From VDH's Private Papers::A Pope for All Seasons: "A strong pope--as in the case of John Paul II, who boldly opposed Soviet totalitarianism--can provide a bulwark for an agnostic European culture at large increasingly adrift. A caretaker pontiff will only worsen the continent's disturbing lack of confidence in its own origins and once hallowed values.Apart from his political skills, language fluency and vitality, the pope was a man of letters who still believed in what he could not prove by physical evidence. Thus he reminded all of us that reason and faith are not incompatible but are symbiotic and were always at the heart of our very culture. So John Paul II was a powerful reminder that intellectuals can pray, while churchgoers should cultivate the mind. And at this late age, at this troubled time, he was thus a rare gift out of the long past to a now increasingly uncertain West.
"Atque in perpetuum, pater, ave atque vale."
