Warsaw Pact intervention or civil war with 
     Polish security forces. Because the communists had cut the 
     direct phone lines between Poland and the Vatican, John Paul 
     II communicated with Jozef Cardinal Glemp in Warsaw via 
     radio. He also dispatched his envoys to Poland to report on 
     the situation. ``The Vatican's information was absolutely 
     better and quicker than ours in every respect,'' says Haig. 
     ``Though we had some excellent sources of our own, our 
     information was taking too long to filter through the 
     intelligence bureaucracy.''
       In the first hours of the crisis, Reagan ordered that the 
     Pope receive as quickly as possible relevant American 
     intelligence, including information from a Polish Deputy 
     Minister of Defense who was secretly reporting to the CIA. 
     Washington also handed over to the Vatican reports and 
     analysis from Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, a senior member of 
     the Polish general staff, who was a CIA informant until 
     November 1981, when he had to be smuggled out of Poland after 
     he warned that the Soviets were prepared to invade if the 
     Polish government did not impose martial law. Kuklinski had 
     issued a similar warning about a Soviet military action in 
     late 1980, which led the outgoing Carter Administration to 
     send secret messages to Leonid Brezhnev informing him that 
     among the costs of an invasion would be the sale of 
     sophisticated U.S. weapons to China. This time, Kuklinski 
     reported to Washington, Brezhnev had grown more impatient, 
     and a disastrous harvest at home meant that the Kremlin did 
     not need mechanized army units to help bring in the crops and 
     instead could spare them for an invasion. ``Anything that we 
     knew that we thought the Pope would not be aware of, we 
     certainly brought it to his attention,'' says Reagan. 
     ``Immediately.''


                           the catholic team

       The key Administration players were all devout Roman 
     Catholics--CIA chief William Casey, Allen, Clark, Haig, 
     Walters and William Wilson, Reagan's first ambassador to the 
     Vatican. They regarded the U.S.-Vatican relationship as a 
     holy alliance: the moral force of the Pope and the teachings 
     of their church combined with their fierce anticommunism and 
     their notion of American democracy. Yet the mission would 
     have been impossible without the full support of Reagan, who 
     believed fervently in both the benefits and the practical 
     applications of Washington's relationship with the Vatican. 
     One of his earliest goals as President, Reagan says, was to 
     recognize the Vatican as a state ``and make them an ally.''
       According to Admiral John Poindexter, the military 
     assistant to the National Security Adviser when martial law 
     was declared in Poland, Reagan was convinced that the 
     communists had made a huge miscalculation: after allowing 
     Solidarity to operate openly for 16 months before the 
     crackdown, the Polish government would only alienate its 
     countrymen by attempting to cripple the labor movement and, 
     most important, would bring the powerful church into direct 
     conflict with the Polish regime. ``I didn't think that this 
     [the decision to impose martial law and crush Solidarity] 
     could stand, because of the history of Poland and the 
     religious aspect and all,'' Reagan says. Says Cardinal 
     Casaroli: ``There was a real coincidence of interests between 
     the U.S. and the Vatican.''
       The major decisions on funneling aid to Solidarity and 
     responding to the Polish and Soviet governments were made by 
     Reagan, Casey and Clark, in consultation with John Paul II. 
     ``Reagan understood these things quite well, including the 
     covert side,'' says Richard Pipes, the conservative Polish-
     born scholar who headed the NSC's Soviet and East-European 
     desks. ``The President talked about the evil of the Soviet 
     system--not its people--and how we had to do everything 
     possible to help these people in Solidarity who were 
     struggling for freedom. People like Haig and Commerce 
     Secretary Malcolm Baldrige and James Baker [White House chief 
     of staff at the time] thought it wasn't realistic. George 
     Bush never said a word. I used to sit behind him, and I never 
     knew what his opinions were. But Reagan really understood 
     what was at stake.''
       By most accounts, Casey stepped into the vacuum in the 
     first days after the declaration of martial law in Poland 
     and--as he did in Central America--became the principal 
     policy architect. Meanwhile Pipes and the NSC staff began 
     drafting proposals for sanctions. ``The object was to drain 
     the Soviets and to lay blame for martial law at their 
     doorstep,'' says Pipes. ``The sanctions were coordinated with 
     Special Operations [the CIA division in charge of covert task 
     forces], and the first objective was to keep Solidarity alive 
     by supplying money, communications and equipment.''
       ``The church was trying to modulate the whole situation,'' 
     explains one of the NSC officials who directed the effort to 
     curtail the pipeline. ``They [church leaders] were in effect 
     trying to create circumstances that would head off the 
     serious threat of Soviet intervention while allowing us to 
     get tougher and tougher; they were part and parcel of 
     virtually all of our deliberations in terms of how we viewed 
     the evolution of government-sponsored repression in Poland--
     whether it was lessening or getting worse, and how we should 
     proceed.''
       As for his conversations with Reagan about Poland, Clark 
     says they were usually short. ``I don't think I ever had an 
     in-depth, one-on-one, private conversation that existed for 
     more than three minutes with him--on any subject. That might 
     shock you. We had our own code of communication. I knew where 
     he wanted to go on Poland. And that was to take it to its nth 
     possibilities. The President and Casey and I discussed the 
     situation on the ground in Poland constantly: covert 
     operations; who was doing what, where, why and how; and the 
     chances of success.'' According to Clark, he and Casey 
     directed that the President's daily brief--the PDB, an 
     intelligence summary prepared by the CIA--include a special 
     supplement on secret operations and analysis in Poland.
       The Pope himself, not only his deputies, met with American 
     officials to assess events in Poland and the effectiveness of 
     American actions and sent back messages--sometimes by letter, 
     sometimes orally--to Reagan. On almost all his trips to 
     Europe and the Middle East, Casey flew first to Rome, so that 
     he could meet with John Paul II and exchange information. But 
     the principal emissary between Washington and Rome remained 
     Walters, a former deputy director of the CIA who worked 
     easily with Casey. Walters met with the Pope perhaps a dozen 
     times, according to Vatican sources. ``Walters was sent to 
     and from the Vatican for the specific purpose of carrying 
     messages between the Pope and the President,'' says former 
     U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Wilson. ``It wasn't supposed 
     to be known that Walters was there. It wasn't all 
     specifically geared to Poland; sometimes there were also 
     discussions about Central America or the hostages in 
     Lebanon.''
       Often in the Reagan years, American covert operations 
     (including those in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola) 
     involved ``lethal assistance'' to insurgent forces: arms, 
     mercenaries, military advisers and explosives. In Poland the 
     Pope, the President and Casey embarked on the opposite path: 
     ``What they had to do was let the natural forces already in 
     place play this out and not get their fingerprints on it,'' 
     explains a analyst. What emerges from the Reagan-Casey 
     collaboration is a carefully calibrated operation whose scope 
     was modest compared with other CIA activities. ``If Casey 
     were around now, he'd be having some smiles,'' observes one 
     of his reluctant admirers. ``In 1991 Reagan and Casey got the 
     reordering of the world that they wanted.''


                          the secret directive

       Less than three weeks before his meeting with the Pope in 
     1982, the President signed a secret national-security-
     decision directive (NSDD 32) that authorized a range of 
     economic, diplomatic and covert measures to ``neutralize 
     efforts of the U.S.S.R.'' to maintain its hold on Eastern 
     Europe. In practical terms, the most important covert 
     operations undertaken were those inside Poland. The primary 
     purposes of NSDD 32 were to destabilize the Polish government 
     through covert operations involving propaganda and 
     organizational aid to Solidarity; the promotion of human 
     rights, particularly those related to the right of worship 
     and the Catholic

[[Page 29539]]

     Church; economic pressure; and diplomatic isolation of the 
     communist regime. The document, citing the need to defend 
     democratic reform efforts throughout the Soviet empire, also 
     called for increasing propaganda and underground broadcasting 
     operations in Eastern Europe, actions that Reagan's aides and 
     dissidents in Eastern Europe believe were particularly 
     helpful in chipping away at the notion of Soviet 
     invincibility.
       As Republican Congressman Henry Hyde, a member of the House 
     Intelligence Committee from 1985 to 1990, who was apprised of 
     some of the Administration's covert actions, observes, ``In 
     Poland we did all of the things that are done in countries 
     where you want to destabilize a communist government and 
     strengthen resistance to that. We provided the supplies and 
     technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers, 
     broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and 
     advice. And working outward from Poland, the same kind of 
     resistance was organized in the other communist countries of 
     Europe.''
       Among those who played a consulting role was Zbigniew 
     Brzezinski, a native of Poland and President Jimmy Carter's 
     National Security Adviser. ``I got along very well with 
     Casey,'' recalls Brzezinski. ``He was very flexible and very 
     imaginative and not very bureaucratic; if something needed to 
     be done, it was done. To sustain an underground effort takes 
     a lot in terms of supplies, networks, etc., and this is why 
     Solidarity wasn't crushed.''
       On military questions, American intelligence was better 
     than the Vatican's, but the church excelled in its 
     evaluations of the political situation. And in understanding 
     the mood of the people and communicating with the Solidarity 
     leadership, the church was in an incomparable position. ``Our 
     information about Poland was very well founded because the 
     bishops were in continual contact with the Holy See and 
     Solidarnosc,'' explains Cardinal Silvestrini, the Vatican's 
     deputy secretary of state at that time. ``They informed us 
     about prisoners, about the activities and needs of Solidarity 
     groups and about the attitude and schisms in the 
     government.'' All this information was communicated to the 
     President or Casey.
       ``If you study the situation of Solidarity, you see they 
     acted very cleverly, without pressing too much at the crucial 
     moments, because they had guidance from the church,'' says 
     one of the Pope's closest aides. ``Yes, there were times we 
     restrained Solidarnosc. But Poland was a bomb that could 
     explode--in the heart of communism, bordered by the Soviet 
     Union, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Too much pressure, 
     and the bomb would go off.''


                           casey's cappuccino

       Meanwhile, in Washington a close relationship developed 
     between Casey, Clark and Archbishop Laghi. ``Casey and I 
     dropped into his [Laghi's] residence early mornings during 
     critical times to gather his comments and counsel,'' says 
     Clark. ``We'd have breakfast and coffee and discuss what was 
     being done in Poland. I'd speak to him frequently on the 
     phone, and he would be in touch with the Pope.'' Says Laghi: 
     ``They liked good cappuccino. Occasionally we might talk 
     about Central America or the church position on birth 
     control. But usually the subject was Poland.''
       ``Almost everything having to do with Poland was handled 
     outside of normal State Department channels and would go 
     through Casey and Clark,'' says Robert McFarlane, who served 
     as a deputy to both Clark and Haig and later as National 
     Security Adviser to the President. ``I knew that they were 
     meeting with Pio Laghi, and that Pio Laghi had been to see 
     the President, but Clark would never tell me what the 
     substance of the discussions was.''
       On at least six occasions Laghi came to the White House and 
     met with Clark or the President; each time, he entered the 
     White House through the southwest gate in order to avoid 
     reports. ``By keeping in such close touch, we did not cross 
     lines,'' says Laghi. ``My role was primarily to facilitate 
     meetings between Walters and the Holy Father. The Holy Father 
     knew his people. It was a very complex situation--how to 
     insist on human rights, on religious freedom, and keep 
     Solidarity alive without provoking the communist authorities 
     further. But I told Vernon, `Listen to the Holy Father. We 
     have 2,000 years' experience at this.'''
       Though William Casey has been vilified for aspects of his 
     tenure as CIA chief, there is no criticism of his instincts 
     on Poland. ``Basically, he had a quiet confidence that the 
     communists couldn't hold on, especially in Poland,'' says 
     former Congressman Edward Derwinski, a Polish-speaking expert 
     on Eastern Europe who counseled the Administration and met 
     with Casey frequently. ``He was convinced the system was 
     falling and doomed to collapse one way or another--and Poland 
     was the force that would lead to the dam breaking. He 
     demanded a constant [CIA] focus on Eastern Europe. It wasn't 
     noticed, because other stories were more controversial and 
     were perking at the moment--Nicaragua and Salvador.''
       In Poland, Casey conducted the kind of old-style operation 
     that he relished, something he might have done in his days at 
     the Office of Strategic Services during World War II or in 
     the early years of the CIA, when the democracies of Western 
     Europe rose from the ashes of World War II. It was through 
     Casey's contacts, his associates say, that elements of the 
     Socialist International were organized on behalf of 
     Solidarity--just as the Social Democratic parties of Western 
     Europe had been used as an instrument of American policy by 
     the CIA in helping to create anticommunist governments after 
     the war. And this time the objective was akin to creating a 
     Christian Democratic majority in Poland--with the church and 
     the overwhelmingly Catholic membership of Solidarity as the 
     dominant political force in a post communist Poland. Through 
     his contacts with leaders of the Socialist International, 
     including officials of socialist governments in France and 
     Sweden, Casey ensured that tactical assistance was available 
     on the continent and at sea to move goods into Poland. ``This 
     wasn't about spending huge amounts of money,'' says 
     Brzezinski. ``It was about getting the message out and 
     resisting: books, communications equipment, propaganda, ink 
     and printing presses.''


                        Look for the Union Label

       In almost every city and town, underground newspapers and 
     mimeographed bulletins appeared, challenging the state-
     controlled media. The church published its own newspapers. 
     Solidarity missives, photocopied and mimeographed on 
     American-supplied equipment, were tacked to church bulletin 
     boards. Stenciled posters were boldly posted on police 
     stations and government buildings and even on entrances to 
     the state-controlled television center, where army officers 
     broadcast the news.
       The American embassy in Warsaw became the pivotal CIA 
     station in the communist world and, by all accounts, the most 
     effective. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, which had been the largest 
     source of American support for Solidarity before martial law, 
     regarded the Reagan Administration's approach as too slow and 
     insufficiently confrontational with the Polish authorities. 
     Nonetheless, according to intelligence sources, AFL-CIO 
     president Lane Kirkland and his aide Tom Kahn consulted 
     frequently with Poindexter, Clark and other officials at the 
     State Department and the NSC on such matters as how and when 
     to move goods and supplies into Poland, identifying cities 
     where Solidarity was in particular need of organizing 
     assistance, and examining how Solidarity and the AFL-CIO 
     might collaborate in the preparation of propaganda materials.
       ``Lane Kirkland deserves special credit,'' observes 
     Derwinski. ``They don't like to admit [it], but they 
     literally were in lockstep [with the Administration]. Also 
     never forget that Bill Clark's wife is Czechoslovak, as is 
     Lane Kirkland's wife. This is one issue where everybody was 
     aboard; there were no turf fights or mavericks or 
     naysayers.''
       But AFL-CIO officials were never aware of the extent of 
     clandestine U.S. assistance, or the Administration's reliance 
     on the church for guidance regarding how hard to push Polish 
     and Soviet authorities. Casey was wary of ``contaminating'' 
     the American and European labor movements by giving them too 
     many details of the Administration's efforts. And indeed this 
     was not strictly a CIA operation. Rather, it was a blend of 
     covert and overt, public policy and secret alliances. Casey 
     recognized that in many instances the AFL-CIO was more 
     imaginative than his own operatives in providing 
     organizational assistance to Solidarity and smuggling 
     equipment into the country. According to former deputy CIA 
     director Inman, Casey decided that the American labor 
     movement's relationship with Solidarity was so good that much 
     of what the CIA needed could be financed and obtained through 
     AFL-CIO channels. ``Financial support wasn't what they 
     needed,'' says Inman. ``It was organization, and that was an 
     infinitely better way to help them than through classic 
     covert operations.''
       The Solidarity office in Brussels became an international 
     clearinghouse: for representatives of the Vatican, for CIA 
     operatives, for the AFL-CIO, for representatives of the 
     Socialist International, for the congressionally funded 
     National Endowment for Democracy, which also worked closely 
     with Casey. It was the place where Solidarity told its 
     backers--some of whose real identities were unknown to 
     Solidarity itself--what it needed, where goods and supplies 
     and organizers could be most useful. Priests, couriers, labor 
     organizers and intelligence operatives moved in and out of 
     Poland with requests for aid and with detailed information on 
     the situation inside the government and the underground. Food 
     and clothing and money to pay fines of Solidarity leaders who 
     were brought before Polish courts poured into the country. 
     Inside Poland, a network of priests carried messages back and 
     forth between the churches where many of Solidarity's leaders 
     were in hiding.
       In the summer of 1984, when the sanctions against Poland 
     seemed to be hurting ordinary Poles and not the communists, 
     Laghi traveled to Santa Barbara to meet with Reagan at the 
     Western White House and urge that some of the sanctions be 
     lifted. The Administration complied. At the same time, the 
     White House, in close consultation with the Vatican, refused 
     to ease its economic

[[Page 29540]]

     pressures on Moscow--denying technology, food and cultural 
     exchanges as the price for continuing oppression in Poland.
       Much of the equipment destined for Solidarity arrived in 
     Poland by ship--often packed in mismarked containers sent 
     from Denmark and Sweden, then unloaded at Gdansk and other 
     ports by dockers secretly working with Solidarity. According 
     to Administration officials, the socialist government of 
     Sweden--and Swedish labor unions--played a crucial role in 
     arranging the transshipment of goods to Poland. From the 
     Polish docks, equipment moved to its destination in trucks 
     and private cars driven by Solidarity sympathizers who often 
     used churches and priests as their point of contact for 
     deliveries and pickups.


                         ``solidarity lives!''

       ``The Administration plugged into the church across the 
     board,'' observes Derwinski, now Secretary of Veterans 
     Affairs. ``Not just through the church hierarchy but through 
     individual churches and bishops. Monsignor Bronislaw 
     Dabrowski, a deputy to Cardinal Glemp, came to use often to 
     tell us what was needed: he would meet with me, with Casey, 
     the NSC and sometimes with Walters.'' John Cardinal Krol of 
     Philadelphia, whose father was born in Poland, was the 
     American churchman closest to the Pope. He frequently met 
     with Casey to discuss support for Solidarity and covert 
     operations, according to CIA sources and Derwinski. ``Krol 
     hit it off very well with President Reagan and was a source 
     of constant advice and contact,'' says Derwinski. ``Often he 
     was the one Casey or Clark went to, the one who really 
     understood the situation.''
       By 1985 it was apparent that the Polish government's 
     campaign to suppress Solidarity had failed. According to a 
     report by Adrian Karatnycky, who helped organize the AFL-
     CIO's assistance to Solidarity, there were more than 400 
     underground periodicals appearing in Poland, some with a 
     circulation that exceeded 30,000. Books and pamphlets 
     challenging the authority of the communist government were 
     printed by the thousands. Comic books for children recast 
     Polish fables and legends, with Jaruzelski pictured as the 
     villain, communism as the red dragon and Walesa as the heroic 
     knight. In church basements and homes, millions of viewers 
     watched documentary videos produced and screened on the 
     equipment smuggled into the country.
       With clandestine broadcasting equipment supplied by the CIA 
     and the AFL-CIO, Solidarity regularly broke into the 
     government's radio programming, often with the message 
     ``Solidarity lives!'' or ``Resist!'' Armed with a transmitter 
     supplied by the CIA through church channels, Solidarity 
     interrupted television programming with both audio and visual 
     messages, including calls for strikes and demonstrations. 
     ``There was a great moment at the half time of the national 
     soccer championship,'' says a Vatican official. ``Just as the 
     whistle sounded for the half, a Solidarity Lives! banner went 
     up on the screen and a tape came on calling for resistance. 
     What was particularly ingenious was waiting for the half-time 
     break; had the interruption come during actual soccer play, 
     it could have alienated people.'' As Brzezinski sums it up, 
     ``This was the first time that communist police suppression 
     didn't succeed.''
       ``Nobody believed the collapse of communism would happen 
     this fast or on this timetable,'' says a cardinal who is one 
     of the Pope's closest aides. ``But in their first meeting, 
     the holy Father and the President committed themselves and 
     the institutions of the church and America to such a goal. 
     And from that day, the focus was to bring it about in 
     Poland.''
       Step by reluctant step, the Soviets and the communist 
     government of Poland bowed to the moral, economic and 
     political pressure imposed by the Pope and the President. 
     Jails were emptied, Walesa's trial on charges of slandering 
     state officials was abandoned, the Polish communist party 
     turned fratricidal, and the country's economy collapsed in a 
     haze of strikes and demonstrations and sanctions.
       On Feb. 19, 1987, after Warsaw had pledged to open a 
     dialogue with the church, Reagan lifted U.S. sanctions. Four 
     months later, Pope John Paul II was cheered by millions of 
     his countrymen as he traveled across Poland demanding human 
     rights and praising Solidarity. In July 1988, Gorbachev 
     visited Warsaw and signaled Moscow's recognition that the 
     government could not rule without Solidarity's cooperation. 
     On April 5, 1989, the two sides signed agreements legalizing 
     Solidarity and calling for open parliamentary elections in 
     June. In December 1990, nine years after he was arrested and 
     his labor union banned, Lech Walesa became President of 
     Poland.
       [Correction (Apr. 27, 1992): A short article accompanying 
     our report on the cooperative effort of President Reagan and 
     Pope John Paul II to assist Poland's Solidarity movement 
     [Cover, Feb. 24] incorrectly stated the U.S. position on 
     financial aid for family planning in foreign countries. The 
     U.S. announced in 1984 that it would withhold funds for 
     abortion or coerced birth control--but not for all family 
     planning.]
                                  ____


                 [From the Policy Review, 1992 Winter]

 The Cold War's Magnificent Seven; Pope John Paul II; Awakener of the 
                                  East

                       (By Fr. Robert A. Sirico)

       The victory of the Free World in the Cold War ranks with 
     the victory of the Allies in World War II, the landing on the 
     moon, and the spectacular advances in health and prosperity 
     around most of the world as the most important achievement of 
     mankind in this century. There were countless heroes in the 
     defeat of Communism--among them the people of the former 
     Soviet empire whose indomitable spirit ultimately triumphed 
     over their enslavers, and the taxpayers of the Western 
     alliance who spent trillions of dollars over more than 40 
     years to protect their countries and civilization from the 
     Soviet threat. The West was also blessed by extraordinary 
     leaders and moral voices who defined the nature of the 
     conflict, galvanized the popular will to resist Communism, 
     and created the institutions that led to eventual victory. 
     Policy Review pays tribute here to seven of those leaders 
     whose words and deeds were essential for the wonderful events 
     of the last few years.
       It was a nervous clique of geriatric Stalinists who watched 
     from Moscow in 1979 as millions of Poles poured into the 
     streets of Krakow to greet their native son Karol Wojtyla 
     when he returned to them as Pope John Paul II. A political 
     awareness dawned among these teeming masses when they saw in 
     one another's boldness the impotence of the dictatorship that 
     claimed dominance over their lives.
       Nor were the only witnesses to these events Politburo 
     members and Poles. Lithuanians and Ukrainians, Hungarians and 
     Czechoslovakians also witnessed with astonishment the 
     unfurling of Solidarity banners in a Communist nation.
       Perhaps it was not so astonishing to the new pope. As a 
     young boy Wojtyla used to pause for a few moments following 
     Mass to offer a series of prayers ``for the conversion of 
     Russia.''
       From the outset, Wojtyla was a robust, intense, strong, and 
     disciplined young man. His charismatic personality was 
     augmented by his facility with languages and further honed by 
     theatrical training. His combination of fervent piety and 
     firm anti-Communism would serve him well in his future as 
     priest, bishop, and cardinal in Poland. In a country that is 
     itself 93 percent Roman Catholic, such a profession would 
     necessitate dealing with Russia's surrogates, sometimes 
     making strategic accommodations, without yielding the moral 
     ground to Communism.
       John Paul comprehended the dynamics of Marxism both 
     intellectually and personally. He knew Communism well, so 
     well that some left-wing theologians initially mistook his 
     familiarity with Marxism for sympathy. They hoped he would 
     lead a new and enriched dialogue between Christianity and 
     Marxism. Instead, by virtue of his philosophical and 
     theological training, he was equipped both to refute 
     Marxism's logical errors, and also to offer a more compelling 
     alternative in its place.
       As leader of the largest Christian religion, John Paul is 
     also the leader of a vast enterprise, joined by thousands of 
     subsidiary organizations. These are linked by a common set of 
     beliefs and symbols, enabling the transcendence of the usual 
     barriers of language, culture, and geographic border. This 
     expansive umbrella enabled him, through gesture, encyclical, 
     and homily, to inspire millions of people living under 
     regimes that violated their ability to work for authentic 
     liberty.


                             moral conflict

       During his pontificate, two other figures stepped onto the 
     world stage and occupied with him critical roles in the 
     momentous events that would unfold. A year after John Paul 
     assumed his place at the Vatican in 1978, Margaret Thatcher 
     came to occupy 10 Downing Street. About a year and a half 
     later, Ronald Reagan took up residency in the White House.
       The common thread between John Paul, Thatcher, and Reagan 
     is that while they appreciated the art of politics, they 
     understood the global situation in fundamentally moral 
     categories. They understood, as few world leaders have 
     understood, that the argument in favor of freedom is a moral 
     argument as well as a political and economic one. Without the 
     moral dimension, the battles that these cold warriors waged 
     would have been meaningless and uninspiring.
       The compelling dignity and moral depth of John Paul is 
     especially highlighted when he contrasted with the leaders of 
     another international religious body, and their posture 
     toward the dictatorships of Eastern Europe. I speak here, of 
     course, of the World Council of Churches. Almost from its 
     inception, and throughout the past 40 years, the socialist 
     penchants of the WCC prevented it from offering any kind of 
     principled opposition to the immorality of Communism.
       ``Liberation'' was the central theme of the WCC's Nairobi 
     Assembly in 1975. South Africa was denounced alongside 
     ``white Atlantic nations''; the rights of aborigines in 
     Australia were defended even as the plight of migrant workers 
     in Europe was decried.
       Yet a motion to include in this litany of injustice a 
     mention of religious repression in Russia was turned back. 
     Instead, the assembly would only acknowledge that it 
     ``devoted a substantial period of discussion to the alleged 
     denials of religious liberty in the USSR'' [emphasis added].

[[Page 29541]]

       While the officers of the WCC were funding Marxist 
     guerrillas in Africa in the name of ``liberation,'' John Paul 
     was teaching the polish under ground in the effective use of 
     nonviolent resistance to totalitarianism. He did this in his 
     writings, as well as in the numerous meetings and audiences 
     he held with leaders of the underground.
       No doubt historians who write on this period in years to 
     come will not only see the moral dimension, but also the 
     superb tactical insight of the use of nonviolence. Too 
     aggressive a stance on the part of the Polish underground and 
     the Soviet Union might have cracked down at a much earlier 
     and more vulnerable stage. Drawing on a tradition accustomed 
     to martyrs, whose blood, it is said, is the seed of the Roman 
     Catholic Church, prayer and determination in the face of 
     persecution resulted in one of the most radical yet bloodless 
     revolutions in world history.


                           Spirit of Liberty

       If there is one word to characterize the legacy John Paul 
     will leave to history, perhaps that word is liberty.
       Historians will undoubtedly note the amazing move in the 
     Catholic world toward democratic political processes and free 
     economies in the period of this pope's reign. This is clearly 
     evident in Latin America where the Pope has confronted unjust 
     regimes of every stripe.
       How fitting, then, that John Paul, this priest from Poland 
     who lived under what is arguably history's most immoral and 
     destructive political system, should have been the one to 
     write the epitaph for collectivism in its Communist, 
     socialist, and welfare statist incarnations. This he has done 
     in the form of his most recent social encyclical, Centesimus 
     Annus (``The Hundredth Year'').
       Celebrating the centenary of Pope Leo XIII's pastoral 
     letter Rerum Navarum, Centesimus Annus looks at the events of 
     this age and envisions a world where government is strictly 
     limited and based on the rule of law; where free people trade 
     in free markets to produce a more prosperous economy for all 
     the world's needy; and where the social system is rooted in 
     moral and religious tradition.
       It will be interesting to see whether this moral vision 
     will have greater impact on the West or on the former 
     republics of the Soviet empire that John Paul did so much to 
     free.
       Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily 
     reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an 
     attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before 
     Congress.

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the distinguished Chairman 
of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding me time. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner) for sponsoring this very important resolution and for 
his eloquent remarks just made on behalf of the Pope.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Sensenbrenner resolution 
urging the President on behalf of people of the United States to 
present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II, who in 
his 25 years as leader of the Catholic Church, has become pastor to the 
world, boldly proclaiming the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, 
and its message of love, hope and reconciliation.
  The Holy Father walks the path to peace that surpasses understanding, 
the road that leads to heaven. Even at age 83 and struggling with 
various health ailments, including Parkinsons disease, the Pope's 
charisma and steadfast faith shine brightly, giving hope to millions of 
people of all faiths.
  Mr. Speaker, as we know, during his pontificate the Holy Father has 
visited over 125 different countries, several more than once, 
proclaiming the good news to millions and has been seen by more people 
than anyone in human history.
  In what is believed to be the largest gathering ever, he spoke before 
an estimated 6 million people at a mass at World Youth Day in the 
Philippines in 1995.
  Pope John Paul II is truly a world leader and has been an 
unparalleled champion of those who cannot speak for themselves, the 
poor, the disenfranchised, unborn children, the disabled, even those 
condemned to death and those whose basic rights as children of God are 
trampled upon by oppressive regimes.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been noted that years before he was Pope when he 
was teaching at a university in Poland as a young priest, a communist 
student launched an aggressive attack against religion during class. 
The student, an avowed atheist, was so filled with rage, his fellow 
students feared that the young priest, then known as Karol Wojtyla, 
would lose his temper and kick the student out of class. Instead, 
Father Wojtyla had listened to the student before calmly and thoroughly 
refuting his argument point by point. After class the two had a 
conversation that began a dialogue. The student would later say that 
helped him greatly when confronting atheist communists after he 
converted to Catholicism and after he himself became a priest.
  Mr. Speaker, it is worth recalling that Pope John Paul II's first 
words as Pope to the world included the message, ``Do not be afraid.''

                              {time}  2015

  This message was part of an unrelenting crusade against the forces of 
atheistic communism that was instrumental in its collapse. No one, Mr. 
Speaker, can dispute that John Paul II's historic visit to Poland in 
1979 inspired the creation of the solidarity movement with its great 
leader Lech Walesa in the midst of unspeakable turmoil and personal 
risk. Remember, this Pope was shot, and he actually, after he was shot, 
and he was actually we believe saved miraculously, went to the jail 
cell of his would-be assassin to forgive that man for the crime he 
attempted and for the pain and suffering that he visited upon the Pope. 
Despite all of those personal risks, Pope John Paul II was, during 
those terrible years, and is the brave voice of reason, candor and 
hope. Even Mikhail Gorbachev admitted that the sweeping changes in 
Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union itself would not have occurred 
had it not been for this Pope.
  Today, the Pope continues to preach, Mr. Speaker, the message of 
life, hope and love amid the oppressive tide of the culture of death. 
His teachings not only inspire the faithful today but will continue to 
have an impact long after his work on earth is complete.
  Many of his most profound messages are contained in 13 incisive 
encyclicals, including Evangelium Vitae, ``The Gospel of Life,'' which 
reminds all of us, especially those in public service, that the gift of 
human life is so precious, so full of dignity, that it must remain 
inviolable and be defended against all means of violence.
  The Pope writes in that very important document that, ``This is what 
is happening at the level of politics and government,'' and I quote 
him, ``the original and inalienable right to life is questioned or 
denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one part of 
the people, even if it is the majority. This is the sinister result of 
relativism which reigns unopposed, the right ceases to be such, because 
it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable dignity of the person, 
but is made subject to the will of the stronger part.''
  Elsewhere, Mr. Speaker, in Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II states 
in unambiguous terms that, ``Abortion and euthanasia are crimes which 
no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in 
conscience to obey such laws,'' he writes and said, ``There is a grave 
and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. In the 
case of intrinsically unjust law,'' he continues, ``such as a law 
permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey 
it or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or 
to vote for it.''
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, just let me say this. My dear wife Marie and I 
have had the awesome privilege of meeting the Holy Father on two 
occasions, and we were awed. We were deeply struck by his innate 
goodness, the clarity that we see in his eyes, the love that he 
emanates and by his gentleness. When we were in Newark, New Jersey, at 
the cathedral there when he came during one of his visits to the U.S., 
and we happened to be there as a family. He walked over to my youngest 
daughter Elyse, gave her a big nice kiss on the top of the head, and we 
could just see the compassion of this man in his eyes and in his 
gestures and in his heart. We were also even faces in the crowd in 1979 
at New York's Shea Stadium when

[[Page 29542]]

he came in on his first trip and again were inspired by this good man.
  Mr. Speaker, we have been on numerous occasions and I think many 
Members, House and Senate, Democrats, Republicans, it does not matter, 
have all been touched by his care and his compassion for others, a man 
that is so completely rooted in God. We have been touched by his 
devotion to the Blessed Mother. He is a man who in word and deed 
unselfishly cares for the least of our brethren.
  John Paul II is truly the vicar of Christ on earth, a man who has and 
continues to be faithfully and courageously walking in the shoes of the 
fisherman, Saint Peter.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I have no other speakers. I commend the distinguished chairman of the 
Committee on the Judiciary for introducing this significant resolution. 
I urge all Members to support the adoption of H. Con. Res. 313.
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of this resolution, 
H. Con. Res. 313, urging President Bush to present the Presidential 
medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II.
  Mr. Speaker, Pope John Paul II is a leader who has truly made this 
world a better place to live. His dedication and devotion to religious 
freedom for all people aided in bringing about a peaceful end to 
communism in Eastern Europe. His courage to defy the Nazis during World 
War II not only helped preserve Poland, but kept the flame of hope 
alive to all free people during those dark years.
  He stood up when the tyranny of Soviet Communism darkened Eastern 
Europe, and helped ignite the spark of revolution by his visit to 
Poland in June 1979. His insistence on the dignity of the human spirit, 
and the call for religious freedom as the first of human rights, aided 
all Poles in their crusade against their Communist oppressors.
  Mr. Speaker, he not only inspired millions suffering under communism, 
but he also inspired millions more when, just four days after an 
assassination attempt he said, ``Pray for the brother who shot me, whom 
I have sincerely forgiven.''
  He is a rare individual. He is someone who has truly changed the 
world. His papacy has affected not only Catholics, but also Jews, 
Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and all others who value freedom over 
oppression. Citizens of the world owe a debt of gratitude to Pope John 
Paul II.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate him in celebration of his Silver 
Jubilee. I call upon my colleagues to vote for this resolution and call 
on the President to honor Pope John Paul II with the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House 
Concurrent Resolution 313, urging the President 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. I want to thank Mr. 
Sensenbrenner for his leadership on this bill.
  The Presidential Medal of Freedom is our nation's highest civilian 
award, recognizing exceptional meritorious contribution to world peace. 
His Holiness, Pope John Paul II is more than deserving of this award.
  Throughout his life and his ministry, he has stood firm in his belief 
of the inalienable right and dignity of the human person and has been 
unafraid to shape world events, speak for peace and advocate for human 
rights.
  From his early years during the Nazi occupation of Poland where he 
risked his life to protect Polish Jews from persecution to his 
forgiveness of his would-be assassin, he has led by example.
  His steadfast support of the Solidarity movement in his homeland of 
Poland provided hope and encouragement to the Polish people and led to 
peaceful government reforms that precipitated the collapse of communism 
in Poland and the eventual fall of the Soviet Union bringing freedom to 
millions of people.
  As these events were unfolding in Eastern Europe, Pope John Paul II 
was also reaching out to other parts of the world, proclaiming belief 
in the inalienable right and dignity of the human person and using his 
influence to bring about change.
  Through his efforts, he has helped to reduce tensions between world 
leaders, reducing conventional and nuclear weapons and averting a 
nuclear war.
  He has sought to heal divisions across the different faith 
traditions, promoting reconciliation and dialogue between members to 
further understanding and respect for all people.
  He has traveled over the world bringing hope and encouragement to the 
millions still oppressed by tyranny, hunger, disease and despair.
  Despite his ailing health, he continues to lead with strength of 
conviction as a champion of freedom and peace. Through the many 
challenges that has faced the Catholic Church and the world, Pope John 
Paul II has been the rock of the Catholic Church, a model for all 
people.
  On behalf of the people of Guam, I fully support House Concurrent 
Resolution 313 and urge its unanimous passage.
  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 
313, a measure urging the President to present the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in recognition of his 
contributions to the causes of freedom, human dignity, and peace, and 
to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of his inauguration as Bishop of Rome 
and Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church. It is with great honor and 
esteem that I stand here today to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II. The 
leadership he has displayed during his 25-year tenure as Supreme Pastor 
of the Roman Catholic Church has helped to shape our moral conscience. 
His fight to end human rights abuses and his opposition to communism 
not only influenced the Catholic community, but the world community.
  Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, Jr. in 1920, Pope John Paul II was the 
second son of Karol Wojtyla, Sr. and Emilia Kaczorwoska Wojtyla. Karol, 
Sr. was a retired officer for the Polish Army as well as a tailor, and 
Emilia was a schoolteacher. Pope John Paul II repeatedly demonstrated 
his unique ability to form friendships that crossed the social norms of 
the time. Although his hometown of Wadowice, Poland was wrought with 
anti-Semitism, Pope John Paul II and his family did not share in that 
hatred. At an early age, His Holiness befriended several members of the 
Jewish community and learned the importance of compassion and 
understanding. He later became the first Pope to visit a synagogue and 
the first to visit a memorial in nearby Auschwitz honoring victims of 
the Holocaust.
  Shortly after his father's death in 1941, Pope John Paul II attended 
an underground seminary in Krakow, where he was eventually ordained in 
1946. He served as a chaplain to university students at St. Florian's 
Church in Krakow until the communist government abolished the theology 
department in 1954. He continued his studies at the Seminary of Krakow 
and was hired as a professor at the Catholic University of Lublin, 
where he founded and operated a facility to assist families with 
marital problems, ranging from family planning to alcoholism and 
physical abuse. In 1956, Pope John Paul II was appointed to the Chair 
of Ethics at Catholic University, and in 1958 he was named the 
auxiliary bishop of Krakow. He was instrumental to the Vatican Council 
II deliberations in 1962, which encouraged diversity in language and 
practice of the Catholic faith in order to facilitate the inclusion of 
laymen in worship while also condemning anti-Semitism around the world. 
His respect throughout the Catholic community led to his election as 
Pope after the death of Pope John Paul I in September 1978, making him 
the first Slavic Pope in history.
  Less than a year after being named Pope, John Paul II returned to his 
native Poland and spoke out in favor of the Polish Solidarity movement 
and against communism. His insistence that no system of government 
override religious beliefs gave hope to people of faith throughout the 
former Soviet Union that reforms would take place. The courage and 
determination that he displayed in opposition to a world power 
reflected the strength of his convictions and his willingness to stand 
up to an institutional force that challenged the beliefs of the church. 
Pope John Paul II repeated this theme when he visited Cuba in January 
2003, stating that a government does not the authority to legislate 
religious beliefs.
  Mr. Speaker, during his 25 years as pontiff, Pope John Paul II has 
spread the Catholic faith with visits to over 115 countries. His gift 
for uniting those of different beliefs earned him Man of the Year 
honors from Time Magazine in 1994, and his popularity among both 
Catholics and non-Catholics around the world is a testament to his 
genuine love for humanity. As a graduate of St. Mark's Catholic School 
in Gary, Indiana, I am well aware of the significant role that he has 
played in leading the Catholic Church into the 21st century. His 
teaching of tolerance and love for thy neighbor has made him worthy of 
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and that is why I intend to support 
H. Con. Res. 313.
  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my friend from Wisconsin 
in urging the President to present the Presidential Medal of

[[Page 29543]]

Freedom to Pope John Paul II, who has marked his Silver Jubilee as the 
spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics around the world.
  The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest civilian 
award of the United States Government. It was established to recognize 
persons who have made especially meritorious contributions to the 
security or national interests of the United States; to world peace; or 
to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. 
Recipients have included educators, diplomats, authors, scientists and 
religious leaders.
  By bestowing this great honor upon Pope John Paul II, we recognize 
His Holiness' lifetime dedication to peace, hope, freedom, unity and 
dignity. No one is more deserving of this award of special distinction 
which symbolizes the lasting admiration of the American people for the 
Pope's many efforts.
  This man was formed at a remarkable time in human history. He knew 
the persecution of oppression and witnessed the false ideologies of the 
20th Century. He studied for the priesthood in secrecy and lived 
through the Nazi occupation and Communist subjugation of his native 
Poland. He was a philosopher, theologian and pastor. He was 
instrumental in the demise of the Communist regime in Poland, and he 
played an important role in the collapse of Communism throughout 
central and eastern Europe, which ended the Cold War.
  The Holy Father has continued to promote freedom and peace throughout 
the world during his pontificate. He has truly internationalized the 
Catholic Church, and yet he has also reached out in an unprecedented 
way to peoples of other beliefs and religions all over the world 
through his promotion of greater understanding, healing, and harmony 
between religions. His Holiness has particularly promoted unity among 
Christian churches, reconciliation with the Jewish people, and dialogue 
with Islam. The Holy Father was the first Pope to visit a synagogue, as 
well as the first to visit a mosque.
  I consider it an honor to be able to ask my Congressional colleagues 
to join me in paying tribute to this devoted spiritual leader and to 
celebrate with the Holy Father this Jubilee by urging the President to 
bestow the Medal of Freedom upon His Holiness, Pope John Paul II.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pearce). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. 
Res. 313.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was 
agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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