Quotes from around the world

“John Paul II was one of the greatest men of the last century. Perhaps the greatest.” — Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

“I think we shall keep discovering how much the Holy Father worked for us and struggled for us. He spoke to us through his illness and through his suffering served to the very end ... (Without him) there would be no end of communism or at least much later and the end would have been bloody.” — Former Polish President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.

“Throughout a hard and often difficult life, he stood for social justice and on the side of the oppressed, whether as a young man facing the Nazi occupation in Poland or later in challenging the Communist regime. He never wavered, never flinched, in the struggle for what he thought was good and right.” — British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“Historians will judge the pope harshly. His opposition to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV has condemned millions of people to die an agonizing, needless death. Millions of children in developing countries are orphaned, having lost their parents to AIDS because of the pope’s anti-condom dogma.” — British gay and human rights activist Peter Tatchell.

“He influenced the peaceful integration of Europe during his pontificate in many ways. Time and again he acted with wisdom and respect for cultures and people’s traditions to develop solutions to humanity’s problems. — German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

“In a certain sense he was 'American.’ He enjoyed people. He had a great sense of humor. He was humble, all the things that America likes in their leaders, and I think we saw that in him, therefore we became very close to him. — Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington.

“Unforgettable ... were his visits to Quebec, as well as his participation in the World Youth Day in Toronto in July of 2002, which inspired hundreds of thousands of young people with the strength and clarity of his moral vision.” — Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin.

“I recall very fondly my meetings with him, particularly sitting with him in his private quarters discussing the question of war and peace when we were thinking about what to do in Kosovo."  “He ... (was) extremely concerned about the world we lived in, and like me, he also felt that in war, all are losers.” — U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

He was “a great religious figure who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom, justice and equality for all races and religions, as well as our people’s right to independence.” — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

“Pope John Paul II not only visited Nigeria twice but stood by the country in its fight against dictatorship and injustice.” -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“I have work waiting for me in Belgium, but I think I’ll be going to Rome. I cannot explain it. I’ve never met him, but he is someone who simply radiates a force. There has never been such a Pole as him and there will never be.”  — Stanislaw Witek, 56, an electrician in the pope's hometown of Wadowice, Poland.