If you weren’t of age during the 80s to understand the profound effect that John Paul II had on the world, this piece might give you a small taste of it. Walesa reminds us that change is not just about military might or political power, but about the power of the spirit.
Via Newsmax:
A global leader in the mold of Pope John Paul II is much needed to prevent today’s socialists imposing their own values on the world, former Polish President Lech Walesa told Newsmax Friday.
In comments at a special Newsmax dinner in Rome ahead of Sunday’s canonization of Pope John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday, Walesa paid tribute to the late Polish pontiff, saying he remains a “light for the future of the world.”
“The third millennium that is now underway actually doesn’t have a structure or foundations,” he said. “There’s a great debate over whether this millennium will be based on freedoms only, or on values.”
But John Paul II, he said, “is a kind of lantern showing to people that you have to build on values. From this point of view, he’s so needed today, so that those of a left-wing orientation don’t establish it their way.”
Walesa was received in private audience by Pope Francis at the Vatican Saturday on the eve of the canonization of the late popes. Between 1 million and 5 million pilgrims are expected to attend the Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday in possibly the largest single event Rome has ever witnessed.
In an after-dinner speech, the former Polish shipyard worker who led the Solidarity movement in the 1970s and 1980s, said Poles felt powerless to effectively oppose Soviet communism. But after John Paul II visited the country in 1979, they realized that support for the communists was much less than they’d imagined.