As a bishop and a cardinal, he was above all a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, and a faithful son of the Second Vatican Council where he served as a theologian.

So I think Pope Benedict XVI will pastor the Catholic Church with the same dedication and love as his friend and predecessor, John Paul II. And that's important, because I've been struck by how many different persons of many different faiths have told me about their respect for Pope John Paul II.

Three million people traveled to Rome for his funeral earlier this month, and they did it not because he was a media star, but because he touched their hearts and their consciences.

Karol Wojtyla embodied all of the deep truths of the Christian faith. He had an abiding love for the poor, the homeless and the oppressed. He spoke forcefully for global economic justice and inter-religious peace. He had the courage to defend the sanctity of the human person in the face of enormous contempt, not just in the days of the old Soviet bloc but more recently from our own cynics in the West--many of them right here in the United States, and some of them self-described Catholics.

He understood that real Christian discipleship seeks to serve the whole human person, from conception to natural death. The social mission of Christians always embraces both the poor and the unborn; both the homeless and the terminally ill. John Paul understood that we can't build justice while deliberately killing--or allowing anyone else to deliberately kill--the innocent and defenseless.

I think we remember John Paul as "the Great" not because he won the approval of The New York Times and media pundits but because he didn't. He was a man of character and clear Christian intellect. He worked tirelessly for what he knew was right, whether it was popular or not. And he encouraged all of us here tonight to do the same by his example.

Every life like Karol Wojtyla's--a life of real Christian discipleship--has a cost. Witnessing for the sanctity of the human person involves work, struggle and courage in the face of bigotry and criticism. You all know that because you've experienced it. But that's the cost of discipleship.

Success depends on each of us conforming our hearts--and then our choices and our actions--to the principles we claim to believe. John Paul II did it heroically, and the world is better because of him. We can at least try to do the same.

Forty-four years ago, another great Pope - "Good Pope John XXIII" - wrote a famous reflection on world peace called Pacem in Terris. Those are Latin words for "Peace on Earth."

But Good Pope John didn't begin it by talking about the arms race or the global economy or international relations. He began it by talking about the rights and duties of the individual human person--beginning with the right to life.