In October of 1978 I was just shy of my 14th birthday and I watched John Paul II make his first appearance before the people of the world as Pope. If you weren't around at that time, you can't really understand the flabbergasting nature of the elevation of a Polish Pope. It had been many centuries since we had a non-Italian Pope. My mother was delighted, certain that this would spell doom for the communist world. She was right.

Full understanding of the pontificate of John Paul II will take at least a century; we don't know everything he has done, and we don't know the full, long-term effects of the things we know he did. But it is a certainty that in any discussion of the 20th century, John Paul II will stand along with Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan in the estimations of historical impact; and, in fact, he might end up being the greatest man of the 20th century.

Josef Stalin, wicked man in all respects, is alleged to have asked, in response to a Papal complaints, "how many divisions has the Pope?" Evil people always reckon power in terms of guns and force; Stalin's Evil Empire is vanquished, and the division-less Pope played a very large role in the unravelling of that horrific State. What the Pope brought to the world was a moral force which could be disagreed with but could not be denied. While being endlessly forgiving and friendly, the Pope stuck to the eternal verities and would not retreat an inch from them. There is nothing stronger in the world, in the end, than conviction firmly adhered to.

John Paul II taught us to adhere to the fundamental moral principles while engaging the world on its own terms, knowing that if you are right, the world will eventually follow. Yesterday I broke up a little upon hearing that the end was near, but today there is nothing but joy in my heart: God has called home his humble servant; a man He lent to us for a while to encourage and instruct us.

God bless John Paul II.

Reaction from: President Bush; Dean's World; One Hand Clapping; Captain's Quarters; RNC head Ken Mehlman; DNC;