Father Robert Sirico reflects on those global figures during the 1980's, who had a clear moral vision.
In 1978, Karol Wojtyla, Krakow's philosopher-archbishop was elected pope, taking the name John Paul II.In 1979, a shopkeeper's daughter by the name of Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of England.
And in 1981 a former actor became President of the United States.
These three towering figures, each with modest beginnings, ascended the world stage at a critical moment. Their common link was neither their respective nationalities, nor their faith tradition, nor even their politics. It was a common moral understanding that bound these three, uniting them in what seemed to some at the time a rather fantastical, even dangerous vision. Specifically, the pope, the prime minister and the president were clear about two things: the moral reprehensibility of communism and the moral necessity of replacing it with institutions of liberty.
