Examining communism’s grasp on post-war Poland, last night former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) screened his new film that recounts Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the country and the visit’s role in restoring Polish national identity.

Addressing a packed auditorium in the Intercultural Center, Gingrich said the film, “Nine Days That Changed the World,” offered a powerful demonstration of religious faith’s power over tyranny. The Catholic Students Association sponsored the event along with the College Republicans.

“I think the concept of freedom through faith is central to the original reason that Georgetown was founded. It’s essential to the establishment of the United States. I think it is central to the struggle going on today in Cuba and China and Iran and Russia, and so many places around the world,” Gingrich said.

The documentary interviews Polish academic, political and religious leaders who discuss their memories of the visit. The sources’ emotions often bleed into the interviews, offering additional evidence of the visit’s mark on Polish hearts and minds,

While the event was co-hosted by College Republicans and featured a former Republican congressman, Melinda Reyes (SFS ’12), co-president of the Catholic Students Association, stressed that the event was nonpartisan.

“Anyone at the event would note that there was no mention of anything related to [Gingrich’s] career as speaker or his political affiliations. It was focused entirely on the role of John Paul II,” Reyes said.

Reyes added that the College Democrats were initially sponsors of the event, but they removed their sponsorship before the screening.

History professor Andrzej Kaminski said that John Paul II mixed intelligence and stubbornness with an ability to listen to his adversaries. This ability made the pope a particularly powerful force against the communist rule, he said.

“It really said a lot about the faith of the Polish people and how it united them,” Stephen McDonald (SFS ’13) said. “It showed the events from people who were actually there. [The emotion] added to it, because it’s difficult to look at those sorts of things without the emotional aspect to it.”

Reyes said at the screening that the film’s message tied closely to Georgetown’s Catholic identity.

“It is a good reminder of what role our faith as a Catholic university, and on an individual level, can have in international affairs,” she said. “There’s something inherent in faith that leads you to yearn for freedom and vice versa, and I think John Paul II really embodied that.”

*Click here for the preview to the Gingrichs’ Monday appearance on campus, featuring an audio recording of Eamon O’Connor’s interview with the couple.*