Political Quotes

“Zbibniew Brzezinski, the Polish-born national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, tells a story about how the news of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's election as Pope was received by the communist rulers of Poland. On that day in October 1978, Mr. Brzezinski said, a group of communist writers and party leaders were meeting in Krakow. A police colonel was speaking, complaining about the opposition of the church, when a woman ran into the room and said, "Wojtyla has been elected Pope!" The second secretary of the party, not realizing his microphone was still on, turned to the first secretary and said, "My God, my God, now we will have to kiss his"--and he did not say "ring." The first party secretary, understanding the enormity of the moment, replied, "Only if he lets us." In neighboring Czechoslovakia, a dissident playwright was with friends when news of the new Polish Pope came. Vaclav Havel, who would go on to become the first elected president of the Czech Republic, said he and his friends literally danced with joy when they heard the news. "We felt," he said, "that he was a great and charismatic man who will open the door to an unprecedented renaissance in Christianity and through it, to human spirituality in general, and who will fundamentally influence the future destiny and political order of the world." More than 26 years later, those stories seem prophetic. Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, did indeed change the world.”