NEW YORK – On the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s 1984 visit to Fairbanks, Alaska, at the start of a trip to Far East nations, President Ronald Reagan highlighted the pontiff’s work to ensure “rights and dignity of the individual and for peace among nations,” and committed the United States to that cause.
“In a violent world, Your Holiness, you have been a minister of peace and love. Your words, your prayers, your example have made you – for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war – a source of solace, inspiration, and hope,” Reagan said. “For this historic ministry the American people are grateful to you, and we wish you every encouragement in your journeys for peace and understanding in the world.”
In his own remarks, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that Reagan was just returning from his own – as Reagan described – “mission of peace” in China, thanked the president for his kind welcome and reaffirmed their friendship. He otherwise didn’t speak much about Reagan, but echoed the sentiment about the importance of justice and peace, saying that the diversity of Fairbanks “provides the context in which each person, each family, each ethnic group is challenged to live in harmony and concord.”
The harmony in the remarks encapsulates the relationship the two shared. It was a relationship that began with a meeting in 1982, and proved a significant one as it restored diplomatic ties between the United States and the Vatican in 1984, and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On Saturday, August 31, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute will open a new exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, titled “The Pope and The President” that will “share the story of President Reagan and Pope John Paul II’s collaboration, friendship and legacies and feature many items throughout their relationship,” according to the institute.
The exhibit will feature eight overview panels, each dedicated to a different chapter of Saint Pope John Paul II’s life. The panels will begin with his childhood, and include when he joined the priesthood, and his first meeting with Reagan. It will run through October 27.
Additional objects in the exhibit will include:
Pope John Paul II and Reagan met in-person five times. Their first meeting was at the Vatican on June 7, 1982. They met for the second time in Fairbanks, Alaska, on May 2, 1984, and for a third time in Miami on September 10, 1987. Their last meeting together was back at the Vatican on June 6, 1987. As is the case for most, if not all meetings pontiff’s have with world leaders, the meetings were held in private, and not recorded so the specifics of their conversations are relatively unknown.
That said, their mutual desire for peace and an end to communism were well documented.
Daniel Philpott, a professor of political science at the University Notre Dame, told Crux in an email that the friendship between Pope John Paul II and Reagan “is the most consequential of any between a sitting U.S. president and a pope.”
“It was a kinship between two souls who shared the same moral vision. Unlike people who surrounded them, both on the right and the left, each of them believed that Communism in the eastern bloc could come to an end – not sustained through conflict resolution methods, not defeated through war, but rather transformed peaceful,” Philpott said. “Together, they dueled Eastern Bloc dictators through the power of human dignity, human rights, and the Spirit of God but also remained open to negotiation and insisted on peaceful change. These friends admired and respected each other greatly.”
The night before the exhibit’s debut, the institute will unveil a bronze bust of Saint Pope John Paul II, gifted by the Friends of John Pail II foundation and sculpted by American sculptor Gordon Kray. Following the exhibit’s completion, the bust will remain permanently on display at the Reagan Library, according to the institute.
Melissa Griller, chief marketing office of the institute, said that the exhibit “highlights the significant ways in which their paths converged to have a profound impact on modern history.”
“The diplomacy between President Reagan and Saint Pope John Paul II contributed to the downfall of communism and the freedom that the modern world enjoys today, and it’s important we remember and celebrate their lasting impact,” Griller said in an Aug. 27 statement.
Follow John Lavenburg on X: @johnlavenburg
