Posted April 7, 2005

By Rick Winterson

     Here at South Boston Online, we can only add our small voice to the outpouring of grief over the death of Pope John Paul II, born Karol Josef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920. Much has been said of this man. We can merely point to a few facts about him that, in our opinion, show how truly great he was. 

     While the Nazis occupied Poland, he worked as stonecutter under an assumed name; he studied for the priesthood in an underground seminary; and he wrote and acted in underground, anti-Nazi plays. For any of these "offenses", he would have been tortured and publicly executed.

     He visited more of his flock, live and in person, than all 263 of the previous Popes combined. He was the first Pope to visit a mosque and a synagogue. He was an accomplished athlete, linguist, and philosopher. His reign was the third longest in Papal history, after Pius IX and St. Peter himself.

     His moral stands were uncompromising, especially for human rights and against Communism. One can imagine the Communist rulers of Poland, after his election to the Papacy, saying to themselves, "No! No! Not Wojtyla. Anyone but Wojtyla." China never asked him to visit. Its Communist leaders feared him more than anyone on earth.

     And in this cynical, materialistic age, he preached a message of pure, transcendent love. Has there been a greater person in our lifetimes?