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.

        [Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 313 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

H.Con.Res.313
Agreed to November 19, 2003

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the seventh day of January, two thousand and three

Concurrent Resolution

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, who 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 Pope John Paul II was enrolled in Jagiellonian University 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 occupation
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 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 Pope John Paul II was ordained in 1946, 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 Pope John Paul II, on October 16, 1978, 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 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 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 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 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 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 1980's, 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 has used public and private diplomacy 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 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 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 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 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 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 has traveled farther than any other Pope in
history, traversing nearly three quarters of a million miles,
visiting more than 125 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 has 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 has 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 has articulated the importance of individual
liberty being undergirded by a ``moral order'', has 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 has 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 has worked tirelessly to bring peace to
regions of the world that have been driven by strife, intolerance,
hatred, and violence for far too long; and

Whereas the Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest
civilian award of the United States Government: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That the Congress urges 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.
Attest:

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Attest:

Secretary of the Senate.