Pope John Paul II, though a native of Poland, would have made an appropriate speaker at an American Fourth of July celebration. The late pope had an appreciation of the American experience and an understanding of the country’s founding principles. And he consistently challenged Americans to live up to those principles.

He visited the United States seven times in his more than 26 years as pope. And on each occasion he addressed the ideals of America, often citing its founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One example was his 1995 visit to the East Coast. Some of what he said during that trip can serve as a reflection — and a challenge — as we celebrate our independence this week.

Making reference to the American democracy, John Paul II remarked at the conclusion of the 1995 visit: “Democracy needs wisdom. Democracy needs virtue if it is not to turn against everything that it is meant to defend and encourage. Democracy stands or falls with the truths and values which it embodies and promotes.

“Democracy serves what is true and right when it safeguards the dignity of every human person, when it respects inviolable and inalienable human rights, when it makes the common good the end and criterion regulating all public and social life.”

John Paul explained in other talks what this entails.

The “right to life is the first of all rights ... the foundation of democratic liberties,” he said. There must be “respect for the dignity and sanctity of human life in all conditions and at all stages of development ... from conception to natural death.”

“When the unborn child ... is declared to be beyond the protection of society,” he said, America’s deepest traditions are “radically undermined and endangered” and a “moral blight is brought upon society.” He also mentioned threats to the elderly, the handicapped and all “who do not seem to have any social usefulness.”

John Paul considered America a “privileged land,” yet with its affluence and abundance there is much poverty and human suffering. He said there is “much need for love and the works of love; there is need for social solidarity.”

He asked: “Is present-day America becoming less sensitive, less caring toward the poor, the weak, the stranger, the needy? It must not.”

Noting that the country’s affluence often conceals personal hardship and poverty, he asked in a talk in New York: “Have the people living in this huge metropolis lost sight of the blessings which belong to the poor of spirit?”

He replied to these questions: “It would indeed be sad if the United States were to turn away from (the) enterprising spirit which has always sought the most practical and responsible ways of continuing to share with others the blessings God has richly bestowed here.”

He added: “The same spirit of creative generosity will help you to meet the needs of your own poor and disadvantaged. They too have a role to play in building a society truly worthy of the human person. ... The poor have needs which are not only material and economic, but also involve liberating their potential to work out their own destiny and to provide for the well-being of their families and communities.

“America will continue to be a land of promise as long as it remains a land of freedom and justice for all.”

The late pope also called on America to continue its tradition of welcoming people from other hands. “Today, as before, the United States is called to be a hospitable society, a welcoming culture,” he said. “If America were to turn in on itself, would this not be the beginning of the end of what constitutes the very essence of the American experience?”

Everything John Paul II spoke of more than a decade ago resonates in the United States today. The challenges that he saw when he visited here 12 years ago are among the major challenges we still confront.

America continues to be a land of liberty, promise, opportunity and achievement. It continues to be a land in which the rights and dignity of the human person — and the pursuit of the common good — are hallmarks of our democracy and way of life.

We are, as John Paul II said, a “privileged land.” But, as he also reminded us, we can be better. Much still remains to be done to live up to what we proclaim. That’s our continuing challenge as we celebrate our independence.