Mr. Speaker, October 16 will mark the 25th anniversary of the election of Karol Wojtyla to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, making him the third longest serving pope in the 2,000 year history of the Catholic church.
Since that time, he has been perhaps the most active apostle of the Christian message of hope and human dignity ever, travelling on over 100 foreign missions and testifying in person to hundreds of millions, on every continent.
A personal witness to the great horrors of totalitarianism in what he calls the “century of tears”, the Pope has fearlessly spoken truth to power. His message of solidarity and freedom was the spiritual spark that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain, and it energized the spread of democracy from Latin America to the Philippines.
He has continued to preach his message of the divine origin of human dignity against post-modern distortions of freedom, the excesses of materialism, and the culture of death.
Now coming to the end of his service, he offers a heroic witness. Burdened by crippling infirmities, he is a sign of hope to the elderly and the disabled.
On behalf of all Canadians, let us offer to John Paul II our gratitude, our prayers and our congratulations on this, his anniversary.