The awakening of Poland
Peter Hebblethwaite
Warsaw Pope John Paul II, in his white soutane, is better equipped to withstand the heat of this Polish June — the temperature has topped ninety degrees — than the government officials in their sober suits and ties. There are Other points of comparison that it would be unfair to spell out in detail.But one may certainly say that the Pope, by his visit, has seized the initiative. While the President Henry Jablonski and First Secretary Gierek find themselves condemned to rehearse the achievements of 35 years of Polish socialism, the Pope has constantly broadened the frame of reference to include the thousand-year-old history of Christianity in Poland. Nor is this mere nostalgia. For him, the fact that Christ has been woven into the fabric of the Polish nation in the past is also condition of its vitality in the future. He quoted the poet Piotr Skarga: 'This old oak tree has grown in such a way and has not been knocked down by any wind,because its root is in Christ'. Two visions of Polish society confront each other, and the visit dramatises the contrast.
But contrast does not mean provocation, and the church in Poland has done everything in its power to prevent the mass meetings turning into demonstrations. Sermons on the previous Sunday stressed that the welcome to the Pope should remain a. dignified affair. The emphasis was on discipline and self-restraint. No alcohol could be bought the day before the Pope arrived. Ten thousand volunteer marshalls organised by the Church were made responsible for public order — an unprecedented event in a Communist country. They enabled the police and the army to remain in the background, for the most part invisibly. The Church was put on its honour. Even so, there has been emotion and electricity in the air. The psychological effect of the election of a Polish Pope, breaking the 455. years of Italian dominance, has been great. It has given a great boost to Polish morale generally, and to the Church in particular. Since the election of John Paul II on 16 October there has been a growing demand for news about the Vatican and a revival of interest in religious affairs. Polish churches have been more crowded than ever. There is evidence of a religious revival, especially among the Young. The Papacy has always been important in Poland. 'It is the highest office open to a human being', said a Warsaw Philosopher, 'It means so much more than ten US presidents or five Czars of Russia or two Queens of England. He is the highest moral authority in the world'. The historical comparisions may seem a little quaint, but they make the point. And if this unimaginable office is held by a Pole, then one can easily understand the impact on popular morale. If, moreover, history is seen in terms of the unfolding of some providential design, then the impact is even greater. The Pope himself has pondered this question. In his sermon in Victory Square, Warsaw, last Saturday, he raised it directly. Why, precisely, a Polish Pope? he asked. 'Have we not the right to think?' he answered. 'That one must come again to this very place, to this land, along this road, in order to read again the witness of Christ's Cross and Resurrection?'
This was a question, not an infallible pronouncement. But nothing will shift the Poles from their deep conviction that all the sufferings of their history, the partitions and exterminations, have now been compensated for. It was a theme dear to the romantic poets of the 19th Century. Both Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki believed that the history of Poland could be read in the light of Christ's passion. The Poles kept faith with hope, and their faith has now been rewarded. Slowacki even predicted that a Slav Pope would occupy the See of Saint Peter in the 20th Century. He would be so much tougher than all those timorous Italians, and contribute to a new international order based on justice.
The personality of John Paul II gives added force to these somewhat dubious theological considerations. He has been philosopher, poet, worker, pastor, actor, orator, sportsman. He appeals to all classes and categories of the nation. He is not lacking in courage. He has a way with crowds. This could all be seen in his sermon during the mass in Victory Square last Saturday afternoon. With the diplomatic niceties safely out of the way, he could let his heart speak, and the crowd responded as though at last liberated for joy. The crucial passage in his sermon came when he said that Christ was the key to the understanding of man and his history, and in particular of Polish history. 'Therefore,' he said, his voice rising passionately, 'Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any latitude or longitude of geography. The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man'. In a country where education, from the nursery school to the university, is supposed to inculcate atheism, this was a direct challenge, and the crowd sensed it immediately. The sermon was interrupted for nearly ten minutes. First there was prolonged applause, that was restarted in sections of the crowd just as it seemed to .be dying away. Then spontaneous singing broke out. And finally there was a sustained chant of 'We want god, we want god', backed up by rhythmic clapping. Victory Square can never have seen anything like this before. The Pope did nothing to encourage or discourage the demonstration of feeling. He simply let it happen, his head tilted to the left.
After that he touched all the right chords. If we reject the key of Christ, he said, we no longer understand ourselves. Surveying from his vantage point in the centre of Victory Square the rebuilt city, he went on: 'It is impossible to understand this city, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, that undertook in 1944 an unequal battle against the aggressor, a battle in which it was abandoned by the allied powers, a battle in which it was buried under its own ruins— if it is not remembered that under those same ruins there was also the statue of Christ the Saviour that is in front of the church of Krakowskie Prezedmiescie'. The image of Christ surviving destruction was pursued for more immediate relevance. Christ is 'an ever-open book on man, his dignity, and his rights, and also a book of knowledge on the dignity and rights of the nation'.
The temporary altar and the crash barriers in Victory Square were removed immediately after the ceremony. The huge plain Cross with its flapping red stole was no more. The yellow and gold Papal flags disappeared. It was as though everything was being done to erase the visit to Warsaw from the memory. But whatever happens during the remainder of this visit, the extraordinary first day spent by the Pope in Warsaw will be unforgettable. It has changed the situation in ways no one can quite predict: but that something has changed is certain.
Previous page
