Pope John Paul II Has Now Completed His Earthly Pro-Life Ministry.

Pope John Paul II died on April 2, and the whole world joined in honoring and mourning the loss of this great religious leader and staunch pro-life champion. At his death, he was surrounded by the prayers and love of his household, who described him as serene and kindly until the moment when God took him home.

Born Karol Wojtyla in 1920 in Poland, Pope John Paul II maintained an assertive spiritual leadership under Nazi and Communist regimes as priest, bishop, and cardinal in Krakow. He was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1978 at the age of 58.

From fatherhood radiates life, and from the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, there radiated a culture of life that has been a beacon of hope to the whole world. Just as a biological father is called to protect his children and honor the mother who has nurtured them in her womb, this religious father has been unfailing in his call for protection of the unborn, and eloquent in his honor of mothers whose task of nurturing the coming generation is central to the survival of civilization.

Pope John Paul II was quintessentially a father in an age when the culture of death has under mined the role and dignity of fatherhood. In contrast John Paul II's spiritual fatherhood seemed virtually to beget the culture of life.

His sensitive understanding of the pressure exerted on women in a pro-abortion culture led him to urge all sectors of society to provide welcome and support to new life and to parents in difficulty. Perhaps most moving were his words to women who had personally experienced the tragedy of abortion:

"The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope.... With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life." (Evangelium Vitae #99)

The Pope's magnificent 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), has been a treasure for the pro-life community, providing depth of insight, compassion, and courage for those struggling to oppose abortion and euthanasia. With clarity and forthrightness, he reminded us that "we need now more than ever to have the courage to look truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name... procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing... of a human being...." (Evangelium Vitae #12)