204 Chronicle

"we are prepared to suffer with them", On 23 February Kazimierz 8witon, the rather than giving admonitions on how they founder of the Silesian Free Trade Unions, (the actors for instance) should cooperate was detained inside the church by the police with the regime. in Katowice during a service for the victims On 16 December Glemp and of martial law . This is regarded in as Archbishop D~mbrowski, the secretary of an unprecedented transgression of church the Polish Episcopate, sent a letter to the autonomy. Lech Wal't;sa, who was to attend Marszal'ek Sejmu (Speaker of Parliament) the service, was prevented from coming. criticising the new bill which, in exchange On 23-24 December, in a communique for suspending martial law , imposes tighter issued after a two-day plenary conference, conditions on the population. "The concept the Polish said: "Society expects of tying workers to their factory, reminis­ that at least some of the urgent social prob­ cent of feudal serfdom, is particularly unac­ lems of our country will be settled before ceptable," said the bishops. They dismissed the [Pope's] visit. An amnesty is generally the bill as pretentious, because the lifting of expected for those sentenced after the im­ martial law was replaced by equally repres­ position of martial law. Full social justice sive measures, such as a new regulation for all citizens is also expected." allowing for dismissal of anyone who "sows The 8th National Congress of the "Oasis" social unrest". renewal movement took place from 25-28 The Krak6w Solidarity Bulletin, pub­ February in the Jasna G6ra Monastery at lished underground, reported on 3 Decem­ Czt;stochowa. Cardinal" Glemp sent a ber that the police stations have been given letter to Fr Franciszek Blachnicki, the foun­ the task of preparing lists of "extremists" der of the movement, blessing the particip­ among the priests but these were to exclude ants. The movement and Fr Blachnicki the names of those working with bishops in himself have come under strong attack from diocesan offices. Also the priests working in the authorities. To counteract this the con­ large urban parishes or professors at ference of the Polish Episcopate expressed Catholic seminaries were to be excluded as its support for "Oasis". they would be able to attract popular On 21 March Henryk Jablbriski, Chair­ support. man of the Council of State, formally The Press Office of the Polish Episcopate invited Pope John Paul 11 to visit Poland issued a strong protest against an article by from 16 to 22 June. Two days later details of Jerzy Urban, the government spokesman, the papal visit were announced: the Pope who in the weekly Tu i Teraz (Here and will visit Warsaw, Niepokalan6w, Czt;sto­ Now) No. 5,1983 used such words as "filth" chowa, Poznan, St Anna's Mountain, or "anti-semitic" when describing the work Wroclaw, Pit;kary Sl~kie and Krak6w. of the recently canonised martyr, Fr Kolbe. Leaders of the underground Solidarity According to Polish television 390 new movement have said they would not organ­ churches are under construction in Poland, ise any demonstrations during the Pope's which represents an enormous increase in visit. tIthe permits given to the Church. Between TADEUSZ KADENACY 1971-81, for instance, only 1,072 permits were given, mainly to reconstruct or extend the existing churches or chapels, while hardly any new Catholic churches were "Archbishop Glemp was created Cardinal allowed to be built. on 5 January: see p. 205 - Ed.

New Cardinals in Eastern Europe

On 5 January this year 18 new cardinals appointment was not unexpected), Joachim from various countries were nominated by Meisner of East , Franjo Kuharic Pope John Paul 11. Four of them were from of Yugoslavia, and most surprisingly, Eastern Europe: Jazef Glemp (whose Julijiins Vaivods of . Chronicle 205 laze! Glemp . After receiving his red biretta in F~brua~y Mgr J6zef Glemp's nomination as t~e 2~th in the Polish Church of St Stamslas m Polish Cardinal was the natural culmmatlOn Rome Cardinal Glemp spoke of the of his nomination by Cardinal Wyszynski ~o spiritu~l freedom which the Church in be his successor as Primate of Poland m Poland must be seen to offer: the Church 1981. At 54, he is one of the younger wanted to bring people closer to Christ nominees and also, among the four East and to give them inner freedom. * Europeans, the one burdened with the most loachim Meisner Some comparisons can be drawn b~twe~n daunting immediate tasks. The example .set Cardinal Glemp and the new Cardmal m by his great predecessor is both challengmg the German Democratic Republic, and inspiring. Joachim Meisner. Of similar age (Meisner Glemp's closeness to Wyszynski over the years (he compared their relationship to was born in 1933), both belong to the gener­ ation of priests who have served entirely that of father and son) should stand him in under communist regimes. Meisner's voca­ good stead to "take up his inhe~tance and tion, however, was a later one; he worked in increase it" as the Pope urged hIm to do on banking for some years before entering a the occasion of his receiving his Cardinal's seminary, and was ordained at in red biretta in February. One such "in­ 1962. His subsequent rise to the rank of crease" already indicated is Glemp's Cardinal was rapid; by 1966 he was director move towards ecumenical cooperation by of the Church's social work in the diocese, meeting members of the Polish Ecumeni­ and in 1973 he was consecrated its suffragan cal Council, a step never taken by Wys­ . He was appointed Bishop of Berlin zynski. Having worked as Wyszynski's on the death of Cardinal Bengsch in 1980. personal secretary from 1967 (only 11 The new East German Cardinal's years after his own ordination) Catholic Church immense problems of church-state rela­ in made a studied and con-· tions in Poland. He shared Wyszynski's tinuous effort to eschew involvement in interest in the 19th-century history of the Polish Church a·nd the intricate connec­ p~litical discussion or activity and to ~void tion between patriotism and Catholicism doing or saying anything that would Imply that the GDR Catholics could. be drawn which contributes largely to the extent of into the sphere of influence of the Party. the Church's influence, and therefore its They even refrained from making pro­ responsibility, in Poland at the present nouncements on social issues such as the time. Now, after more than a year of martial law, he still faces the difficult task growing peace movement. U.ntil ~ery of channelling the energies of popular recently, although Roman Cathohcs as I~~I­ viduals had been involved in the )InoffICIal nationalism into the service ofthe Church. peace movement alongside Pr~testants, no He has spoken many times in his sermons representative of the church h.lerar~~y had agai~st the use of violence and although frequently emphasising the need for made a public statement of theIr posItIon on the issue. However, the bishops' pastoral dialogue between Churc~ and State.' ~as letter of January of this year represented a also expressed his intention of aVOldmg significant change in the Catholic attitude, political confrontation with th~ regime. His attitude is not merely negative, how­ indicating a more definite stance. t It advo­ cated controlled disarmament . and an ever as can be seen from many statements mad~ to the Polish press and from his ser­ official alternative to army service for con­ mons. "The mission of the Church is to scientious objectors and objected to mili- tary training in.. schools. .. wield indirect influence on ~ociety through presenting true values. . . the It is not yet clear whether thIS ne,"' Church will try to show what is objectively approach is connected with the l~adershlp good and objectively true, so that man, of Cardinal Meisner and whether mcreased who is the child of God, would seek outspokenness will extend to other issues. primarily the superior good." (Zycie ·See RCL Vo!. 9, Nos. 3-4, pp. 99-100 for a Warszawy, 10 July 1981). He has. had portrait of Archbishop Glemp - Ed. strong words for the injustices co.m~l1tte? tThe text of the pastoral letter is given on under martial law and the restnctlons It pp. 214-7-Ed. has placed on human rights and freedoms. 206 Chronicle

Franjo Kuharic of eleven political prisoners which had been The new Cardinal in Yugoslavia, Franjo signed by more than forty Zagreb intellec­ Kuharic (born in 1919) was ordained in 1945 tuals, including three well-known priests. In and thus belongs to the generation ofYugo­ 1982 Kuharic declined to attend the tradi­ slav priests who began their ministry just as tional New Year reception given by the the Tito government took over and never President of the Croatian Parliament. had the opportunity to study abroad. In the eyes of the Yugoslav authorities Kuharic was not the preferred candidate for Appointed to a parish as soon as he had finished his training at the theological semi­ Cardinal, and it is reliably reported that they made it clear to the Vatican that they nary in Zagreb, his experience was exclu­ would prefer either Archbishop Turk of sively as a parish priest, and it is for his Belgrade, a Slovene who has spent almost eloquent preaching and pastoral skills that all his career in the OrthQ(jox parts of the he is best known and loved. In 1964 he was country, or Archbishop Sustar of Ljubl­ appointed one of the assistant bishops of jana, also a Slovene, who was studying out­ Zagreb and in 1970 became Archbishop of side the country in 1945 and made his career Zagreb and president of the Bishops' Con­ in Switzerland and was secretary of the ference in succession to the late Cardinal European Bishops' conference. It is not dif­ Seper. ficult to see why Sustar and Turk appealed One of KuhariC's most difficult tasks has to the authorities: Turk is close at hand in been, and will be, to sustain the unity of the Belgrade and detached from Croatian Catholic Church in Yugoslavia. He has nationalism, and Sustar's horizons are been surrounded by a group of theologians European. There is no doubt, however, and philosophers whose thinking is con­ that Kuharic is more representative of siderably more "progressive" than his own Yugoslav Catholicism than either of them. but has until recently sheltered them and Although official response to the appoint­ defended their right to speak and publish. ment, as expressed in a Yugoslav daily, Recently there was a sharp quarrel between claimed that under him the Roman Catholic this group (who formed themselves into an Church has remained in essence "ideo­ officially-registered "self-managing" theo­ logically conservative, turned towards the logical association called Contemporary past and clerically militant", it also admits Christianity) and the Bishops' Conference that the Archbishop of Zagreb has made a who feared they were escaping from epis­ considerable contribution to good relations copal control.' Such issues are grist to the between Church and State in Yugoslavia. mill of the authorities, who have in the past ,attempted to isolate Kuharic by painting him as a representative of a "conservative" Juiijiins Vaivods or "militant" faction in the clergy. One The most surprising of the four East Euro­ cause of this has been his impassioned pean nominations was that of Julijans defence of the late Cardinal Stepinac (who Vaivods, Apostolic Administrator of Riga was imprisoned after the war after a show­ and Liepaja dioceses in Latvia. He is not 'ltrial for alleged collaboration with the only the first-ever Latvian Cardinal, but fascist ustaSa government); every year also the first Soviet citizen ever to reach this Kuharic celebrates a special mass on the rank in the Catholic Church. Since Vaivods anniversary of the death of Stepinac and in is 87 years old, his appointment is honorary, 1981 he made an impassioned plea for his as Cardinals are entitled to vote only up to rehabilitation and a re-examination of the the age of eighty. Nevertheless his appoint­ case. t For many months this issue was the ment is not only a personal tribute, but an basis of bitter confrontation between the acknowledgement by the Vatican of the Church and the authorities. It has not b,een tenacity qf the Latvian Catholic Church, the the only point of friction betwfl:en Kuharic credit for which is due in no small part to and the government leaders, who were Vaivods himself. angered, for example, when in his Christ­ Immediately before the 1917 revolution, mas sermon in 1980 the Archbishop in­ Vaivods studied at the St Petersburg seini­ directly endorsed a petition for the release nary, which was closed under Stalin in the 1920s. When he was ordained parish priest 'The controversy is described on pp. 200-2 of the main Latvian Marian shrine at -Ed. Aglona in 1918, there were about half a tSee RCL Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 87-8-Ed. million Catholics in Latvia. During the pre- Chronicle 207 war years, while Latvia remained an inde­ erosion of numbers, the Catholic Church pendent country, Vaivods wrote several has had fewer losses in Latvia than the theological works and gained a reputation former majority denomination, the Latvian as a compelling preacher. (Despite his age Lutheran Church: 173 of the 200 Catholic he still draws large crowds to the annual churches which existed before the war are pilgrimage to Aglona - last year seventy still open. thousand people went to the shrine.) In . What makes Vaivod's nomination sur­ 1940 Vaivods was appointed Vicar-General prising is that the Pope might have been ex­ of the diocese of Liepaja, and by 1947 he pected to choose a representative of the was one of the highest-ranking clergymen Catholic hierarchy in Lithuania, where left in Latvia; three bishops had been forced Catholicism is the majority denomination. to leave with the retreating Germans, Two factors have prevented this. The first is Bishop Springovies was old and ill, and an the strong bond linking Catholicism with auxiliary bishop Dulbinskis consecrated by Lithuanian patriotism, which has always Springovics in 1947 was imprisoned in 1948. made it a target of the Soviet authorities. Vaivods was therefore one of those respon­ Secondly, the obvious candidate for sible for holding the Catholic Church Cardinal is Archbishop Steponavicius, who together in Latvia during the 1940s and is still unable to carry out his duties as 1950s, until he was himself imprisoned in bishop since his appointment in 1955 has 1958, for disseminating unofficial religious never been recognised by the Soviet literature. After his release in 1961, he was authorities. (It is widely believed that the appointed rector of the Cathedral in Rlga, Pope has appointed SteponaviCius Cardinal and a year Iater became Vicar-General of "in pectore".) To appoint a Lithuanian Rlga diocese. In 1964 he was able to travel Cardinal, therefore, would mean appa­ to Rome to be consecrated bishop and rently attempting to provoke the Soviet Apostolic Administrator of both dioceses. government, and thus jeop!lrdising the In practice his position was equivalent to already difficult situation of Catholics in that of Archbishop. Lithuania. The Pope's choice of a Latvian Vaivods has been remarkably successful Cardinal, .therefore, is a tribute to the in preserving the numbers of Catholic tenacity under exceptionally difficult cir­ churches and believers in Latvia, while cumstances of Catholics in the Baltic avoiding both unprincipled cooperation region. with the Soviet authorities and outright con­ CAROLYN BURCH flict. Despite confiscation of churches and An Interview with the new Latvian Cardinal

Last February, Mg~ Julijiins Vaivods nal has great meaning for my small country: became the first-ever Latvian Cardinal (see since the establishment of the Church in abo'le for background). The Soviet authori­ Latvia we have never had a Cardinal. and ties allowed him to visit Rome to be invested this important fact may make our govern­ as cardinal, and while there he gave the fol­ ment respect the Catholic community lowing interview to a journalist, Gianni more. It is clear that so far practically Varani. It was published in 30 giorni, No. I, nothing has changed. Much will depend on March. 1983, and a Russian translation our behaviour, as I have already said. appeared in Religiya i Ateizm v SSSR, May Q~ . But surely now Catholics in the 1983. Soviet Union have someone to look up to Q. Your Eminence! Your elevation to the and unite around? post of Cardinal undoubtedly means a great A. I think that it will especially serve to deal to the Church in Latvia and the Soviet unite Latvians, going beyond denomina­ Union. In your opinion, could it change the tional barriers. Perhaps you know that the position of believers in your country to any head of the Latvian Lutheran Church in extent? . exile has thanked the Pope for apPointing A; In my opinion the legal status has me. not changed in any way. I was and still Q. Could you tell us about the most dif­ remain Apostolic Administrator of the Riga ficult and the happiest tiines in your life? diocese. However, my elevation to Cardi- A. The most difficult was undoubtedly