    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 117, 108th Congress, 1st Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    POPE JOHN PAUL II--PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM REQUEST
    <>

    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

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    wake up during the night and find my father on his knees * * * his
    example was in a way my first seminary'';

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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    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

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    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.

    Agreed to November 19, 2003.

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