John Paul II is ‘role model for the world’: Catholic League

Apr 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Pope John Paul II was, and always will be, “a role model for the world,” said Catholic League president William Donohue in a statement released one day after the Pope’s death.

The Pope, said Donohue, will be remembered for many things, one of which is his signature statement, “Be not afraid.”

John Paul II made this statement in his first homily as Pope in 1978 and repeated it thousands of times during his papacy, Donohue pointed out. It was a phrase he often repeated to his audiences with young people as well.

“Consider what happened after he told millions of his fellow countrymen in Poland one year later, ‘Do not be afraid to tell the truth,’” Donohue continued.

The president of the Catholic League predicted that the late Pope’s commitment to truth would be one of “his most enduring legacies.”

“In a world where moral relativism runs rampant, and the lies of postmodernist thought are trumpeted, nothing could be more counter cultural than the Pope’s speeches and writings on the existence of an objective moral order.  His courage, along with his intellectual acumen, was astounding,” Donohue wrote.

Given the way the Pope managed to reach out to millions of people, including members of the world’s religions, “it is only fitting that someday he will be known as John Paul the Great,” which would make him the third pontiff to receive the honorific title, Donohue said.