Notes with deep sorrow and solemn mourning the death of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II.
Extends the Senate's heartfelt sympathy to all people who have been touched by his passing.
Commends his ability to transcend the bounds of religion, race, and political thought, and his becoming a formidable champion, uniter, and defender in humanity's struggle for peace and basic human rights.
Calls on all the people of the United States to reflect on his life and legacy during this international period of remembrance.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 94 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 94
Honoring Pope John Paul II.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 4, 2005
Mr. Brownback (for himself, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Burns, Mr. Chambliss, Mrs.
Clinton, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. DeMint, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Grassley,
Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Thune, Mr. Durbin, and Mr.
Nelson of Nebraska) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Honoring Pope John Paul II.
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, of whom he observed ``after my mother's death, his life
became one of constant prayer. 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, in 1939, Pope John Paul II was enrolled in Jagiellonian University in
Cracow, which was closed by the Nazis during their occupation of Poland;
Whereas Pope John Paul II experienced the brutality 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, in 1942, Pope John Paul II was himself arrested by Nazi occupation
forces, 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, in 1946, Pope John Paul II was ordained, 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, on October 16, 1978, Pope John Paul II 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 Pope John Paul II served for over 26 years as Bishop of Rome and Supreme
Pastor of the Catholic Church, and 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 served the third-longest pontificate, behind only
Saint Peter, who served as Pope for over 34 years, and Blessed Pius IX,
who served for over 31 years;
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
development. Do not be afraid.'';
Whereas, in June 1979, Pope John Paul II returned to his native Poland for 9
days, 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 1980s, 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 used public and private diplomacy and the power of
moral persuasion to encourage world leaders to respect the inalienable
rights of the human person;
Whereas, on May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II, 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 ministered to Catholic and non-Catholic alike,
providing a personal example of grace, endurance, compassion, courage,
sacrifice, and foresight;
Whereas Pope John Paul II 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 visits to areas of historic conflict,
including Ireland and the Holy Land;
Whereas, in 1995, Pope John Paul II wrote of ``the incomparable worth of the
human person,'' noting that: ``Even in the midst of difficulties and
uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by
the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize .
. . the sacred value of human life . . . and can affirm the right of
every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest
degree'';
Whereas, in 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba to speak directly to the Cuban
people and their Communist rulers, 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 traveled farther than any other Pope in history,
traversing approximately \3/4\ of a million miles, visiting 130
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 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 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 articulated the importance of individual liberty being
undergirded by a ``moral order'', 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 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 worked tirelessly to bring peace to regions of the
world that have been driven by strife, intolerance, hatred, and violence
for far too long;
Whereas Pope John Paul II changed the lives of billions of people across the
globe;
Whereas Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, after heroically proclaiming
the value and dignity of human life through his long physical illness
and suffering;
Whereas the passing of Pope John Paul II is mourned by billions of people around
the world; and
Whereas Pope John Paul II is already being referred to as Pope John Paul the
Great: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) notes with deep sorrow and solemn mourning the death of
His Holiness, Pope John Paul II;
(2) extends its heartfelt sympathy to all people who have
been touched by the passing of John Paul II;
(3) commends Pope John Paul II for his ability to transcend
the bounds of religion, race, and political thought, becoming a
formidable champion, uniter, and defender in humanity's
struggle for peace and basic human rights; and
(4) calls on all the people of the United States to reflect
on the life and legacy of Pope John Paul II during this
international period of remembrance.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3156-3157)
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