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The Pope And The President

So many people around the world, in every walk of life, felt as if they knew Pope John Paul II personally.

Of course, some of them, especially the world leaders, actually did know the pope, and have very personal memories of their time spent with him.

One of them, former President Bill Clinton took Sunday Morning viewers on a look back to his visits with the pontiff.

"I'm very sad," Mr. Clinton said. "I think he was a remarkable leader, not only of the Catholic faithful, but of peace and justice and reconciliation all over the world.

"I'll never forget he called me one day, just out of the blue. I was sitting in the White House and he wanted to talk about Bosnia, and as I've said many times, he had one of the most remarkable sentences. He said: 'Mr. President the 20th century began with a war that started in Sarajevo; you cannot let it end with a war that started in Sarajevo.' And that spoke volumes about the kind of man he was, and what he cared about."

The former president also recalled John Paul II as man with a good sense of humor.

"I kidded him about my hoping he would live to be 100 when he came to St. Louis," Mr. Clinton said. "He said, 'Yes, 100 years slowly, slow.' I always liked being with him and he always bore his physical maladies with grace and almost good humor. You know, he was shot in an assassination attempt; and he had all kinds of other physical problems, and he just always carried on, which is something I admire."

While the pope disagreed with some American policies, most notably abortion and capital punishment, he was able to work with the country's leaders on important issues, the former president pointed out.

"You know, I never had any doubt where he stood," Mr. Clinton said. "He obviously didn't agree with the American law on abortion, but that didn't affect our dealings so much as our attempts to work out a compromise at the Cairo Population Conference, because I believed in contraception. Throughout, he was always just who he was, that 's all you can ask of anyone, and in that, he was a great man. He was big in what he believed; and he didn't demean other people or demonize them. He was a very able political leader in a way."

Mr. Clinton's favorite story about the pope took place at their meeting in the Newark, N.J., cathedral when the Pope visited the New York area in 1995.

"It's a magnificent Gothic cathedral, one of the most beautiful churches in America," he said. "And the doors flung open, and he [the pope] started walking down the aisle, holding out his hands, touching and shaking hands with people on either side, and these nuns started standing up in the pews and cheering, almost as if he were at a rock concert.

"And I said to one of the Catholic leaders who was with me from New Jersey, 'Boy I'd hate to run against that guy for mayor,' and he said, 'You don't know how good he is. Those nuns are Carmelites - some of them haven't been outside in 20 years.'"

Above all, Mr. Clinton said, the pope knew how to excite people. "He knew how to use the tools of daily life as well as his spiritual message to be more effective. And he was sort of wistful about it. I'll never forget that as long as I live, seeing those nuns cheer and realizing there was something almost larger-than-life about it that drew us all to him."

The ponttiff's death, Mr. Clinton concluded, is "a great loss to the world; he was great, strong voice."

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