HCON 313 RDS 
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-
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-
HCON 313 RDS 
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; 
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 spir-
itual leader of more than 1,000,000,000 Catholic Chris-
tians around the world, including more than 66,000,000 
Catholic Christians in the United States;
HCON 313 RDS 
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 devel-
opment. 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 de-
mise 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 recog-
nized the fruits of His Holiness’ labors by stating ‘‘be as-
sured 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 oppres-
sion. . . . For despite all the attempts to extinguish it, 
the people’s faith burns with a passionate heat: once al-
lowed to breathe free, that faith will burn so brightly it 
will light the world.’’; 
Whereas Pope John Paul II was recognized by Lady Mar-
garet Thatcher to have ‘‘provided the main impetus for
HCON 313 RDS 
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 libera-
tion 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 correspond-
ence 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 super-
powers to engage in a ‘‘dialogue’’ that succeeded in re-
ducing conventional and nuclear weapons and helped to 
avert a nuclear war; 
Whereas Pope John Paul II has used public and private di-
plomacy 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 remark-
able 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 be-
tween 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
HCON 313 RDS 
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 impor-
tance 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, includ-
ing 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 his-
tory, leading the Catholic Church through a dramatic and 
remarkable period, and into Christianity’s third millen-
nium; 
Whereas Pope John Paul II has devoted his life to the ame-
lioration of the human cost of terror and oppression 
through his dedication to truth, forgiveness, and the de-
velopment of a vibrant public moral culture;