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Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II: the First Papal Pilgrimage to Poland, June 1979

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Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II: the First Papal Pilgrimage to Poland, June 1979 Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II: The First Papal Pilgrimage to Poland, June 1979 By Kira Noble Senior Seminar: HST 499 Professor John L. Rector Western Oregon University May 28, 2010 Readers Professor David Doellinger Professor Kimberly Jensen Copyright © Kira Noble, 2010 Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II 1 Kira Noble Peace and the drawing together of peoples can be achieved only on the principle of respect for the objective rights of the nation, such as: the right to existence, to freedom, to be a social and political subject, and also to the formation of its own culture and civilization. Pope John Paul II June 2, 1979 In October 1978, Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II and made a pilgrimage home that strengthened Polish nationalism and the outlined the need for social justice in Poland. Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 served as a unifying platform for the Polish nation. Through his speeches Pope John Paul II bolstered Polish unity against Soviet occupation by emphasizing the themes of nationalism and social justice. The Pope drew on the deep roots of Polish Catholicism and linked national identity with Polish religious heritage. Arguably one of the most influential figures of Central Europe, John Paul II came to Poland in June 1979 as the first Polish Pope in history. The fact that he was the first Polish Pope and gave speeches that united citizens with their religion and with their nation certainly ripened the atmosphere for unified dissent. John Paul II’s pilgrimage brought out a vital truth, Poland was not a communist country; Poland was a Catholic nation saddled with a communist state.1 The Pope’s addresses clearly supported this interpretation; he repeatedly recalled his nation’s long history of Catholicism in addition to Poland’s long history of occupation. The role of the Catholic Church in Polish national identity and culture was an essential foundation for John Paul II’s 1979 pilgrimage. The birth of the Polish nation is traced to the baptism of Miezko in CE 966: the first Catholic ruler of Poland. From these origins the course of Polish history has been marked by the extension and protection of Catholicism as a national identity. Catholicism has deep roots in Polish culture with ninety percent of the population 1 George Wiegel, Witness to Hope: Biography of Pope John Paul II (New York: Cliff Street Books, 1999), 295. Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II 2 Kira Noble adhering to the faith. 2 In conjunction with a rich Catholic heritage, Polish history has been marked by occupation of foreign countries. The partition of Poland among Austria, Russia, and Prussia, from 1772 and 1795, served as a catalyst for the present strength of the Polish Catholic Church. The long-term occupation of Poland caused Polish national identity to be grounded in religion rather than statehood. During this time the Church was vital to sustaining a Polish national heritage and became a significant representation of Polish identity and opposition to foreign rule through religion.3 The oppositional stance that the Polish Church donned in the twentieth century was a direct response to the liberties the state had seized following World War II. With the implementation of Soviet-style communism was the growth of ecclesiastical advocacy for dissent and nationalism. In March 1950 the state abducted the majority of church’s holdings in land and livestock; an action that ensured that the church would not be seen as somehow part of the states authoritarian establishment. Civil unrest with the status quo of state-communism led protesting workers to march on party headquarters in Poznan in June 1956, they shouted, “We want God and bread.”4 The Catholic Church was the only link the authoritarian government had to the social atmosphere of the nation. Not forgotten by either entity was the position the Church took in 1956, when it accepted privileges from State Secretary Gomułka and defended him against the criticism of the revisionists. This compromise gave the Church in Poland a certain amount of autonomy unprecedented in the Soviet Bloc; not unlike the emergence of civil society within the Lutheran Church in the GDR. 2 Barbara Falk, Dilemmas of Dissidence in East Central Europe, (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2003), 18. 3 Sabrina P. Ramet, The Cross and the Commissar, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 132. 4 Ibid, 64. Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II 3 Kira Noble For some historians, John Paul II’s emphasis on national identity aided in the renewal of civil society in Poland and ultimately aided in the emergence of Solidarity. Civil society is the social existence of an intermediate sphere between society and public spheres in which citizens can participate in discourse and dissent.5 Several historians assert that John Paul II aided in the Polish organization of civil society—the space in society for opposition to the Polish Party State. Civil Society is the social existence of an alternative social sphere creating; in this case, the foundational structure in which citizens could dissent.6 Into the late 1970s, the Church became the primary vehicle for social opposition in Poland. The Church defended the “flying university”, an underground education opportunity that skirted governmental control. Locations of the university’s lectures would be rescheduled at a moment’s notice to avoid the authorities. The lectures were led by sixty-two Polish scholars for students and intellectuals alike. In an atmosphere free of censorship, the “flying university” was able to provide an academic sphere where perspectives that were disapproved by the state could be debated and shared openly.7 The Church also maintained contacts with the Workers Defense Committee (KOR) that had been set up by a group of intellectuals who sought to voice the needs and concerns of the working class. KOR was intimately involved in representing working men and women’s needs and grievances to the party state. In their appeal to government in 1976 KOR essentially offered a warning to the authorities against continuing their policy of deliberate disregard for genuine social problems and against their evasion of the responsibility for solving these problems.8 KOR served as a legitimate section of Polish civil society because it provided a voice to the everyday concerns of the worker. Their admonition of the government and address 5 Falk, Dilemmas of Dissidence in East Central Europe, 315. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid, 42. 8 Jan Lipski, “KOR: A History of the Worker’s Defense Committee in Poland” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 474. Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II 4 Kira Noble of specific wrongs in society, such as the scarcity of food and the denial of workers right to strike, were adhered to in the Gdansk Agreement two years later in 1980. The Church in Poland also launched a sequence of “Days of Christian Culture,” which was a yearly event where citizens could grapple with historical and cultural questions. This Church sponsored event included lectures, concerts, poetry readings, films, art exhibits, and informal discussion groups.9 In the years preceding John Paul II’s 1979 visit the role of the Catholic Church in Polish society had been steadily increasing. Not only was there a broadening of the public reached by the Clubs of Catholic Intellectuals (KIK), the periodical Wiez and the Krakow monthly Tygodnik Powszechny; now, the Catholic Church had elected a Polish Pope.10 Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was well known for his advocacy of human dignity and his association with the Polish workers’ movement. Indeed, after the arrest of KOR activists in 1977, both Primate Wyszynski and then- Archbishop Karol Wojtyla addressed the issue openly in sermons criticizing the repression of those defending human rights and privately intervened with authorities on behalf of KOR. The question lingered in October 1978, would this guardian of human rights carry these ideals into the highest office of the Church? The Catholic Church in Poland had a traditional role in defending truth, standing up for human freedom and dignity, by encouraging independent thought and nonconformity. Assuredly, these were the kinds of sentiments marked in John Paul II’s speeches in June of 1979. His remarks were calculated as he linked the pivotal role of the Church in Polish national identity to the social atmosphere of the nation. The context of his nine day jubilee tour included some of the most historic figures and symbols of his homeland. The Polish Party State, the one-party system implemented by the Soviet Union, was opposed to Pope John Paul’s journey and postponed his arrival to Poland 9 Ramet, Cross and Commissar, 65. 10 Alain Touraine, Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983),36. Nationalism, Human Rights and John Paul II 5 Kira Noble which was to coincide with the celebration of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus on May 8, 1979. Edward Gierek, Poland’s Head of State foresaw the symbolic impact his visit would have. The Pope had intentionally planned his visit during the celebration of Saint Stanislaus’ martyrdom. This celebration commemorated the nine-hundredth anniversary of St. Stanislaus the historic bishop and martyr of Poland. Not only did John Paul II’s speeches include an incredible amount of symbolic imagery; the locations of his speeches augmented the purpose and meaning of his words. John Paul II gave forty-seven public presentations and twenty-one speeches over the course of his nine day tour.11 The audience of his speeches varied. He addressed the Ecclesiastical Community in Warsaw, which was comprised of the primate, cardinals and bishops of the Polish Catholic Church; the Public Authorities, such as Edward Gierek, the Secretary of the Polish Party State and other high ranking party officials; the general Polish citizenry and much of the western world were his audience through radio and television broadcasts.
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