EDITORIAL - Apostle of freedom and dignity of life

Back in the days when the world had two superpowers, an archbishop little known outside his country dared to speak out against the oppression of communism. Karol Wojtyla announced that henceforth the Catholic Church in his native Poland would no longer be a Church of silence but would find its voice.

The archbishop quickly became a powerful voice for democracy not just in Poland but throughout the rest of Eastern Europe, bringing a message of love and hope to nations that suffered from the tyranny of communist regimes. His voice reverberated all the way to Rome, where a conclave of cardinals picked him in 1978 as the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years, and where he took the name John Paul II.

The success of the democracy movement in Poland and the fall of the Iron Curtain owed much to that voice from the Church that would not be stilled. A papal visit to the Philippines at the height of the Marcos dictatorship would also inspire the democracy movement that would culminate in the people power revolt in 1986. As Pope John Paul II prepared for death, mourning was profound in the nations where he bequeathed his legacy of freedom.

In the years after winning that war, John Paul had another message to his flock: the value of life even amid great suffering. Debilitated by Parkinson’s disease, weakened by knee and hip ailments, the Pope spent much of the previous decade in illness. In his final days there was speculation that his numerous ailments would compel his resignation.

Just by staying on, however, the Pope sent a powerful message of respect for the value of life. Suffering, he taught his flock, was a part of life, as much as freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Suffering, he taught, was an offering to Christ, who suffered and died for the salvation of others. The Pope made no effort to hide his deteriorating condition from the world. He seemed to exult in showing that he was fighting a battle for survival, that each time he awoke to a new day was a victory.

Last Saturday night in Rome, Pope John Paul II lost that battle, but his message will endure. Filipinos join the world in mourning the loss of a great apostle of freedom and the dignity of life.