[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 4 (Monday, February 1, 1999)]
[Pages 126-127]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Welcoming Ceremony for Pope John Paul II in St. 
Louis, Missouri

January 26, 1999

    Your Holiness; Archbishop Rigali; Archbishop Montalvo; Governor 
Carnahan; Mayor Harmon; County Executive Westfall; Ambassador Boggs; 
Members of Congress; members of the Cabinet; our visitors from the 
Vatican; my fellow Americans:
    Your Holiness, on behalf of all of us gathered here today, indeed, 
on behalf of all the people of our beloved Nation, we welcome you back 
to America. Your return brings joy not only to the Catholic faithful but 
to every American who has heard your message of peace and charity toward 
all God's children. And we thank you for first going to Mexico and for 
reaching out to all the people of the Americas.
    We greet you, and we thank you. For 20 years, you have lifted our 
spirits and touched our hearts. For 20 years, you have challenged us to 
think of life not in terms of what we acquire for ourselves but in terms 
of what we give of ourselves.
    This is your seventh visit to the United States, your 85th visit 
abroad as the Bishop of Rome. Through it all, you have given of yourself 
with a boundless physical energy which can only find its source in 
limitless faith. You have come in the final year of a century that has 
seen much suffering but which ends with great hope for freedom and 
reconciliation. It is a moment anticipated by countless prayers, brought 
forward by countless hands, and shaped very much by you, Holy Father, 
and your 20-year pilgrimage.
    We honor you for helping to lead a revolution of values and spirit 
in central Europe and the former Soviet Union, freeing millions to live 
by conscience, not coercion, and freeing all of us from the constant 
fear of nuclear war. We honor you for standing for human dignity, human 
rights, and religious freedom and for helping people to find the courage 
to stand up for themselves, from Africa to Asia to the Western 
Hemisphere.
    We honor you for your work to bring peace to nations and peoples 
divided by old hatreds and suspicions, from Bosnia and Kosovo, to 
central Africa, to Indonesia, to the Middle East, even to our own 
communities. People still need to hear your message that all are God's 
children, all have fallen short of His glory, all the injustices of 
yesterday cannot excuse a single injustice today.
    Holy Father, we are moved by your desire to mark the new millennium 
with a journey to Jerusalem, to bring mercy and reconciliation to all 
those who believe in one God, in the holy place where all our faiths 
began.
    Your Holiness, we honor you, too, because you have never let those 
of us who enjoy the blessings of prosperity, freedom, and peace forget 
our responsibilities. On your last visit to the United States you called 
on us to build a society truly worthy of the human person, a society in 
which none are so poor they have nothing to give and none are so rich 
they have nothing to receive. Today you visit an America that is 
thriving but also striving, striving to include those who do not yet 
share in our prosperity at home and striving to put a human face on the 
global economy by advancing the dignity of work, the rights of women, 
the well-being of children, and the help of our common environment.
    You will see an America that is not simply living for today but 
working for future generations, an America working harder to be what you 
have asked us to be, an example of justice and civic virtues, freedom 
fulfilled, and goodness at home and abroad.
    The Catholic Church in America is helping all of us to realize that 
vision. Here in St. Louis, Catholic charities are helping families 
conquer violence and drug abuse, helping people in need to find work and 
to finance their first homes, helping refugees from war-torn lands to 
build new lives, building housing for the elderly, including the new 
Pope John Paul II Apartments, and leading countless other efforts that 
lift our people's lives.
    All over our country, the Catholic faithful do this work for the 
sake of all Americans,

[[Page 127]]

and they are joined in their work by Americans of all faiths.
    Your Holiness, every American welcomes you and hopes that you will 
come to see us again. I am nowhere near as gifted a linguist as you are, 
Holy Father, but as they say in your native Poland: Sto lat i wiecej--
may you live 100 years and more. And may you keep working and teaching 
and lighting the way, for all of us and all the world.
    Welcome to the United States.

Note: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. at the Missouri Air National 
Guard Hangar. In his remarks, he referred to Archbishop Justine Rigali 
of St. Louis; Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo of the Holy See; Governor Mel 
Carnahan of Missouri; Mayor Clarence Harmon of St. Louis; St. Louis 
County Executive George Westfall; U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See/
Vatican City Corinne Claiborne Boggs. The transcript made available by 
the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Pope John 
Paul II.