IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 313
To urge the President, on behalf of the United States, to present the Presi-
dential Medal of Freedom to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in 
recognition of his significant, enduring, and historic contributions to 
the causes of freedom, human dignity, and peace and to commemorate 
the Silver Jubilee of His Holiness’ inauguration of his ministry as Bishop 
of Rome and Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 28, 2003
Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. TAUZIN, 
Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. MCCOTTER, 
Mr. SMITH
of New Jersey, Mr. JONES
of North Carolina, Mr. 
BALLENGER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. BURR, Mr. STU-
PAK, Mr. VITTER, Mr. SHAW, Ms. HART, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, 
Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. OBEY, Mr. LEACH, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of 
Florida, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. GREEN of 
Wisconsin, Mr. QUINN, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. ACEVEDO-
VILA´, and Mr. RENZI) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
To urge the President, on behalf of the United States, to 
present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to His Holi-
ness, 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.
•HCON 313 IH 
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 experi-
enced 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 pray-
er. 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 Uni-
versity 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 oc-
cupation 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 oc-
cupation forces, risking his own life to protect Polish 
Jews from persecution, helping to organize the under-
ground ‘‘Rhapsodic Theatre’’, which he intended to be ‘‘a 
theatre . . . where the national spirit will burn’’, writing 
two religious plays considered subversive to the Nazi re-
•HCON 313 IH 
gime, and enrolling in the clandestine seminary of Arch-
bishop Sapieha of Cracow, where he studied religion, the-
ology, 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 na-
tionalism, and subjected the exercise of individual reli-
gious liberty to the control of godless Stalinist rulers; 
Whereas Pope John Paul II was ordained in 1946, later be-
coming a Professor of Ethics and Chaplain at the Catho-
lic University of Lublin, the only Catholic university be-
hind the Iron Curtain, where he, again at great personal 
risk, initiated activities that helped to preserve the intel-
lectual, 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 em-
braced by Polish Catholics in their struggle against the 
hegemony of the communist regime; 
Whereas Pope John Paul II, on October 16, 1978, was elect-
ed the 264th Pope, making history by becoming the first-
ever Slavic Pope and the first non-Italian Pope in more 
than 400 years;