Remembering John Paul II

Dr. Charles Krauthammer eulogizes the Pope and ends with this:

Under the benign and deeply humane vision of this pope, the power of faith led to the liberation of half a continent. Under the barbaric and nihilistic vision of Islam's jihadists, the power of faith has produced terror and chaos. That contrast alone, which has dawned upon us unmistakably ever since 9/11, should be reason enough to be grateful for John Paul II. But we mourn him for more than that. We mourn him for restoring strength to the Western idea of the free human spirit at a moment of deepest doubt and despair. And for seeing us through to today's great moment of possibility for both faith and freedom.

As usual, Krauthammer nails it. There are lots of Pope-related links at Instapundit. Here's an amazing graphic that shows how much this Pontiff traveled throughout his leadership.

This AP article gives a better feeling of just how important the Pope was in ridding the world of the scourge of Communism:

ROME -- On an icy October night a quarter-century ago, a nervous-looking anchorman on Polish television stared at his notes as he blurted out the news: "A new pope has been elected." Pausing, he added: "It's Wojtyla," and then went on to report the rest of the day's news.

The television newscaster wasn't the only one in Poland's Communist Party establishment who appeared taken aback by news that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, had been elected by the College of Cardinals as the new pope to succeed John Paul I, who died after only 33 days in office.

Update: Brian at Spartac.us has some thoughts about the Pope and his handling of the child molestation scandal.