Joe Scheidler meets the Holy Father at a 1991 meeting in Rome of pro-life leaders
The Pro-Life Action League is mourning the death of Pope John Paul II. The Holy Father was always a great champion of the value of life, most recently by speaking out against the court-ordered killing of Terri Schiavo.
The pro-life community recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of John Paul II’s encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), an eloquent defense of human life at all stages. He once called pro-life activism “the most important work on earth.”
All human beings, from their mother’s womb, belong to God who searches them and knows them, who forms them and knits them together with his own hands, who gazes on them when they are tiny shapeless embryos and already sees in them the adults of tomorrow.
—John Paul II,Evangelium Vitae
Even more eloquent than his statements in defense of human life was the heroic suffering of his final years, a powerful testament to the redemptive value of suffering and the dignity of all human life.
“Very Pro-Life City”
When Pope John Paul II visited Chicago in 1979, the League’s Joe and Ann Scheidler sang in the choir at his Grant Park Mass.
In 1991, Joe Scheidler met the Holy Father during a meeting of pro-life leaders in Rome. When he learned Joe’s home town he remarked, “Ah, Chicago, very pro-life city.” Joe gave the Pope a copy of his book, CLOSED, along with a list of Catholic pro-abortion politicians who ought to be disciplined.
We will sorely miss the guidance of this greatest of good shepherds, but rejoice to have such an advocate in Heaven.
