To urge the President, on behalf of the United States, to present the Presidential 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.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for yielding me time.

I rise to pay tribute to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, who in October marked his 25th year as bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church.

I also wish to offer my sincere appreciation to all my friends and colleagues in the House who have joined together to urge the President to present the Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II.

The celebration of the Silver Jubilee of Pope John Paul II pontificate is but the latest in the series of remarkable milestones that have characterized his life and his ministry.

From his birth on May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla's life has been intertwined with the fate of his native Poland and synonymous with the struggle for his individual freedom and dignity.

In 1978 when then-Cardinal Wojtyla, the Archbishop of Krakow, was elected Pope, the world was such a different place. For more than 3 decades since Winston Churchill delivered his famous ``Iron Curtain'' speech, people around the world prepared for what many regarded as the inevitable new war that would someday engulf the East and the West. To win the Cold War, geopolitical strategists honed and implemented various policies including the doctrines of attainment and mutual- assured destruction.

At this pivotal moment in history when the status quo included the subjugation of half the populations of Europe and the omnipresent threat of nuclear annihilation, a remarkable and energetic new Pope set foot on the world stage. To many in the West, this new Polish Pope was an unknown entity. While we recognized immediately his energy, courage and leadership, these same qualities were reviewed with suspicion by some in the East, particularly the communist rulers in Poland.

Pope John Paul II's commitment to freedom, his affection for his native Poland, and the devotion of his countrymen to him were never more evident than the summer of 1980. That August, the Solidarity Workers Union, which Cardinal Wojtyla had nurtured and protected, organized a peaceful strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk.

With the Pope's portrait suddenly appearing everywhere and the admonition from his inaugural sermon, ``Do not be afraid,'' on the lips of the workers, his support and reassurance provided vital sustenance for the strikers and ignited a spiritual spark in their struggle to secure dignity and freedom. Ultimately, that spark would lead to the demise of Soviet communism and the liberation of hundreds of millions in Eastern and Central Europe. History has recorded the remarkable achievement of Pope John Paul II and his relentless advocacy in pursuit of individual dignity, freedom, and peace.

The Pope has not confined his efforts solely to the struggle against totalitarianism. He has engaged wherever people are downtrodden and oppressed.

Mr. Speaker, the Congress should pass House Concurrent Resolution 313 and urge the President to present the Medal of Freedom, our Nation's highest civilian award, to His Holiness.

In authorizing the first Medals of Freedom in 1963, President Kennedy proclaimed that persons who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors should be so recognized. By any measure it is apparent that there is no individual more deserving of this recognition than Pope John Paul II.

Two other recipients of the Medal of Freedom, President Ronald Reagan and Lady Margaret Thatcher, shared the Pope's commitment to Solidarity in the 1980s. In my estimation, their leadership changed the course of human history. In 1984, while welcoming the Pope to the United States, President Reagan spoke of the connection between freedom, the founding of our own Nation, and America's debt to His Holiness.

President Reagan stated, ``I can assure you, Your Holiness, that the American people seek to act as a force for peace in the world and to further the cause of human freedom and dignity. Indeed, in appreciation for the unalienable rights of every human being is the very concept that gave birth to this Nation. Few have understood better than our Nation's founding fathers that claims of human dignity transcend the claims of any government, and this transcendent right itself has a transcendent source.''

The President went on to state, ``To us, Your Holiness, the Holy See and your pastorate represent one of humanity's greatest moral and spiritual forces,'' and ``your words, your prayers and your example have made you, for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war, a source of solace, inspiration and hope.''

It is no exaggeration to recognize that this remarkable man has brought hope, comfort and faith to literally billions of people around the world during the course of his ministry.

Three weeks ago today I was honored to be joined by 30 Members of the House in introducing this resolution. Since that time we have gained additional support for which I am grateful, and I particularly appreciate the work of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) and the Committee on Government Reform who reported our resolution to the floor in such a timely manner.

As stated previously, our bipartisan resolution calls upon the President on behalf of all the people of the United States to present the Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II as a sign of our gratitude for his significant, enduring, and historic contributions to the causes of freedom, human dignity, and peace. We urge the President to do so without delay.

Finally, I include an article by Carl Bernstein entitled ``The Holy Alliance,'' which appeared in the February 24, 1992, edition of Time, as well as an article by Father Robert A. Sirico entitled ``The Cold War's Magnificent Seven; Pope John Paul II; Awakener of the East,'' which was published in the winter 1992 edition of Policy Review.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would invoke President Reagan once more. When asked his assessment of the Pope before meeting him the first time, the President replied, ``He is an example of what so many people have always said about Christian and Judaic tradition, and that is, when really needed, God provides a man. And I think in Pope John Paul he did just that.''

Billions around the world are thankful that God has provided such a man.

The articles referred to are as follows:

[From Time Magazine, Feb. 24, 1992]

The Holy Alliance

(By Carl Bernstein)

Only President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were

present in the Vatican Library on Monday, June 7, 1982. It

was the first time the two had met, and they talked for 50

minutes. In the same wing of the papal apartments, Agostino

Cardinal Casaroli and Archbishop Achille Silvestrini met with

Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Judge William Clark,

Reagan's National Security Adviser. Most of their discussion

focused on Israel's invasion of Lebanon, then in its second

day; Haig told them Prime Minister Menachem Begin had assured

him that the invasion would not go farther than 25 miles

inside Lebanon.

But Reagan and the Pope spent only a few minutes reviewing

events in the Middle East. Instead they remained focused on a

subject much closer to their heart: Poland and the Soviet

dominance of Eastern Europe. In that meeting, Reagan and the

Pope agreed to undertake a clandestine campaign to hasten the

dissolution of the communist empire. Declares Richard Allen,

Reagan's first National Security Adviser: ``This was one of

the great secret alliances of all time.''

The operation was focused on Poland, the most populous of

the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and the birthplace of

John Paul II. Both the Pope and the President were convinced

that Poland could be broken out of the Soviet orbit if the

Vatican and the

U.S. committed their resources to destabilizing the Polish

government and keeping the outlawed Solidarity movement alive

after the declaration of martial law in 1981.

Until Solidarity's legal status was restored in 1989 it

flourished underground, supplied, nurtured and advised

largely by the network established under the auspices of

Reagan and John Paul II. Tons of equipment--fax machines (the

first in Poland), printing presses, transmitters, telephones,

shortwave radios, video cameras, photocopiers, telex

machines, computers, word processors--were smuggled into

Poland via channels established by priests and American

agents and representatives of the AFL-CIO and European labor

movements. Money for the banned union came from CIA funds,

the National Endowment for Democracy, secret accounts in the

Vatican and Western trade unions.

Lech Walesa and other leaders of Solidarity received

strategic advice--often conveyed by priests or American and

European labor experts working undercover in Poland--that

reflected the thinking of the Vatican and the Reagan

Administration. As the effectiveness of the resistance grew,

the stream of information to the West about the internal

decisions of the Polish government and the contents of

Warsaw's communications with Moscow became a flood. The

details came not only from priests but also from spies within

the Polish government.

down with yalta

According to aides who shared their leaders' view of the

world, Reagan and John Paul II refused to accept a

fundamental political fact of their lifetimes: the division

of Europe as mandated at Yalta and the communist dominance of

Eastern Europe. A free, noncommunist Poland, they were

convinced, would be a dagger to the heart of the Soviet

empire; and if Poland became democratic, other East European

states would follow.

``We both felt that a great mistake had been made at Yalta

and something should be done,'' Reagan says today.

``Solidarity was the very weapon for bringing this about,

because it was an organization of the laborers of Poland.''

Nothing quite like Solidarity had ever existed in Eastern

Europe, Reagan notes, adding that the workers' union ``was

contrary to anything the Soviets would want or the communists

[in Poland] would want.''

According to Solidarity leaders, Walesa and his lieutenants

were aware that both Reagan and John Paul II were committed

to Solidarity's survival, but they could only guess at the

extent of the collaboration. ``Officially I didn't know the

church was working with the U.S.,'' says Wojciech Adamiecki,

the organizer and editor of underground Solidarity newspapers

and now a counselor at the Polish embassy in Washington. ``We

were told the Pope had warned the Soviets that if they

entered Poland he would fly to Poland and stay with the

Polish people. The church was of primary assistance. It was

half open, half secret. Open as far as humanitarian aid--

food, money, medicine, doctors' consultations held in

churches, for instance--and secret as far as supporting

political activities: distributing printing machines of all

kinds, giving us a place for underground meetings, organizing

special demonstrations.''

At their first meeting, Reagan and John Paul II discussed

something else they had in common: both had survived

assassination attempts only six weeks apart in 1981, and both

believed God had saved them for a special mission. ``A close

friend of Ronald Reagan's told me the President said, `Look

how the evil forces were put in our way and how Providence

intervened,' '' says Pio Cardinal Laghi, the former apostolic

delegate to Washington. According to National Security

Adviser Clark, the Pope and Reagan referred to the

``miraculous'' fact that they had survived. Clark said the

men shared ``a unity of spiritual view and a unity of vision

on the Soviet empire: that right or correctness would

ultimately prevail in the divine plan.''

``Reagan came in with very simple and strongly held

views,'' says Admiral Bobby Inman, former deputy director of

the CIA. ``It is a valid point of view that he saw the

collapse [of communism] coming and he pushed it--hard.''

During the first half of 1982, a five-part strategy emerged

that was aimed at bringing about the collapse of the Soviet

economy, fraying the ties that bound the U.S.S.R. to its

client states in the Warsaw Pact and forcing reform inside

the Soviet empire. Elements of that strategy included:

The U.S. defense buildup already under way, aimed at making

it too costly for the Soviets to compete militarily with the

U.S. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative--Star Wars--became

a centerpiece of the strategy.

Covert operations aimed at encouraging reform movements in

Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Financial aid to Warsaw Pact nations calibrated to their

willingness to protect human rights and undertake political

and free-market reforms.

Economic isolation of the Soviet Union and the withholding

of Western and Japanese technology from Moscow. The

Administration focused on denying the U.S.S.R. what it had

hoped would be its principal source of hard currency in the

21st century: profits from a transcontinental pipeline to

supply natural gas to Western Europe. The 3,600-mile-long

pipeline, stretching from Siberia to France, opened on time

on Jan. 1, 1984, but on a far smaller scale than the Soviets

had hoped.

Increased use of Radio Liberty, Voice of America and Radio

Free Europe to transmit the Administration's messages to the

people of Eastern Europe.

Yet in 1982 neither Reagan nor the Pope could anticipate

the accession of a Soviet leader like Mikhail Gorbachev, the

father of glasnost and perestroika; his efforts at reform

unleashed powerful forces that spun out of his control and

led to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Washington-

Vatican alliance ``didn't cause the fall of communism,''

observes a U.S. official familiar with the details of the

plot to keep Solidarity alive. ``Like all great and lucky

leaders, the Pope and the President exploited the forces of

history to their own ends.''

the crackdown

The campaign by Washington and the Vatican to keep

Solidarity alive began immediately after General Wojciech

Jaruzelski declared martial law on Dec. 13, 1981. In those

dark hours, Poland's communications with the noncommunist

world were cut; 6,000 leaders of Solidarity were detained;

hundreds were charged with treason, subversion and

counterrevolution; nine were killed; and the union was

banned. But thousands of others went into hiding, many

seeking protection in churches, rectories and with priests.

Authorities took Walesa into custody and interned him in a

remote hunting lodge.

Shortly after Polish security forces moved into the

streets, Reagan called the Pope for his advice. At a service

of meetings over the next few days, Reagan discussed his

options. ``We had a massive row in the Cabinet and the

National Security Council about putting together a menu of

counteractions,'' former Secretary of State Haig recalls.

``They ranged from sanctions that would have been crushing in

their impact on Poland to talking so tough that we would have

risked creating another situation like Hungary in '56 or

Czechoslovakia in '68.''

Haig dispatched Ambassador at Large Vernon Walters, a

devout Roman Catholic, to meet with John Paul II. Walters

arrived in Rome soon after, and met separately with the Pope

and with Cardinal Casaroli, the Vatican secretary of state.

Both sides agreed that Solidarity's flame must not be

extinguished, that the Soviets must become the focus of an

international campaign of isolation, and that the Polish

government must be subjected to moral and limited economic

pressure.

According to U.S. intelligence sources, the Pope had

already advised Walcsa through church channels to keep his

movement operating underground, and to pass the word to

Solidarity's 10 million members not to go into the streets

and risk provoking Warsaw Pact intervention or civil war with

Polish security forces. Because the communists had cut the

direct phone lines between Poland and the Vatican, John Paul

II communicated with Jozef Cardinal Glemp in Warsaw via

radio. He also dispatched his envoys to Poland to report on

the situation. ``The Vatican's information was absolutely

better and quicker than ours in every respect,'' says Haig.

``Though we had some excellent sources of our own, our

information was taking too long to filter through the

intelligence bureaucracy.''

In the first hours of the crisis, Reagan ordered that the

Pope receive as quickly as possible relevant American

intelligence, including information from a Polish Deputy

Minister of Defense who was secretly reporting to the CIA.

Washington also handed over to the Vatican reports and

analysis from Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, a senior member of

the Polish general staff, who was a CIA informant until

November 1981, when he had to be smuggled out of Poland after

he warned that the Soviets were prepared to invade if the

Polish government did not impose martial law. Kuklinski had

issued a similar warning about a Soviet military action in

late 1980, which led the outgoing Carter Administration to

send secret messages to Leonid Brezhnev informing him that

among the costs of an invasion would be the sale of

sophisticated U.S. weapons to China. This time, Kuklinski

reported to Washington, Brezhnev had grown more impatient,

and a disastrous harvest at home meant that the Kremlin did

not need mechanized army units to help bring in the crops and

instead could spare them for an invasion. ``Anything that we

knew that we thought the Pope would not be aware of, we

certainly brought it to his attention,'' says Reagan.

``Immediately.''

the catholic team

The key Administration players were all devout Roman

Catholics--CIA chief William Casey, Allen, Clark, Haig,

Walters and William Wilson, Reagan's first ambassador to the

Vatican. They regarded the U.S.-Vatican relationship as a

holy alliance: the moral force of the Pope and the teachings

of their church combined with their fierce anticommunism and

their notion of American democracy. Yet the mission would

have been impossible without the full support of Reagan, who

believed fervently in both the benefits and the practical

applications of Washington's relationship with the Vatican.

One of his earliest goals as President, Reagan says, was to

recognize the Vatican as a state ``and make them an ally.''

According to Admiral John Poindexter, the military

assistant to the National Security Adviser when martial law

was declared in Poland, Reagan was convinced that the

communists had made a huge miscalculation: after allowing

Solidarity to operate openly for 16 months before the

crackdown, the Polish government would only alienate its

countrymen by attempting to cripple the labor

movement and, most important, would bring the powerful church

into direct conflict with the Polish regime. ``I didn't think

that this [the decision to impose martial law and crush

Solidarity] could stand, because of the history of Poland and

the religious aspect and all,'' Reagan says. Says Cardinal

Casaroli: ``There was a real coincidence of interests between

the U.S. and the Vatican.''

The major decisions on funneling aid to Solidarity and

responding to the Polish and Soviet governments were made by

Reagan, Casey and Clark, in consultation with John Paul

II. ``Reagan understood these things quite well, including

the covert side,'' says Richard Pipes, the conservative

Polish-born scholar who headed the NSC's Soviet and East-

European desks. ``The President talked about the evil of

the Soviet system--not its people--and how we had to do

everything possible to help these people in Solidarity who

were struggling for freedom. People like Haig and Commerce

Secretary Malcolm Baldrige and James Baker [White House

chief of staff at the time] thought it wasn't realistic.

George Bush never said a word. I used to sit behind him,

and I never knew what his opinions were. But Reagan really

understood what was at stake.''

By most accounts, Casey stepped into the vacuum in the

first days after the declaration of martial law in Poland

and--as he did in Central America--became the principal

policy architect. Meanwhile Pipes and the NSC staff began

drafting proposals for sanctions. ``The object was to drain

the Soviets and to lay blame for martial law at their

doorstep,'' says Pipes. ``The sanctions were coordinated with

Special Operations [the CIA division in charge of covert task

forces], and the first objective was to keep Solidarity alive

by supplying money, communications and equipment.''

``The church was trying to modulate the whole situation,''

explains one of the NSC officials who directed the effort to

curtail the pipeline. ``They [church leaders] were in effect

trying to create circumstances that would head off the

serious threat of Soviet intervention while allowing us to

get tougher and tougher; they were part and parcel of

virtually all of our deliberations in terms of how we viewed

the evolution of government-sponsored repression in Poland--

whether it was lessening or getting worse, and how we should

proceed.''

As for his conversations with Reagan about Poland, Clark

says they were usually short. ``I don't think I ever had an

in-depth, one-on-one, private conversation that existed for

more than three minutes with him--on any subject. That might

shock you. We had our own code of communication. I knew where

he wanted to go on Poland. And that was to take it to its nth

possibilities. The President and Casey and I discussed the

situation on the ground in Poland constantly: covert

operations; who was doing what, where, why and how; and the

chances of success.'' According to Clark, he and Casey

directed that the President's daily brief--the PDB, an

intelligence summary prepared by the CIA--include a special

supplement on secret operations and analysis in Poland.

The Pope himself, not only his deputies, met with American

officials to assess events in Poland and the effectiveness of

American actions and sent back messages--sometimes by letter,

sometimes orally--to Reagan. On almost all his trips to

Europe and the Middle East, Casey flew first to Rome, so that

he could meet with John Paul II and exchange information. But

the principal emissary between Washington and Rome remained

Walters, a former deputy director of the CIA who worked

easily with Casey. Walters met with the Pope perhaps a dozen

times, according to Vatican sources. ``Walters was sent to

and from the Vatican for the specific purpose of carrying

messages between the Pope and the President,'' says former

U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Wilson. ``It wasn't supposed

to be known that Walters was there. It wasn't all

specifically geared to Poland; sometimes there were also

discussions about Central America or the hostages in

Lebanon.''

Often in the Reagan years, American covert operations

(including those in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola)

involved ``lethal assistance'' to insurgent forces: arms,

mercenaries, military advisers and explosives. In Poland the

Pope, the President and Casey embarked on the opposite path:

``What they had to do was let the natural forces already in

place play this out and not get their fingerprints on it,''

explains a analyst. What emerges from the Reagan-Casey

collaboration is a carefully calibrated operation whose scope

was modest compared with other CIA activities. ``If Casey

were around now, he'd be having some smiles,'' observes one

of his reluctant admirers. ``In 1991 Reagan and Casey got the

reordering of the world that they wanted.''

the secret directive

Less than three weeks before his meeting with the Pope in

1982, the President signed a secret national-security-

decision directive (NSDD 32) that authorized a range of

economic, diplomatic and covert measures to ``neutralize

efforts of the U.S.S.R.'' to maintain its hold on Eastern

Europe. In practical terms, the most important covert

operations undertaken were those inside Poland. The primary

purposes of NSDD 32 were to destabilize the Polish government

through covert operations involving propaganda and

organizational aid to Solidarity; the promotion of human

rights, particularly those related to the right of worship

and the Catholic Church; economic pressure; and diplomatic

isolation of the communist regime. The document, citing the

need to defend democratic reform efforts throughout the

Soviet empire, also called for increasing propaganda and

underground broadcasting operations in Eastern Europe,

actions that Reagan's aides and dissidents in Eastern Europe

believe were particularly helpful in chipping away at the

notion of Soviet invincibility.

As Republican Congressman Henry Hyde, a member of the House

Intelligence Committee from 1985 to 1990, who was apprised of

some of the Administration's covert actions, observes, ``In

Poland we did all of the things that are done in countries

where you want to destabilize a communist government and

strengthen resistance to that. We provided the supplies and

technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers,

broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and

advice. And working outward from Poland, the same kind of

resistance was organized in the other communist countries of

Europe.''

Among those who played a consulting role was Zbigniew

Brzezinski, a native of Poland and President Jimmy Carter's

National Security Adviser. ``I got along very well with

Casey,'' recalls Brzezinski. ``He was very flexible and very

imaginative and not very bureaucratic; if something needed to

be done, it was done. To sustain an underground effort takes

a lot in terms of supplies, networks, etc., and this is why

Solidarity wasn't crushed.''

On military questions, American intelligence was better

than the Vatican's, but the church excelled in its

evaluations of the political situation. And in understanding

the mood of the people and communicating with the Solidarity

leadership, the church was in an incomparable position. ``Our

information about Poland was very well founded because the

bishops were in continual contact with the Holy See and

Solidarnosc,'' explains Cardinal Silvestrini, the Vatican's

deputy secretary of state at that time. ``They informed us

about prisoners, about the activities and needs of Solidarity

groups and about the attitude and schisms in the

government.'' All this information was communicated to the

President or Casey.

``If you study the situation of Solidarity, you see they

acted very cleverly, without pressing too much at the crucial

moments, because they had guidance from the church,'' says

one of the Pope's closest aides. ``Yes, there were times we

restrained Solidarnosc. But Poland was a bomb that could

explode--in the heart of communism, bordered by the Soviet

Union, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Too much pressure,

and the bomb would go off.''

casey's cappuccino

Meanwhile, in Washington a close relationship developed

between Casey, Clark and Archbishop Laghi. ``Casey and I

dropped into his [Laghi's] residence early mornings during

critical times to gather his comments and counsel,'' says

Clark. ``We'd have breakfast and coffee and discuss what was

being done in Poland. I'd speak to him frequently on the

phone, and he would be in touch with the Pope.'' Says Laghi:

``They liked good cappuccino. Occasionally we might talk

about Central America or the church position on birth

control. But usually the subject was Poland.''

``Almost everything having to do with Poland was handled

outside of normal State Department channels and would go

through Casey and Clark,'' says Robert McFarlane, who served

as a deputy to both Clark and Haig and later as National

Security Adviser to the President. ``I knew that they were

meeting with Pio Laghi, and that Pio Laghi had been to see

the President, but Clark would never tell me what the

substance of the discussions was.''

On at least six occasions Laghi came to the White House and

met with Clark or the President; each time, he entered the

White House through the southwest gate in order to avoid

reports. ``By keeping in such close touch, we did not cross

lines,'' says Laghi. ``My role was primarily to facilitate

meetings between Walters and the Holy Father. The Holy Father

knew his people. It was a very complex situation--how to

insist on human rights, on religious freedom, and keep

Solidarity alive without provoking the communist authorities

further. But I told Vernon, `Listen to the Holy Father. We

have 2,000 years' experience at this.' ''

Though William Casey has been vilified for aspects of his

tenure as CIA chief, there is no criticism of his instincts

on Poland. ``Basically, he had a quiet confidence that the

communists couldn't hold on, especially in Poland,'' says

former Congressman Edward Derwinski, a Polish-speaking expert

on Eastern Europe who counseled the Administration and met

with Casey frequently. ``He was convinced the system was

falling and doomed to collapse one way or another--and Poland

was the force that would lead to the dam breaking. He

demanded a constant [CIA] focus on Eastern Europe. It wasn't

noticed, because other stories were more controversial and

were perking at the moment--Nicaragua and Salvador.''

In Poland, Casey conducted the kind of old-style operation

that he relished, something he might have done in his days at

the Office of Strategic Services during World War II or in

the early years of the CIA, when the democracies of Western

Europe rose from the ashes of World War II. It was through

Casey's contacts, his associates say, that elements of the

Socialist International were organized on behalf of

Solidarity--just as the

Social Democratic parties of Western Europe had been used as

an instrument of American policy by the CIA in helping to

create anticommunist governments after the war. And this time

the objective was akin to creating a Christian Democratic

majority in Poland--with the church and the overwhelmingly

Catholic membership of Solidarity as the dominant

political force in a post communist Poland. Through his

contacts with leaders of the Socialist International,

including officials of socialist governments in France and

Sweden, Casey ensured that tactical assistance was

available on the continent and at sea to move goods into

Poland. ``This wasn't about spending huge amounts of

money,'' says Brzezinski. ``It was about getting the

message out and resisting: books, communications

equipment, propaganda, ink and printing presses.''

Look for the Union Label

In almost every city and town, underground newspapers and

mimeographed bulletins appeared, challenging the state-

controlled media. The church published its own newspapers.

Solidarity missives, photocopied and mimeographed on

American-supplied equipment, were tacked to church bulletin

boards. Stenciled posters were boldly posted on police

stations and government buildings and even on entrances to

the state-controlled television center, where army officers

broadcast the news.

The American embassy in Warsaw became the pivotal CIA

station in the communist world and, by all accounts, the most

effective. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, which had been the largest

source of American support for Solidarity before martial law,

regarded the Reagan Administration's approach as too slow and

insufficiently confrontational with the Polish authorities.

Nonetheless, according to intelligence sources, AFL-CIO

president Lane Kirkland and his aide Tom Kahn consulted

frequently with Poindexter, Clark and other officials at the

State Department and the NSC on such matters as how and when

to move goods and supplies into Poland, identifying cities

where Solidarity was in particular need of organizing

assistance, and examining how Solidarity and the AFL-CIO

might collaborate in the preparation of propaganda materials.

``Lane Kirkland deserves special credit,'' observes

Derwinski. ``They don't like to admit [it], but they

literally were in lockstep [with the Administration]. Also

never forget that Bill Clark's wife is Czechoslovak, as is

Lane Kirkland's wife. This is one issue where everybody was

aboard; there were no turf fights or mavericks or

naysayers.''

But AFL-CIO officials were never aware of the extent of

clandestine U.S. assistance, or the Administration's reliance

on the church for guidance regarding how hard to push Polish

and Soviet authorities. Casey was wary of ``contaminating''

the American and European labor movements by giving them too

many details of the Administration's efforts. And indeed this

was not strictly a CIA operation. Rather, it was a blend of

covert and overt, public policy and secret alliances. Casey

recognized that in many instances the AFL-CIO was more

imaginative than his own operatives in providing

organizational assistance to Solidarity and smuggling

equipment into the country. According to former deputy CIA

director Inman, Casey decided that the American labor

movement's relationship with Solidarity was so good that much

of what the CIA needed could be financed and obtained through

AFL-CIO channels. ``Financial support wasn't what they

needed,'' says Inman. ``It was organization, and that was an

infinitely better way to help them than through classic

covert operations.''

The Solidarity office in Brussels became an international

clearinghouse: for representatives of the Vatican, for CIA

operatives, for the AFL-CIO, for representatives of the

Socialist International, for the congressionally funded

National Endowment for Democracy, which also worked

closely with Casey. It was the place where Solidarity told

its backers--some of whose real identities were unknown to

Solidarity itself--what it needed, where goods and

supplies and organizers could be most useful. Priests,

couriers, labor organizers and intelligence operatives

moved in and out of Poland with requests for aid and with

detailed information on the situation inside the

government and the underground. Food and clothing and

money to pay fines of Solidarity leaders who were brought

before Polish courts poured into the country. Inside

Poland, a network of priests carried messages back and

forth between the churches where many of Solidarity's

leaders were in hiding.

In the summer of 1984, when the sanctions against Poland

seemed to be hurting ordinary Poles and not the communists,

Laghi traveled to Santa Barbara to meet with Reagan at the

Western White House and urge that some of the sanctions be

lifted. The Administration complied. At the same time, the

White House, in close consultation with the Vatican, refused

to ease its economic pressures on Moscow--denying technology,

food and cultural exchanges as the price for continuing

oppression in Poland.

Much of the equipment destined for Solidarity arrived in

Poland by ship--often packed in mismarked containers sent

from Denmark and Sweden, then unloaded at Gdansk and other

ports by dockers secretly working with Solidarity. According

to Administration officials, the socialist government of

Sweden--and Swedish labor unions--played a crucial role in

arranging the transshipment of goods to Poland. From the

Polish docks, equipment moved to its destination in trucks

and private cars driven by Solidarity sympathizers who often

used churches and priests as their point of contact for

deliveries and pickups.

``solidarity lives!''

``The Administration plugged into the church across the

board,'' observes Derwinski, now Secretary of Veterans

Affairs. ``Not just through the church hierarchy but through

individual churches and bishops. Monsignor Bronislaw

Dabrowski, a deputy to Cardinal Glemp, came to use often to

tell us what was needed: he would meet with me, with Casey,

the NSC and sometimes with Walters.'' John Cardinal Krol of

Philadelphia, whose father was born in Poland, was the

American churchman closest to the Pope. He frequently met

with Casey to discuss support for Solidarity and covert

operations, according to CIA sources and Derwinski. ``Krol

hit it off very well with President Reagan and was a source

of constant advice and contact,'' says Derwinski. ``Often he

was the one Casey or Clark went to, the one who really

understood the situation.''

By 1985 it was apparent that the Polish government's

campaign to suppress Solidarity had failed. According to a

report by Adrian Karatnycky, who helped organize the AFL-

CIO's assistance to Solidarity, there were more than 400

underground periodicals appearing in Poland, some with a

circulation that exceeded 30,000. Books and pamphlets

challenging the authority of the communist government were

printed by the thousands. Comic books for children recast

Polish fables and legends, with Jaruzelski pictured as the

villain, communism as the red dragon and Walesa as the heroic

knight. In church basements and homes, millions of viewers

watched documentary videos produced and screened on

the equipment smuggled into the country.

With clandestine broadcasting equipment supplied by the CIA

and the AFL-CIO, Solidarity regularly broke into the

government's radio programming, often with the message

``Solidarity lives!'' or ``Resist!'' Armed with a transmitter

supplied by the CIA through church channels, Solidarity

interrupted television programming with both audio and visual

messages, including calls for strikes and demonstrations.

``There was a great moment at the half time of the national

soccer championship,'' says a Vatican official. ``Just as the

whistle sounded for the half, a Solidarity Lives! banner went

up on the screen and a tape came on calling for resistance.

What was particularly ingenious was waiting for the half-time

break; had the interruption come during actual soccer play,

it could have alienated people.'' As Brzezinski sums it up,

``This was the first time that communist police suppression

didn't succeed.''

``Nobody believed the collapse of communism would happen

this fast or on this timetable,'' says a cardinal who is one

of the Pope's closest aides. ``But in their first meeting,

the holy Father and the President committed themselves and

the institutions of the church and America to such a goal.

And from that day, the focus was to bring it about in

Poland.''

Step by reluctant step, the Soviets and the communist

government of Poland bowed to the moral, economic and

political pressure imposed by the Pope and the President.

Jails were emptied, Walesa's trial on charges of slandering

state officials was abandoned, the Polish communist party

turned fratricidal, and the country's economy collapsed in a

haze of strikes and demonstrations and sanctions.

On Feb. 19, 1987, after Warsaw had pledged to open a

dialogue with the church, Reagan lifted U.S. sanctions. Four

months later, Pope John Paul II was cheered by millions of

his countrymen as he traveled across Poland demanding human

rights and praising Solidarity. In July 1988, Gorbachev

visited Warsaw and signaled Moscow's recognition that the

government could not rule without Solidarity's cooperation.

On April 5, 1989, the two sides signed agreements legalizing

Solidarity and calling for open parliamentary elections in

June. In December 1990, nine years after he was arrested and

his labor union banned, Lech Walesa became President of

Poland.

[Correction (Apr. 27, 1992): A short article accompanying

our report on the cooperative effort of President Reagan and

Pope John Paul II to assist Poland's Solidarity movement

[Cover, Feb. 24] incorrectly stated the U.S. position on

financial aid for family planning in foreign countries. The

U.S. announced in 1984 that it would withhold funds for

abortion or coerced birth control--but not for all family

planning.]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) for sponsoring this very important resolution and for his eloquent remarks just made on behalf of the Pope.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Sensenbrenner resolution urging the President on behalf of people of the United States to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II, who in his 25 years as leader of the Catholic Church, has become pastor to the world, boldly proclaiming the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and its message of love, hope and reconciliation.

The Holy Father walks the path to peace that surpasses understanding, the road that leads to heaven. Even at age 83 and struggling with various health ailments, including Parkinsons disease, the Pope's charisma and steadfast faith shine brightly, giving hope to millions of people of all faiths.

Mr. Speaker, as we know, during his pontificate the Holy Father has visited over 125 different countries, several more than once, proclaiming the good news to millions and has been seen by more people than anyone in human history.

In what is believed to be the largest gathering ever, he spoke before an estimated 6 million people at a mass at World Youth Day in the Philippines in 1995.

Pope John Paul II is truly a world leader and has been an unparalleled champion of those who cannot speak for themselves, the poor, the disenfranchised, unborn children, the disabled, even those condemned to death and those whose basic rights as children of God are trampled upon by oppressive regimes.

Mr. Speaker, it has been noted that years before he was Pope when he was teaching at a university in Poland as a young priest, a communist student launched an aggressive attack against religion during class. The student, an avowed atheist, was so filled with rage, his fellow students feared that the young priest, then known as Karol Wojtyla, would lose his temper and kick the student out of class. Instead, Father Wojtyla had listened to the student before calmly and thoroughly refuting his argument point by point. After class the two had a conversation that began a dialogue. The student would later say that helped him greatly when confronting atheist communists after he converted to Catholicism and after he himself became a priest.

Mr. Speaker, it is worth recalling that Pope John Paul II's first words as Pope to the world included the message, ``Do not be afraid.''

This message was part of an unrelenting crusade against the forces of

atheistic communism that was instrumental in its collapse. No one, Mr. Speaker, can dispute that John Paul II's historic visit to Poland in 1979 inspired the creation of the solidarity movement with its great leader Lech Walesa in the midst of unspeakable turmoil and personal risk. Remember, this Pope was shot, and he actually, after he was shot, and he was actually we believe saved miraculously, went to the jail cell of his would-be assassin to forgive that man for the crime he attempted and for the pain and suffering that he visited upon the Pope. Despite all of those personal risks, Pope John Paul II was, during those terrible years, and is the brave voice of reason, candor and hope. Even Mikhail Gorbachev admitted that the sweeping changes in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union itself would not have occurred had it not been for this Pope.

Today, the Pope continues to preach, Mr. Speaker, the message of life, hope and love amid the oppressive tide of the culture of death. His teachings not only inspire the faithful today but will continue to have an impact long after his work on earth is complete.

Many of his most profound messages are contained in 13 incisive encyclicals, including Evangelium Vitae, ``The Gospel of Life,'' which reminds all of us, especially those in public service, that the gift of human life is so precious, so full of dignity, that it must remain inviolable and be defended against all means of violence.

The Pope writes in that very important document that, ``This is what is happening at the level of politics and government,'' and I quote him, ``the original and inalienable right to life is questioned or denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one part of the people, even if it is the majority. This is the sinister result of relativism which reigns unopposed, the right ceases to be such, because it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable dignity of the person, but is made subject to the will of the stronger part.''

Elsewhere, Mr. Speaker, in Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II states in unambiguous terms that, ``Abortion and euthanasia are crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws,'' he writes and said, ``There is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. In the case of intrinsically unjust law,'' he continues, ``such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or to vote for it.''

Finally, Mr. Speaker, just let me say this. My dear wife Marie and I have had the awesome privilege of meeting the Holy Father on two occasions, and we were awed. We were deeply struck by his innate goodness, the clarity that we see in his eyes, the love that he emanates and by his gentleness. When we were in Newark, New Jersey, at the cathedral there when he came during one of his visits to the U.S., and we happened to be there as a family. He walked over to my youngest daughter Elyse, gave her a big nice kiss on the top of the head, and we could just see the compassion of this man in his eyes and in his gestures and in his heart. We were also even faces in the crowd in 1979 at New York's Shea Stadium when he came in on his first trip and again were inspired by this good man.

Mr. Speaker, we have been on numerous occasions and I think many Members, House and Senate, Democrats, Republicans, it does not matter, have all been touched by his care and his compassion for others, a man that is so completely rooted in God. We have been touched by his devotion to the Blessed Mother. He is a man who in word and deed unselfishly cares for the least of our brethren.

John Paul II is truly the vicar of Christ on earth, a man who has and continues to be faithfully and courageously walking in the shoes of the fisherman, Saint Peter.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 313, a measure urging the President to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in recognition of his contributions to the causes of freedom, human dignity, and peace, and to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of his inauguration as Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of the Catholic Church. It is with great honor and esteem that I stand here today to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II. The leadership he has displayed during his 25-year tenure as Supreme Pastor of the Roman Catholic Church has helped to shape our moral conscience. His fight to end human rights abuses and his opposition to communism not only influenced the Catholic community, but the world community.

Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, Jr. in 1920, Pope John Paul II was the second son of Karol Wojtyla, Sr. and Emilia Kaczorwoska Wojtyla. Karol, Sr. was a retired officer for the Polish Army as well as a tailor, and Emilia was a schoolteacher. Pope John Paul II repeatedly demonstrated his unique ability to form friendships that crossed the social norms of the time. Although his hometown of Wadowice, Poland was wrought with anti-Semitism, Pope John Paul II and his family did not share in that hatred. At an early age, His Holiness befriended several members of the Jewish community and learned the importance of compassion and understanding. He later became the first Pope to visit a synagogue and the first to visit a memorial in nearby Auschwitz honoring victims of the Holocaust.

Shortly after his father's death in 1941, Pope John Paul II attended an underground seminary in Krakow, where he was eventually ordained in 1946. He served as a chaplain to university students at St. Florian's Church in Krakow until the communist government abolished the theology department in 1954. He continued his studies at the Seminary of Krakow and was hired as a professor at the Catholic University of Lublin, where he founded and operated a facility to assist families with marital problems, ranging from family planning to alcoholism and physical abuse. In 1956, Pope John Paul II was appointed to the Chair of Ethics at Catholic University, and in 1958 he was named the auxiliary bishop of Krakow. He was instrumental to the Vatican Council II deliberations in 1962, which encouraged diversity in language and practice of the Catholic faith in order to facilitate the inclusion of laymen in worship while also condemning anti-Semitism around the world. His respect throughout the Catholic community led to his election as Pope after the death of Pope John Paul I in September 1978, making him the first Slavic Pope in history.

Less than a year after being named Pope, John Paul II returned to his native Poland and spoke out in favor of the Polish Solidarity movement and against communism. His insistence that no system of government override religious beliefs gave hope to people of faith throughout the former Soviet Union that reforms would take place. The courage and determination that he displayed in opposition to a world power reflected the strength of his convictions and his willingness to stand up to an institutional force that challenged the beliefs of the church. Pope John Paul II repeated this theme when he visited Cuba in January 2003, stating that a government does not the authority to legislate religious beliefs.

Mr. Speaker, during his 25 years as pontiff, Pope John Paul II has spread the Catholic faith with visits to over 115 countries. His gift for uniting those of different beliefs earned him Man of the Year honors from Time Magazine in 1994, and his popularity among both Catholics and non-Catholics around the world is a testament to his genuine love for humanity. As a graduate of St. Mark's Catholic School in Gary, Indiana, I am well aware of the significant role that he has played in leading the Catholic Church into the 21st century. His teaching of tolerance and love for thy neighbor has made him worthy of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and that is why I intend to support H. Con. Res. 313.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 313, urging the President to present the Presidential 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. I want to thank Mr. Sensenbrenner for his leadership on this bill.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is our nation's highest civilian award, recognizing exceptional meritorious contribution to world peace. His Holiness, Pope John Paul II is more than deserving of this award.

Throughout his life and his ministry, he has stood firm in his belief of the inalienable right and dignity of the human person and has been unafraid to shape world events, speak for peace and advocate for human rights.

From his early years during the Nazi occupation of Poland where he risked his life to protect Polish Jews from persecution to his forgiveness of his would-be assassin, he has led by example.

His steadfast support of the Solidarity movement in his homeland of Poland provided hope and encouragement to the Polish people and led to peaceful government reforms that precipitated the collapse of communism in Poland and the eventual fall of the Soviet Union bringing freedom to millions of people.

As these events were unfolding in Eastern Europe, Pope John Paul II was also reaching out to other parts of the world, proclaiming belief in the inalienable right and dignity of the human person and using his influence to bring about change.

Through his efforts, he has helped to reduce tensions between world leaders, reducing conventional and nuclear weapons and averting a nuclear war.

He has sought to heal divisions across the different faith traditions, promoting reconciliation and dialogue between members to further understanding and respect for all people.

He has traveled over the world bringing hope and encouragement to the millions still oppressed by tyranny, hunger, disease and despair.

Despite his ailing health, he continues to lead with strength of conviction as a champion of freedom and peace. Through the many challenges that has faced the Catholic Church and the world, Pope John Paul II has been the rock of the Catholic Church, a model for all people.

On behalf of the people of Guam, I fully support House Concurrent Resolution 313 and urge its unanimous passage.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my friend from Wisconsin in urging the President to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II, who has marked his Silver Jubilee as the spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics around the world.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest civilian award of the United States Government. It was established to recognize persons who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States; to world peace; or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Recipients have included educators, diplomats, authors, scientists and religious leaders.

By bestowing this great honor upon Pope John Paul II, we recognize His Holiness' lifetime dedication to peace, hope, freedom, unity and dignity. No one is more deserving of this award of special distinction which symbolizes the lasting admiration of the American people for the Pope's many efforts.

This man was formed at a remarkable time in human history. He knew the persecution of oppression and witnessed the false ideologies of the 20th Century. He studied for the priesthood in secrecy and lived through the Nazi occupation and Communist subjugation of his native Poland. He was a philosopher, theologian and pastor. He was instrumental in the demise of the Communist regime in Poland, and he played an important role in the collapse of Communism throughout central and eastern Europe, which ended the Cold War.

The Holy Father has continued to promote freedom and peace throughout the world during his pontificate. He has truly internationalized the Catholic Church, and yet he has also reached out in an unprecedented way to peoples of other beliefs and religions all over the world through his promotion of greater understanding, healing, and harmony between religions. His Holiness has particularly promoted unity among Christian churches, reconciliation with the Jewish people, and dialogue with Islam. The Holy Father was the first Pope to visit a synagogue, as well as the first to visit a mosque.

I consider it an honor to be able to ask my Congressional colleagues to join me in paying tribute to this devoted spiritual leader and to celebrate with the Holy Father this Jubilee by urging the President to bestow the Medal of Freedom upon His Holiness, Pope John Paul II.