It's been 20 years since the death of Saint John Paul II, the Pope of Freedom

On April 2, 2005, Karol Józef Wojtyła departed for the House of the Father at the age of 84 and after 20 years of pontificate.

The words of gratitude of the Polish Pope Saint John Paul II to the Ukrainian nation
The words of Pope Saint John Paul II to the Jews, our 'older brothers'

I have to confess that I find it strange to speak of Saint John Paul II in the past tense, because he is a Pope who has remained very present in my life during all these years after his death. He is my favorite saint, whose intercession I ask for in times of need and to whom I have entrusted many dear people in the most difficult moments of life. We Christians often say that death is not the end, and Saint John Paul II is a good example of this, because he continued to do good works for us from heaven.

A Polish Pope against communism

Today I also want to remember one of the greatest things this Pope did during his long and fruitful pontificate. When the then Archbishop of Krakow was elected Pope, Europe was going through difficult times. Half of our continent was still living under the yoke of a totalitarian ideology that had oppressed the various peoples who had been subjected to the dictatorship of the Soviet Union for six decades.

The Soviet dictatorship greeted the election of John Paul II, a Polish Pope, with fear, because Poland was precisely the country that had most tenaciously resisted communism. Let us remember that Poland achieved the first major military defeat of communism in 1920, preventing its spread throughout the rest of Europe for almost two decades, a Polish victory known as the "Miracle of the Vistula", because it was achieved on August 15 of that year, coinciding with the feast of the Assumption of Mary. Poland was a deeply Catholic people and had in its faith the deep root of its national identity.

On September 17, 1980, this faith and resistance of the Polish people against oppression were embodied in the founding of the Catholic trade union Solidarność (Solidarity), an anti-communist and non-violent movement that received the support of the new Pope. The protests organized in Poland by Solidarność led the Polish communist dictatorship, a mere puppet of Moscow, to declare Martial Law on December 13, 1981, a period of harsh communist repression that was in effect until July 22, 1983. During that time, 56 people were killed and more than 10,000 were sent to prisons and detention centers.

On Monday, December 14, 1981, the day after Martial Law was declared in Poland, Saint John Paul II spoke these words in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, where a large crowd had gathered to pray:

I am extremely grateful to you. Grateful to you and also to other circles, to various Italian cities, such as Milan, Naples, and others. I see everywhere, within the Church and even outside of it, great solidarity with my compatriots, with the Polish people; and for this I express my enormous gratitude to everyone. This solidarity with the Polish people also serves to confirm certain inalienable values ​​and principles, such as human rights and the rights of the people.

His decisive role in the fall of communism in the West

Finally, thanks to the support of Saint John Paul II and also to the firm attitude of international leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the spark of freedom ignited in Poland and it was the first country in the Soviet bloc to see communism fall, with the calling of elections on June 4, 1989.

The flame of freedom, lit in Poland, spread to other countries. In the following two years, communism fell in Hungary (October 23, 1989), East Germany (November 9, 1989), Romania (December 22, 1989), Czechoslovakia (December 29, 1989), Bulgaria (June 10, 1990), Latvia (June 4, May 1990), Albania (December 11, 1990), Estonia (August 20, 1991), Ukraine (August 24, 1991) and Lithuania (September 6, 1991), culminating in the disappearance of the USSR (December 26, 1991). With the strength of faith, a Polish Pope achieved what a few years earlier seemed impossible.

The Pope of Freedom is still with us

Many of us consider Saint John Paul II the "Pope of Liberty" because, thanks to his faith and tenacity, we were able to witness the fall of communism in the West. Today, we must remember his example in a Europe at war and once again subjected to threats from Moscow, where a new dictatorship has taken hold, seeking to revive the old Russian imperialism and Soviet expansionism.

Today, millions of Europeans who had the joy of regaining their freedom see it threatened once again, not only by aggressive Russia, but also by the authoritarian attitudes that have spread among some European leaders. In these difficult times, the Pope of Liberty remains with us, with the example he set us in life and with his intercession from heaven.

Thanks to Saint John Paul II, the West succeeded in defeating communism and with his help we will continue to overcome any threat that comes our way. I know we will succeed as long as we do not forget the words of Saint Paul, which the Polish Pope recalled on 1 January 2005, three months before his death:

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."