An American actor who became a president and a Polish actor who became a pope are now recognized as the two world leaders most responsible for bringing down the USSR as a communist superpower and thus the demise of communism in Eastern Europe. Yes, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II are those actors turned world leaders.

As we celebrate the life and long papacy of John Paul II this week of his passing, we are reminded of the many accomplishments of Karol Wojtyla, who answered the call to monastic life dedicated to God. In addition to serving as spiritual leader of the Catholic church, he was a poet, a professor, and a politician. This pope was a true renaissance man.

While the world can take delight in his talents as actor, poet, and professor, it must surely give thanks for his political abilities as well as his spiritual leadership.

Before coming to the papacy, this pope had suffered from communist domination of his native Poland for thirty years. The communist regime closed his university, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where he was studying drama. He was forced to work in a quarry and later in a chemical factory or face deportation to Germany. Worse yet was the suppression of the Catholic church in Poland under the communist regime. After realizing his call to a religious life, he was forced to study in secret at a seminary that would not have been tolerated by the government. The large seminary had been closed.

So this pope experienced first-hand totalitarian oppression from a communist regime. But as a religious he fought spiritually and peacefully against that regime. More accurately, his kind of fighting should be defined differently: instead of fighting against tyranny, he fought for freedom.

This pope realized that the suppression of Catholicism in Poland was a violation of human rights, and he struggled tirelessly to get the rights of religious freedom restored in his native country. Instead of clamoring for more church buildings, he worked to get religion taught in the schools; instead of complaining about a closed press, he worked to get access to media without censorship. He also was adamant about human rights, about which he spoke openly and often.

How did the pope accomplish the mighty task of eliminating the blight of communism as a superpower? According to Lech Walesa, the founder of the Solidarity worker movement in Poland, “The pope started this chain of events that led to the end of communism. Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. ‘He simply said: Don't be afraid, change the image of this land.’ ” The pope gave the people to strength and courage to rise up. When he told them, “Be not afraid,” they became fearless. He also insisted that Poland’s history was entwined with the life of Jesus Christ. His emphasis on Christ was always highlighted in his speeches, and the courage to trust in God and Christ led the rest of the way.

But the unofficial alliance between Reagan and Pope Paul II was not an ordinary coalition. We have to remember that a pope can never condone violence or even countenance a just war of liberation. For Reagan, as a political leader, not under the same constraints as the pope, all options were on the table. During their conversations regarding toppling the communist regimes, particularly the one in Poland, the pope would always back away from confrontations that might harm people such as sanctions and war. However, upon receiving the following 1982 message from Cardinal Achille Silvestrini of the Vatican secretariat of state, regarding sanctions against Poland’s government after the arrest of thousands of the Solidarity labor movement, Reagan himself felt buoyed up and realized that the pope was, indeed, with him in his efforts to achieve freedom for Poland:

The Vatican recognizes that the U.S. is a great power with global responsibilities. The United States must operate on the political plane and the Holy See does not comment on the political positions taken by governments. It is for each government to decide its political policies. The Holy See for its part operates on the moral plane. The two planes (politics and morality) can be complementary when they have the same objective. In this case they are complementary because both the Holy See and the United States have the same objective: the restoration of liberty to Poland.

George H.W. Bush’s notes after visit to pope 1984:

I then asked him if he had any advice for us on Poland. He discussed this for some time. … The most important problem is the question of human rights. … The government cannot be changed. Therefore you must influence [Polish leader General Wojciech] Jaruzelski to “have a more human face.”

Despite the fact John Paul II did not believe the government could be changed, he always called for “human rights.” He made the distinction between the political and spiritual levels of operation, and though he could not agree to punishment of or war with a nation to bring about change, he understood that they might be necessary.

The unofficial alliance of the president and the pope could be likened to good cop-bad method of dealing with criminals: both had the same goal in mind, but they operated differently. The fact that Reagan and John Paul II had in mind the restoration of liberty to humanity made their work complementary. With the toppling of communism in Poland, the USSR quickly followed suit.

Reference:
Freedom’s Men
Politics and the Pope