07/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The EPP-ED group at the European Parliament held a special meeting in memory of Pope Jean-Paul II. Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the group, pointed to the “crucial support” given by the Pope to Solidarnosc in Poland. A year after being elected pope in 1978 the CDU MEP remembered that Jean-Paul II had gone back to his native Poland to encourage his fellow citizens, “do not be afraid…you are men, you have dignity, don't crawl on your bellies”. During the meeting, Pöttering read out an apostolic letter the Pope had written to him after he had received the Robert Schumann Medal on November 30, 2004 and in which he urged members of the group to defend “this undeniable Christian heritage”, while regretting that despite their efforts, this heritage had not been included more clearly in the European Constitution.