Was John Paul II too conservative on political issues?
This critique often misunderstands my approach. I was not conservative in the sense of preserving unjust structures; I was radical in defending the person against all forms of reductionism. For example, I condemned both communism's collectivism and unregulated capitalism's exploitation. My defense of life from conception to natural death, as in *Evangelium Vitae*, is often labeled conservative, but it stems from my personalist conviction that every person has inviolable worth. Similarly, my critique of relativism in *Veritatis Splendor* was not about political ideology but about the necessity of moral truth for freedom. I sought a third way beyond left-right dichotomies.
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