Pope John Paul II & Communism

To start, I need to say that I'm a Never-Catholic. I was raised as a Protestant and always felt sorry for the Catholic kids who had to go to catechism after school, while I got to go home and play.

So the Pope has never been mine. I've seen the papacy of John Paul II as an outsider, but I respected the strong stands he took for the pro-life position of the Catholic church in the midst of global pressure to bend (or break) on these issues.

What I wasn't aware of was his stand against Communism. (Another disclaimer while I'm at it: I was raised by the public school system to be a liberal, feminist, anti-nuke (power & weapons), anti-big-business, pro-choice, rabid environmentalist. I grew up and came to my senses over time, but not until Bush-41's presidency, so I missed the whole Reagan fervor when it happened.)

When I watched the Reagan funeral and listened to the speeches and read the commentaries on his legacy, I got the impression that Communism was defeated by President Reagan, with a little help from British Prime Minister Thatcher. I don't remember hearing about the Pope's contribution at the time of Reagan's funeral.

Now, though, Pope John Paul's anti-Communist position is front-and-center in much of the coverage. And the best column I've read about it is Peggy Noonan's excellent piece for the Wall Street Journal Opinion page.

She says, "But I think I know the moment Soviet communism began its fall. It happened in public. Anyone could see it. It was one of the great spiritual moments of the 20th century, maybe the greatest.

"It was the first week in June 1979. "

This pre-dates Reagan and happened only a month after Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Noonan continues, "On June 2, 1979, the pope arrived in Poland. What followed will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

"He knelt and kissed the ground, the dull gray tarmac of the airport outside Warsaw. The silent churches of Poland at that moment began to ring their bells. The pope traveled by motorcade from the airport to the Old City of Warsaw.

"The government had feared hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands would line the streets and highways.

"By the end of the day, with the people lining the streets and highways plus the people massed outside Warsaw and then inside it--all of them cheering and throwing flowers and applauding and singing--more than a million had come."

"The pope had not directly challenged the government. He had not called for an uprising. He had not told the people of Catholic Poland to push back against their atheist masters. He simply stated the obvious. In Mr. Weigel's words: 'Poland was not a communist country; Poland was a Catholic nation saddled with a communist state.'"

There is so much more in her column, all of it beautifully written. I recommend reading every word. More than once.

He was not my pope, but he was a man who carved his mark for Good on the world's stage, and I admire him for that.

May he rest in peace.