Godspeed, Karol; spoczywają w pokoju (Apr., 2005)

Even the popes were better. From our Archives, Apr., 2005

Requiescat In Pacem, John Paul II, 1920-2005

"Thou shalt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore."

John Paul: “It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”  

"Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it."

"Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create."

"Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it."

"I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin."
 

Craig Shirley, US News:

"Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were men of the same moment. They were both horrified by nuclear war, they both hated communism and the Soviet Union, they both had been shot but survived and they both forgave their assailants. They had also both been superior high school athletes and, curiously, both were actors before becoming the most important players on a world stage.

John Paul II was almost an afterthought after his predecessor, John Paul I, died unexpectedly after less than a month in office. Reagan of course had been a long shot all of his life. Both the president and the pope grew up poor, with no connections, but ended up being two of the greatest men of the 20 ^th century. They both had winning smiles and indomitable personalities. At his first remarks from the balcony of St. Peter's, the pope made clear what he thought of the Soviets. Reagan of course had been railing against communism for years.

As Washington this week celebrates the visit of Pope Francis, it's worth remember the first time a pontiff and a president worked together. Together with the daughter of a grocer, John Paul and Reagan defeated the greatest enemy to human freedom and dignity which ever existed." ...........

 

"We must never forget that East of the Iron Curtain peoples who once enjoyed a full share of European culture, freedom and identity have been cut off from their roots.

We shall always look on Warsaw, Prague and Budapest as great European cities."--M.T.

 

Address to the Nation About Christmas and the Situation in Poland, Pres. Reagan, December 23, 1981:

"As I speak to you tonight, the fate of a proud and ancient nation hangs in the balance. For a thousand years, Christmas has been celebrated in Poland, a land of deep religious faith, but this Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish people. They have been betrayed by their own government.

By persecuting Solidarity the Polish Government wages war against its own people. ... If the Polish Government will honor the commitments it has made to human rights in documents like the Gdansk agreement, we in America will gladly do our share to help the shattered Polish economy, just as we helped the countries of Europe after both World Wars.

It's ironic that we offered, and Poland expressed interest in accepting, our help after World War II. The Soviet Union intervened then and refused to allow such help to Poland. But if the forces of tyranny in Poland, and those who incite them from without, do not relent, they should prepare themselves for serious consequences. Already, throughout the Free World, citizens have publicly demonstrated their support for the Polish people. Our government, and those of our allies, have expressed moral revulsion at the police state tactics of Poland's oppressors. The Church has also spoken out, in spite of threats and intimidation. But our reaction cannot stop there.

I want emphatically to state tonight that if the outrages in Poland do not cease, we cannot and will not conduct ``business as usual'' with the perpetrators and those who aid and abet them. Make no mistake, their crime will cost them dearly in their future dealings with America and free peoples everywhere. I do not make this statement lightly or without serious reflection." .........



“What justifies the existence of any political activity is service to man."

“Poland is a special Mother. Her history is not easy, especially in the last centuries. This is a Mother who has suffered a lot and who still today suffers. That is why she Has a right to a special love."

[April, 2005:] Hugh Hewitt; Do you think the whole Terri Schiavo backdrop will have any impact on the Cardinal electors?

Mark Steyn: I think that had a huge impact on people who think seriously about the issues of life. These are people who were chosen by John Paul II, and they understand that there's a level of decadence abroad in the western world. And that they are engaged in a struggle to hold the line until that can be reversed. And in that sense, this appalling case is really the starkest because of America's legalistic culture in a sense, because it wasn't just done quietly by a doctor as happens every day in the Netherlands. Because the entire power of the state, after all these various appeals, put her down like a dog, then I think that will have a great impact on people thinking about the culture of life and the need to sustain that through these dark times.

Hugh Hewitt: You just used a phrase, which is very striking...the level of decadence abroad around the world. What do you mean by that?

Mark Steyn: Well, because I think that essentially modern post-Christian Europe, and Canada, and large parts of the United States, too, have replaced the traditional impulses of civilization, which is to breed, and to prosper, and to expand and survive with a culture of narcissism. You know, I'd like to have, if you put it to me in those terms, I'd like to have meaningless, promiscuous sex, and just think about myself all day long, and all week long, and all year long. But in the end, when you prioritize that, you actually destroy the culture that enables it. It's a completely absurd culture and brazen. And that's what we've done. ..............

[Steyn's column:] "The progressivists’ assumption is that gay marriage, like abortion, is inevitable, so the Pope might as well get with the programme. In that case, why bother with religion at all? The difference between the modern west’s Church of the Self and John Paul’s church is that the latter believes in the purpose of life. The Church of the Flavoured Condom, by contrast, believes that man is no more than the accumulation of his appetites, and so you might as well license them. Given what Aids has done to African mortality rates and what abortion has done to European demographics, John Paul II’s eternal truths look a lot more rational than those of the hyperrationalists at The New York Times." ............

John Paul: "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

It seems the current pope is confused on that point and others. I'm not Catholic, but Pope Francis is way too enthralled with thug dictators, hack politicians and trendy causes for my taste.

Why isn't Pope Francis seen standing behind these Ladies in White instead? They only want the freedoms enjoyed by the Pope--and by Military Dictator Raul Castro, for that matter.

John Paul would.