John Paul II (1920-2005) ‘Man connects his deeper human identity with belonging to the nation, and he also understands his work as a multiplication of the common good worked out by his countrymen, realizing that this work is used to multiply the achievements of the whole human family, all people living in the world’ The Encyclical of John Paul II, ‚Laborem exercens’, 14 September 1981. ‘There is a basic sovereignty of society, which is expressed in the culture of the Nation. At the same time, it is the sovereignty by which man is the most sovereign.’ Speech of John Paul II to the representatives of the world of culture, church of St. Cross in Warsaw, 13 June 1987. Holy Mass at Zaspa in Gdańsk with the participation of John Paul II during his third pilgrimage to Poland. Among the faithful there are numerous flags and banners with the inscription ‘Solidarity’, 8 June 1987. AIPN Photo: Wojtek Łaski/East News Photo: Laski Diffusion/East News Karol Wojtyła with his mother Emilia, 1920. Karol Wojtyła with his father Karol, an officer of the Polish Army, 1926. Youth Karol Wojtyła was born in Wadowice on 18 May 1920. His moth- er, Emilia, died when he was 9 years old. From that time the boy was brought up by his father Karol, an officer of the Austrian army, and later of the Polish Army, a participant in the war of 1920. Karol’s brother Edmund, who was 14 years older, became a doctor. At the age of 26, he was infected with scarlet fever and died. ‘My boyhood and youthful years,’ recalled the Pope, ‘were Kassociated primarily with the figure of my father, whose spiritual life deepened greatly after the terrible loss of his wife and elder son. I looked closely at his life, I saw how much he would demand from himself, I saw him kneel to pray.’ In September 1930, Karol Wojtyła began his studies at the Marcin Wadowita State High School for Boys in Wadowice. He was a very good student. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of language and Polish literature as well as history. He then began performing for the school theatre. His interest in acting led him to undertake Polish studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University in 1938. 2 The outbreak of World War II became a turning point for Karol Wojtyła, as for many other Poles of his generation. ‘The day of 1 September 1939 particularly stuck in my mind. It was the first Friday of the month,’ he recalled. ‘I came to Wawel to confess. The cathedral was empty. It was probably the last time I could enter it freely. It was later closed, and the royal castle in Wawel became the seat of General Governor Hans Frank.’ After the ar- rest of the professors and the closure of the university, the young student, in order to avoid deportation to forced labour in the Third Reich, first worked in 1940 ina quarry associated with the Cracow chemical factory Solvay and later in a water purification plant. He described his experiences from this place in one of the poems: ... and in me the thought is growing, it grows day by day, that all the greatness of this work is inside of man. A hard, cracked palm otherwise rises up, The human thought dissolves differently in stone–When you release the human energies from the forces of the stone and cut in the right place–an artery full of blood. John Paul II, Gift and Mystery, Cracow 1996 At the end of 1940, Karol was sworn in as a member of the underground Christian Dem- ocratic Union. On 18 February 1941, his father died after a long illness. In the autumn of 1941, Mieczysław Kotlarkowski founded the Rhapsodic Theatre in Cracow, which put on plays in private homes. In the inaugural performance The Spirit King by Juliusz Słowacki Karol played the King Bolesław Śmiały. At that time, his vocation for the clergy also matured. He entered the secret Met- ropolitan Seminary in Cracow in the autumn of 1942. At the same time, he took up studies at the underground Faculty of Theology of the Jagiello- nian University. He worked, passed subsequent exams and got to know his spiritual guides, includ- ing Archbishop Adam S. Sapieha and Father Jan Piwowarczyk, one of the most prominent priests associated with the Christian-Democratic circles. Photo: Laski Diffusion/East News Karol Wojtyła on the day of his First Holy Communion, Wadowice, May 1929. 3 Life in the priesthood After the occupation of Cracow by the Red Army, in January 1945 Karol Wojtyła resumed his seminary studies and continued his theological studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Jagielloni- an University. He was also involved in social work. He became the vice-president of the Brotherly Help (Polish: Bratnia Pomoc). In this capacity, he became one of the people responsible for the course of the great patriotic demonstration of academics on 3 May A1946, during which a brutal attack of law enforcement agencies took place along with the subsequent arrest of selected students by the Security Office. At that time, Karol Wojtyła,a reverend and student at the Jagiellonian University, was first noticed by the se- curity police. In the same year, on All Saints’ Day, Karol Wojtyła was ordained as a priest by Cardinal Adam S. Sapieha. At the end of November he went to Rome to continue his studies at the Dominican Department of the Theological Faculty of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas of Aquinas (Angelicum). The haste was, as it turned out, justified, because as early as next year, the state authorities stopped issuing permits for travels to young priests and clerics allowing them to study in the Vatican. In Rome, Karol Wojtyła lived in the Belgium College. ‘I attend- ed lectures at the Angelicum, stopping by the Jesuit Church of Saint Andrew’s at the Quirinal, housing the relics of St. Stanisław Father Karol Wojtyła as a vicar in his first parish in Niegowić, 1949. Photo: Laski Diffusion/East News 4 Kostka,’ the young priest wrote. ‘I remember that among the visitors to his grave there were many Germanicum seminari- ans, who could be easily recognized by their red cassocks.’ In the heart of Chris- tianity and in the light of the tradition of saints, nations met and, ris- ing above the tragedy of war that had deep- ly touched us, we saw Photo: Laski Diffusion/East News the beginning of a united world.’ Remaining abroad, while com- Father Karol Wojtyła, munism in Poland was already wreaking havoc on the minds of called by the youth ‚Uncle’, during a canoeing trip the nation, had a very positive effect on the young priest, stimu- to Masuria, 1950s. lating his natural talents, including artistic and linguistic ones. In the summer he visited Western Europe with its great Christian heritage. He met, for example, the priest of the Polish Catholic Mission in Charleroi in Belgium, and learned of the problems that the Church was experiencing at that time, such as the issue of worker priests in France. After two years of studies, in 1948 crowned with the title of doctor of theology for his work devoted to the issues of faith in the works of Saint John of the Cross, Karol Wojtyła returned to his country. In 1949, after a few months of ministry in the parish in Niegowić, he was transferred to the par- ish of St. Florian in Cracow, where he carried out pastoral care of doctors and academics (with breaks, until 1958). Over the years, he travelled with students to the mountains and off the beaten track, and inspired by one of them–Jerzy Ciesielski–he rowed on the Masurian lakes. The young priest was also developing academically. In 1953 he received a postdoctoral degree and the title of Associate Pro- fessor of the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University. After the liquidation of the faculty in 1954, he transferred to the Catholic University of Lublin, where in time another group of his students was formed. He taught, educated and wrote articles, poems, dramas and more major works, such as Love and Re- sponsibility published in 1960. The bibliography of his academic works until 1978 includes 435 items. 5 Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal Due to his activity in many circles, Wojtyła quickly became an object of interest for the Security Service. The Security Service collected detailed information, among others, about his secular friends (Wanda and Andrzej Półtawski, Irena Kinaszewska and others), his views, and even living conditions. ‘How often does he shave and what cosmetics does he use, or does he carry some documents from home to the office, at what time does he have Dlunch, in whose company ...’ – these are just some of the issues investigated by the secret police in Cracow at the end of the six- ties which were discussed with the network of secret collaborators observing Wojtyła. During the two decades of his priestly life in the People’s Republic of Poland (1958-1978) a large group of secu- rity agents focused on him and the circle of the Cracow Catholic Intellectual Club and ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ with which he was associated–including, among others, a priest named Władysław Kulczycki (‘Żagielowski’, and other aliases) and Tadeusz Nowak (‘Ares’), including a curia employee and a long-time administrative director of the Social Publishing Institute ‘Znak’. The surveillance of Karol Wojtyła grew as his career soared. Archbishop, metropolitan On 4 July 1958, at the age of 38, he was appointed the young- of Cracow Karol Wojtyła est bishop of the Archdiocese of Cracow in the Polish Episco- at the millennium celebrations in Tum, 11 June 1967.