Vic: PM pays tribute to ailing pontiff

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2005
Vic: PM pays tribute to ailing pontiff

MELBOURNE, April 2 AAP - Pope John Paul II should be remembered both as a freedom fighter
against communism and a great Christian leader, Australian Prime Minister John Howard
said today.

Mr Howard's comments came as the pontiff lay near death in his Vatican apartment after
suffering heart failure.

Speaking in Melbourne at a state Liberal Party conference, Mr Howard said the Pope
had been an inspiring leader not only to the one billion Catholics around the world.

"He's been a great example of Christian dedication to people of all Christian denominations
and indeed of all faiths," Mr Howard said.

"He will also be remembered as a person who helped lead the fight for freedom, which
led to the fall of the Berlin Wall."

Mr Howard said the Pope would always be remembered for the role he played in bringing
freedom to his native Poland.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet Imperialism were the great defining
moments of post-WWII politics, he said.

"As we think of this wonderful man in his hour of trial we think not only of his contribution
to the worldwide church and to Christianity but we think of his contribution to the worldwide
cause of freedom, which has helped shape the lives of all of us in the last 60 years."

AAP nl/arb

KEYWORD: POPE AUST HOWARD

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