John Paul II

Jody Bottum’s lengthy piece on “John Paul the Great” (Weekly Standard, April 18) is characteristically insightful and elegant. A couple of Bottum’s points stand out. He describes John Paul’s “star” quality, emphasizing “an obvious and easily triggered sort of joy : the ability to please and the ability to be pleased that combine to make a man seem radiantly alive.” He also emphasizes throughout that John Paul’s great contribution was his refusal, especially in regard to the Soviet bloc, to accept the apparent “available historical options” as the only political and cultural possibilities: “History labors down its worn tracks, and the poverty of human possibilities leaves us few choices. Or so it often seems. But not always. Not while we remember that living in truth is always possible. Not while we remind ourselves of the message of hope preached ceaselessly by Karol Wojtyla. Not while we recall John Paul the Great.”