Memory and Identity - Conversations at Dawn of Millennium 2005922009

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MEMO RY AND

IDENTITY

CONVERSATIONS AT THE DAWN OF A MILLENNIUM

POPE JOHN PAUL 1r

II

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co:-.;VERSATIO�S AT THE DAW� 0 F A :11 I L L E 1' N I U :11

P

OPE JOHN PAUL

JI

has experienced the impact of political developments in the

twentieth century on a spiritual, political, and philosophical level, and carries a unique perspective on global events and changes. Yet none of his books have gone beyond the religious realm. Now, in Memory and Identity, John Paul I I expresses his views on the political world today and addresses some of history's most important political subjects and questions. Conducted as a question-and-answer discussion with two of his philosopher friends, this book is a historical and philosophical meditation on freedom and its limits. He speaks about the ideas of homeland and nation, shares his views on democracy, and warns of the dan­ gers of the divisive new forms of atheism, consumerism, and materialism. Most of all, Memory and Identity offers an extraordinary message of peace and hope in the salvation of humankind.

MEMORY AND IDENTITY Conversations at the

Dawn

of a Millennium

Pope John Paul

'jRlZZOLI \jNEW YORK

II

published in the United States of America in 2005 by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

500 Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10010 www.r://

The

^

com

original title of the

Pamiec

i

wor>

Rozmowy na

to/

przelomie

tysiacleci

© 2005 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano © 2005 RCS Libri S.p.A-, Mik Originally published in Italian in 2005 by

RCS

Libri S.p.A.

-Rizzoli, Milan

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be

reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or oth

prior consent of the publisher

2005 2006 2007 2008

/

10

987654321

O-8478-2761-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005922009

Printed and

bound

in the

United States

hout

CONTENTS THE LIMIT IMPOSED UPON EVIL 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

mysterium iniquitatis: the coexistence of good and evil

3

ideologies of evil

5

the limit imposed upon evil in european history redemption as the divine limit imposed upon evil the mystery of redemption redemption: victory given as a task to man

FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY 7.

8.

9.

10.

1

TOWARD A JUST USE OF FREEDOM FREEDOM IS FOR LOVE THE LESSONS OF RECENT HISTORY THE MYSTERY OF MERCY

h yj

23

2j

31

33

39 4S 51

VI

CONTENTS

THINKING MY COUNTRY (NATIVE

LAND— NATION— state)

57

11.

ON THE CONCEPT OF PATRIA (NATIVE LAND)

59

12.

PATRIOTISM

65

13.

THE CONCEPT OF NATION

69

14.

HISTORY

73

15.

NATION AND CULTURE

79

THINKING EUROPE

(POLAND— EUROPE— CHURCH) 16. 17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

EUROPE AS "NATIVE LAND" THE EVANGELIZATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE THE POSITIVE FRUITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

89

91

101

107 115

CHURCH AND STATE

119

EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER CONTINENTS

123

democracy: possibilities

and

risks

127

22.

MODERN DEMOCRACY

129

23.

BACK TO EUROPE?

137

CONTENTS 24. 25.

THE MATERNAL MEMORY OF THE CHURCH THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN HISTORY

EPILOGUE 26.

Vll

147

153

157

"SOMEONE MUST HAVE GUIDED THAT BULLET"

159

NOTES

169

EDITORIAL NOTE

The twentieth century witnessed decisive

change in the

nations,

and

citizens. It

is

and

political

marked

a

social situation of entire

significantly influenced the destinies of individual

now sixty years

the world in a tragic until 1945.

historical events that

since the

end of the war that engulfed

drama of destruction and death from

1939

Subsequent years saw the spread of Communist dicta-

torship into several Central

and Eastern European nations and the

growth of Marxist ideology

in other parts of Europe, Africa, Latin

America, and Asia. Sadly, the opening years of the twenty-first century have been clouded by the spread of terrorism on a global scale: the

destruction of the

vides the

most

in

New York pro-

fail

to see in these

World Trade Center

striking example.

How

can we

events the active presence of the mysterium iniquitatis7 .

Alongside

The

evil,

however, there has been

much

that

good.

is

dictatorships established behind the "iron curtain" did not

extinguish the yearning for liberty on the part of the oppressed peoples. In Poland, despite

union movement known lying

call,

government opposition, the trade

as Solidarnosc

was formed.

which found echoes elsewhere. Then came

has passed into history as the year

when

It

1989,

the Berlin Wall

ing to the rapid collapse of the decades-old

was

a ral-

which

fell,

lead-

Communist regimes

MEMORY AND IDENTITY in Central

and Eastern Europe. The twentieth century

nessed the attainment of independence by ously under colonial rule. pressures

and

many

also wit-

nations previ-

New states came to birth, and whatever

restrictions they

the freedom to choose their

may still experience, they now enjoy

own

destiny. Since the

Second World

War, various international organizations have been estabished with the task of promoting the peace and security of peoples. These agencies are committed to working for a

more

equitable distribu-

tion of the world's resources, for the protection of the rights of individuals,

and

for the recognition of the legitimate aspirations

of different social groups. Finally, mention should be birth

and subsequent growth of the European Union.

The

life

of the Church has also witnessed eventful changes

that have inspired significant

and

also,

one hopes,

growth and renewal for the present

for the future of the People of

these events, pride of place

must

surely go to the

Council (1962-1965) and to the various

the great missionary outreach, the inter- religious dialogue, to

Among

Second Vatican

new pastoral

commitment

to

agencies,

ecumenism

mention only the more important

among them. And let us not underestimate the ecclesial benefits that followed

God.

initiatives that followed:

the liturgical reform, the establishment of

and

made of the

great spiritual

and

from the celebration of the Great

Jubilee of the Year 2000.

A significant witness of all these developments is Pope John Paul II. He

experienced firsthand the dramatic and heroic events of his

own

country, Poland, to which he remains deeply attached. In

recent decades he has also played a leading role

then as a Bishop, and

ments

book

now as Pope

in the history of

offers

—

in

—

first as

many important

a priest,

develop-

Europe and of the whole world. This

an insight into

his experiences

and the

fruit

of his

EDITORIAL NOTE reflections,

born amid so much

power of good ultimately

belief that the

ment of various

on present

roots of what

is

in his firm

prevails. In his assess-

aspects of current affairs expressed in a series of

"conversations at the reflected

grounded

evil, yet

XI

dawn of a millennium," the Holy realities in the light

happening now, so

Father has

of the past, seeking the

as to offer his contemporaries,

both individuals and nations, the opportunity to arrive through

"memory" at

a keener awareness of their true "identity."

In writing this book, John Paul

II

returned to the main

themes of some conversations that took place in 1993 Gandolfo.

Two

Polish philosophers, Jozef Tischner

and Krzysztof

Michalski, founders of the Vienna-based Institute for

vom Menschen),

ences (Institut fur die Wissenschaften to

undertake a

critical analysis,

from a

historical

point of view, of the two dictatorships that

century Polish history: nazism and sations were recorded to

Human Sciinvited

him

and philosophical

marked twentieth-

communism. Those conver-

and subsequently transcribed. In returning

them now, the Holy Father has sought

tive

in Castel

to enlarge the perspec-

of the discussion. Beginning from these conversations, he has

gone further, setting the reflections result

is

in a

broader context. The

the present book, which addresses certain themes crucial

for the destiny of

mankind,

a

few years into the third millennium.

This book uses the literary form of a conversation, so that the reader tise

may more

easily appreciate that

it is

not an academic trea-

but an informal dialogue. While problems are considered

orously in search of appropriate solutions, no attempt

is

rig-

made

to

provide an exhaustive analysis. The questions in their present

form

are editorial.

tion, helping

hoped

him

They

to follow the

that everyone

to at least

are intended to engage the reader's atten-

who

Holy

reads this

some of the questions

Father's train of thought.

book

will find here

It is

answers

that he carries in his heart.

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

THE LIMIT IMPOSED UPON EVIL

1.

MYSTERIUM INIQUITATIS: THE COEXISTENCE OF

GOOD AND

EVIL

After the fall of the two powerful totalitarian systems which

overshadowed the whole of the twentieth century and were

— nazism Germany Union — seems

responsible for innumerable crimes

and

"real socialism' in the Soviet

in

that the

it

time has come for a reflection on their causes, their

and

especially

effects,

on the significance of the ideologies they

introduced into the history of mankind. Holy Father, what is

the

meaning of this great "eruption" of evil?

The twentieth century was, so to speak, the "theater" particular historical out, leading

solely

Is

it

Is this

—

it

also pro-

then, to consider

evil

which marked

especially in the

influence of the Enlightenment, has yielded is

but

not a rather one-sided approach? The

ern history of Europe, shaped

This

evil,

fair,

from the point of view of the

recent history?

which

and ideological processes were played

toward that great "eruption" of

vided the setting for their defeat.

Europe

in

many

West

its

mod-

—by the

positive fruits.

actually characteristic of evil, as understood

by Saint

MEMORY AND IDENTITY Thomas, following

in the tradition of Saint Augustine. Evil

always the absence of given being;

way

in

it is

which

a privation.

evil

Another mystery

by

evil

some good which ought It is

the element of

soil

of good

good which

and which keeps on growing despite

from the same

soil.

to be present in a

never a total absence of good. The

grows from the pure is

is

is

it,

(cf.

Mt

a mystery.

never destroyed

sometimes even

The Gospel parable of the good

weeds comes to mind immediately

is

and the

grain

13:24-30).

When

the

servants ask the householder:

"Do you want

them

highly significant: "No, for in gath-

[the weeds]?", his reply

ering the weeds

is

us to go and gather

you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let

both of them grow together until the harvest; and I

will tell the reapers, 'Collect the

weeds

first

at harvest

time

and bind them

bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into

my barn

"

in

(Mt 13:

29-30). In this case, the reference to the harvest points to the final

phase of history, the eschaton. This parable can serve as a key to the entire history of

mankind. In

different eras

and

in different ways,

alongside "weeds" and "weeds" alongside "wheat."

mankind even

is

the "theater" of the coexistence of

if evil exists

"wheat" grows

The

history of

good and

evil.

So

alongside good, good perseveres beside evil and

grows, so to speak, from the same

soil,

namely human nature.

This has not been destroyed, and has not become totally corrupt, despite original sin. Nature has retained

history confirms.

its

capacity for good, as

IDEOLOGIES OF EVIL

2.

How,

then, did the ideologies of evil originate?

roots

ofnazism and communism?

Why did

What are the

they fail?

These questions have a profound philosophical and theological significance.

of evil" in

its

We

need to reconstruct the "philosophy

European and extra-European dimensions. This

reconstruction will take us beyond the realm of ideology and into the world of faith.

We

need to consider the mystery of God, the

mystery of creation and, in particular, the mystery of man. In the first

few years of

my

ministry as Successor of Peter,

I

tried to

express these three mysteries through the encyclicals Redemptor

Hominis, Dives

in Misericordia,

and Dominum

et Vivificantem.

This triptych explores the Trinitarian mystery of God. Everything I

said in the encyclical

Redemptor Hominis

from Poland. Likewise, the cordia were the fruit of cially in

she

Krakow. That

is

who was chosen by

my

I

brought with

me

reflections offered in Dives in Miseri-

pastoral experience in Poland, espe-

where Saint Faustina Kowalska

is

buried,

Christ to be a particularly enlightened

interpreter of the truth of Divine Mercy. For Sister Faustina, this

truth led to an extraordinarily rich mystical

life.

She was a simple,

6

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

uneducated person, and yet those elations are

read the Diary of her rev-

astounded by the depth of her mystical experience.

mention

I

who

Sister Faustina

because her revelations, focused on

the mystery of Divine Mercy, occurred during the period preced-

World War. This was

ing the Second

those ideologies of

nazism and communism, were taking

evil,

shape. Sister Faustina

became the herald of the one message capa-

ble of off-setting the evil of those ideologies, the fact that

—the truth of the merciful

Mercy

when

was

I

when

precisely the time

Christ.

called to the See of Peter,

And

felt

I

God

is

for this reason,

impelled to pass on

those experiences of a fellow Pole that deserve a place in the treas-

ury of the universal Church.

The

encyclical

was conceived

a

on the Holy

little later: it

Spirit,

had

its

Dominum

gestation in

et Vivificantem,

Rome.

devel-

It

oped during meditation on Saint John's Gospel, on the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper. of Christ's earthly plete revelation

discourse

is

life

that

we were

on the Holy

Spirit.

was

in those final

hours

given perhaps the most

com-

One

It

passage from that farewell

highly significant for the question

Jesus says that the

Holy

ing sin" (Jn 16:8). As

I

Spirit "will

we

are considering.

convince the world concern-

tried to penetrate these words,

I

was led

back to the opening pages of the Book of Genesis, to the event

known

as "original sin." Saint Augustine,

with extraordinary per-

amor

sui

contempt

for

ceptiveness, described the nature of this sin as follows:

—

usque ad contemptum Dei

God.

1

It

was amor

sui

self-love to the point of

which drove our

first

parents toward that

spread of sin throughout

initial rebellion

and then gave

human

The Book of Genesis speaks of

like

history.

God, knowing good and

yourselves will decide what

is

rise to the

evil"

(Gn

3:5),

good and what

this:

"you

will

be

in other words, you is evil.

IDEOLOGIES OF EVIL The only way

overcome

to

dimension of original

sin

is

through a corresponding amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui

—

love for to face Spirit

God

to the point of

contempt of self. This brings us

is

our guide.

he

It is

and

by

the evil perpetrated

who

at the

the world about sin" means,

not to

condemn

same time

is

call evil

evil

the very

what the expression "convince

by its name,

it

sui.

power of

does so only in order to

if

This

God bends down

we open is

ourselves to

the fruit of Divine

over

man

to

hold out a

him, to raise him up, and to help him continue his jour-

ney with renewed strength.

Man

cannot get back onto his

unaided: he needs the help of the Holy Spirit. help,

the depths of

man from

by

suffered

can be overcome

Mercy. In Jesus Christ, to

plumb

and the purpose of this "convincing"

amor Dei usque ad contemptum

hand

to

the world. If the Church, through the

Holy Spirit, can

demonstrate that

allows us to penetrate deeply into

man and

beginning of his history. That

the

face

with the mystery of man's redemption, and here the Holy

the mysterium Crucis

is

this

If

he refuses

feet

this

he commits what Christ called "the blasphemy against the

Spirit," the sin

which

"will not

not be forgiven? Because

it

be forgiven" (Mt

means

there

is

no

12:31).

Why will

it

desire for pardon.

Man refuses the love and the mercy of God, since he believes himself to I

me

be God.

He believes himself to be capable of self-sufficiency.

have referred briefly to the three encyclicals, which seem to

commentary on

to offer a fitting

the entire teaching of the

Second Vatican Council, and also on the complexity of the historical

period in which

we

Over the years

have become more and more convinced that

I

live.

the ideologies of evil are profoundly rooted in the history of Euro-

pean philosophical thought. Here

European

history,

and

especially

I

its

should mention some aspects of

dominant

cultural trends.

When

8

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

the encyclical

on the Holy

Spirit

was published, there were some

sharply negative reactions from certain quarters in the West.

What

prompted

as the

so-called

these reactions?

same sources

French Enlightenment, though that

German, Spanish, and

the English,

Poland followed a path

in

the

European Enlightenment over two centuries

ticularly the

ment

They arose from

—

par-

not to exclude

is

Italian versions.

earlier

The Enlighten-

own. Russia, on the other

all its

hand, apparently escaped the upheaval of the Enlightenment. There, the

crisis

of Christian tradition arrived from a different

direction, erupting at the beginning of the twentieth century with

even greater violence in the form of the radically atheist Marxist revolution.

In order to illustrate this

phenomenon

we have

better,

to go

back to the period before the Enlightenment, especially to the revolution brought about by the philosophical thought of Descartes.

The

cogito, ergo

sum

1

1

think, therefore

way of doing philosophy

I

am)

radically

In the pre-Cartesian period, philosophy,

to say the cogito, or rather the cognosco,

that

is

esse,

which was considered

prior.

was subordinate

To Descartes, however, the

seemed secondary, and he judged the

cogito to

be

abandonment of what philosophy had been

ticularly the

philosophy of Saint

to

esse

prior. This not

only changed the direction of philosophizing, but decisive

changed the

it

marked the

hitherto, par-

Thomas Aquinas, and namely the

philosophy of esse. Previously, everything was interpreted from the perspective of esse and an explanation for everything was sought

from the same standpoint. God subsistens)

was believed

to

thinking.

cogito, ergo

Xow

Being (Ens

be the necessary ground of every ens non

subsistens, ens participatum, that

man. The

as fully Self-sufficient

is,

sum marked

of a

all

created beings, including

departure from that line of

the ens cogitans enjoyed priority. After Descartes,

IDEOLOGIES OF EVIL

—both the

philosophy became a science of pure thought: created world

and the Creator

cogito as the content of

concerned

itself

all esse

— remained within

human

9

the ambit of the

consciousness. Philosophy

now

with beings qua content of consciousness and not

qua existing independently of it. At

this

point

it is

worth pausing to examine the traditions of

Polish philosophy, especially nist

came

party

what happened

after the

to power. In the universities, every

Commu-

form of philo-

sophical thought that did not correspond to the Marxist

model

was done

in the

was subjected simplest and

people

who

to severe restrictions,

most

radical way:

and

this

by taking action against the

represented other approaches to philosophy. Fore-

most among those who were removed from teaching posts were the representatives of realist philosophy, including exponents of realist

phenomenology

like

Roman

Dambska of the Lviv-Warsaw school. Thomism,

with the exponents of

Ingarden and also Izydora It

was more

difficult to deal

since they were based at the

Catholic University of Lublin and the Theology Faculties of War-

saw and Krakow, eventually

fell

as well as the

victim to the merciless hand of the regime. Certain

eminent thinkers

who maintained

dialectical

materialism

Of

particularly

these

I

major seminaries, but they too

were also regarded with suspicion.

remember Tadeusz

logic

university's teaching

and the methodology of

Kotarbihski, Maria

was not possible

to

program such courses

as

Ossowska, and Tadeusz Czezowski. Clearly

remove from the

toward

a critical attitude

it

science; yet in different

ways the

"dissident" professors could be subjected to restrictions, thus limiting

by every possible means

What happened had much the same

in

their influence

Poland

on students.

after the Marxists

effect as the philosophical

came

to

power

developments that

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

10

occurred in Western Europe in the wake of the Enlightenment.

among

People spoke,

other things, of the "decline of Thomistic

realism" and this was understood to include the

abandonment of

Christianity as a source for philosophizing. Specifically, the very possibility of attaining to

God was

to the logic of cogito, ergo sum,

human

within

God was

reduced to an element

no longer could he be considered

consciousness;

human

the ultimate explanation of the as

placed in question. According

sum. Nor could he remain

Ens subsistens, or "Self-sufficient Being," as the Creator, the one

who

and

gives existence,

least

of

all

as the

one who

gives himself

mystery of the Incarnation, the Redemption, and grace.

in the

The God of Revelation had ceased phers." All that

exploration by

"God of the

philoso-

remained was the idea of God, a topic

for free

human

to exist as

thought.

In this way, the foundations of the "philosophy of evil" also

good

collapsed. Evil, in a realist sense, can only exist in relation to

and, in particular, in relation to God, the supreme Good. This the evil of which the

Book of Genesis

speaks.

It is

from

this per-

spective that original sin can be understood,

and likewise

sonal sin. This evil was redeemed by Christ

on the

more

precise,

God through

man was redeemed and came

salvation history,

was concerned. history

and

his

good and what Deus non If

had disappeared

Man own is

civilization; alone as

bad, as one

per-

To be of

life

drama of

Enlightenment

as creator of his

own

one who decides what

who would

daretur, even if there were

man

to share in the

as far as the

remained alone: alone

all

Cross.

Christ's saving work. All this, the entire

is

exist

and operate

is

etsi

no God.

can decide by himself, without God, what

is

good and to

be

annihilated. Decisions of this kind were taken, for example,

by

what

is

bad, he can also determine that a group of people

is

IDEOLOGIES OF EVIL those

11

who came to power in the Third Reich by democratic means,

only to misuse their power in order to implement the wicked pro-

grams of National

Socialist ideology

based on

Soviet

Union and

racist principles.

Communist

Similar decisions were also taken by the

party in the

in other countries subject to Marxist ideology.

This was the context for the extermination of the Jews, and also of other groups, like the

Romany

peoples, Ukrainian peasants,

Orthodox and Catholic clergy in Urals. Likewise

all

Russia, in Belarus,

who were

those

and

and beyond the

"inconvenient" for the regime

were persecuted; for example, the ex-combatants of September 1939, the soldiers

of the National

Army in Poland

World War, and those among the

intelligentsia

Second

after the

who

did not share

Marxist or Nazi ideology. Normally this meant physical elimination,

or

but sometimes moral elimination: the person would be more

less drastically

At

impeded

this point,

question that

is

in the exercise

we cannot remain

more

of his rights.

silent regarding a tragic

pressing today than ever.

The

of the

fall

regimes built on ideologies of evil put an end to the forms of

How-

extermination just mentioned in the countries concerned. ever, there

remains the

ceived but unborn.

legal

And

extermination of human beings con-

in this case, that extermination

is

decreed

by democratically elected parliaments, which invoke the notion of

civil

progress for society and for

all

grave violations of God's law lacking.

I

humanity. Nor are other

am

thinking, for example,

of the strong pressure from the European Parliament to recognize

homosexual unions to

adopt children.

It

an alternative type of family, with the right is

legitimate

and even necessary

to ask

evil,

more

and hidden, perhaps, intent upon exploiting human

rights

whether subtle

as

this

is

not the work of another ideology of

themselves against

man and

against the family.

12

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

Why

does

all

happen? What

this

is

Enlightenment ideologies? The answer because of the rejection of

God qua

qua source determining what

is

the root of these postsimple:

is

it

happens

and consequently

Creator,

good and what

is evil. It

happens

because of the rejection of what ultimately constitutes us as

human

beings, that

reality"; its place

is,

the notion of

freely

believe that a

more

changeable according to circumstances.

is,

evil,

we have

If

for example,

gion, or simply

what

we can study

it is

to

we wish

to speak rationally

to return to Saint

to the philosophy of being.

method,

I

careful study of this question could lead us

beyond the Cartesian watershed.

that

nature as a "given

has been taken by a "product of thought" freely

formed and

about good and

human

Thomas Aquinas,

With the phenomenological experiences of morality,

be human, and draw from them a

reli-

sig-

nificant

enrichment of our knowledge. Yet we must not forget

that

these analyses implicitly presuppose the reality of the

all

Absolute Being and also the reality of being human, that a creature. If tions,

we do not

we end up

in a

set

out from such

vacuum.

"realist"

is,

being

presupposi-

THE LIMIT IMPOSED

3.

UPON EVIL IN EUROPEAN HISTORY Evil

sometimes seems omnipotent,

it

seems

to

exercise

absolute dominion over the world. In your view, Holy Father,

does there exist a threshold that evil

is

unable

to cross?

have had personal experience of ideologies of

I

indelibly fixed in

we could

see in those years

of nazism were that

my memory.

still

hidden

was

First there

terrible

at that stage.

evil. It

was nazism. What

enough. Yet

The

remains

full

many aspects

extent of the evil

was raging through Europe was not seen by everyone, not

even by those of us situated

lowed up

at the epicenter.

in a great eruption of evil

begin to realize

its

to conceal their

true nature.

and only gradually did we

Those responsible took great pains

misdeeds from the eyes of the world. Both the

Nazis during the war and,

Europe

We were totally swal-

tried to hide

later,

the

Communists

in Eastern

what they were doing from public opinion.

For a long time, the West was unwilling to believe in the extermination of the Jews. Only later did this

even in Poland did

we know

all

come

that the Nazis

fully to light.

Not

had done and were

14

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

still

doing to the Poles, nor what the Soviets had done to the Pol-

and the appalling tragedy of the deporta-

ish officials in Katyri;

was

tions

Later,

God

still

known only in

when

war was

the

part.

over,

I

thought to myself: the Lord

allowed nazism twelve years of existence, and after twelve

was the

years the system collapsed. Evidently this

by Divine Providence upon that sort of worse than

folly

—

wrote. Yet the fact

was

it

2

is

"bestiality," as

folly.

limit

In truth,

that Divine Providence allowed that bestial

had survived

for longer

development

to

to

come,

in

and

if it still

had the prospect of further

thought to myself

I

communism had

at the time, there

all this.

In 1945, at the

end of the war, communism seemed very

and extremely dangerous had had the

was

it

Konstanty Michalski

fury to be unleashed for only those twelve years. If

be meaning

imposed

—much more so than

distinct impression that the

solid

we

before. In 1920

Communists would con-

quer Poland and advance farther into Western Europe, poised for

world domination. In miracle

on the

fact,

of course,

Vistula," that

battle against the

is,

it

never came to that. "The

the triumph of Pitsudski in the

Red Army, muted those

Soviet ambitions. After

the victory over nazism in 1945, though, the

Communists

felt

reinvigorated and they shamelessly set out to conquer the world,

or at least Europe. At

first,

this led to the repartition

of the Conti-

nent into different spheres of influence, according to the agree-

ment reached paid

lip service to this

various ways, above political

all

agreement; in

I

reality,

they violated

it

in

through their ideological invasion and

propaganda both

Even then

much

February 1945. The Communists merely

at Yalta in

in

Europe and elsewhere

in the world.

knew at once that Communist domination would last

longer than the Nazi occupation had done. For

how

long?

THE LIMIT IMPOSED UPON EVIL It

was hard

to predict.

way necessary

EUROPEAN HISTORY

IN

There was a sense that

for the

world and for mankind.

fact, that in

certain concrete situations, evil

how

inasmuch

useful,

as

it

was

this evil

in

some

can happen, in

It

revealed as some-

is

Did

creates opportunities for good.

not Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describe the devil as "ein von jener Kraft / die

das Bose will und

stets

Saint Paul, for his part, has this to say:

but overcome

evil,

the

evil

way to bring about If

I

a greater

history,

—the

I

must conclude

das Gute schafffV

12:21).

That, after

that the limit

hard to forget the

it is

sonally experienced:

one can only

to forgive, if not to appeal to a

This good, after this

all,

has

its

upon

This

is

it is

that have

exactly

from

what

my

I

I

has been per-

does

it

mean

Only God

alone.

is

by divine good has entered

my first visit

country's history. history? in

and of

greater than any evil?

God

stated then that

from the history of Europe? Only all

is

been

of Europe, through the work

said during

him from any other country's

and

evil that

And what

impossible to separate Christ from

Victory Square, Warsaw. arate Christ

that

evil

history, especially the history

of Christ. So tory.

good

foundation in

good. The limit imposed

human

forgive.

evil in

constituted by

is

revealed in that history, over the course of the last century entire millennia. Yet

all, is

in response to evil.

good and the human good

divine

Teil

"Do not be overcome by

(Rom

good

stets

have wanted to underline the limit imposed upon

European

good

with good"

15

it

to sep-

possible to separate

possible to separate

him, in

his-

to Poland, in

was impossible

Is it

Is it

human

fact,

humanity "cross the threshold of hope"!

can

all

him

nations

REDEMPTION AS THE DIVINE LIMIT IMPOSED

4.

UPON How precisely are we we have been

When

I

to

discussing?

EVIL

understand

What is

this limit

all,

evil that

the essence of this limit?

speak of the limit imposed upon

above

on

evil,

I

am thinking,

of the historical limit Providence imposed upon

the evil totalitarian systems established in the twentieth century,

namely national socialism and Marxist communism. Yet myself wanting

at this

a theological nature.

point to explore I

some

logical reflection, analyzing the roots

how it

is

I

mean

evil in

is

sometimes

a deeper theo-

order to discover

can be overcome through Christ's saving work.

It is

He

of

find

further reflections of

do not simply mean what

described as a "theology of history." Rather,

I

God

himself

who

can place a definitive limit upon

the essence of justice, because

punishes

evil in a

manner

it is

he

who

evil.

rewards good and

perfectly befitting the objective situa-

am speaking here of moral evil, of sin. In the Garden of Eden, human history already encounters the God who judges and

tion.

I

punishes.

The Book of Genesis describes

in detail the penalty

18

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

imposed on our

first

been prolonged

their penalty has

Original sin

Gn 3:14-19). And throughout human history.

parents after their sin

(cf.

an inherited condition. As such,

is

man,

innate sinfulness of

instead of good. There

which goes hand psycho-physical

in

is

his radical inclination

man

in

hand with the

fragility.

it

And

a congenital fragility

signifies the

toward

evil

moral weakness

of his being, with his

this fragility is

accompanied by the

multiple sufferings indicated in the Bible, from the very pages, as It

punishment

for sin.

could be said that

beginning by the limit

human

God the

Gaudium

history

is

marked from the very

Creator places

ond Vatican Council has much toral constitution

first

to say

on

upon

evil.

The

Sec-

this subject in the pas-

would be worth quoting the

et Spes. It

introductory account given in that document concerning man's place in the

modern

regarding sin and

When man is

world.

human

sinfulness:

own

looks into his

drawn toward what

is

heart, he finds that he

wrong and sunk

which cannot come from ing to acknowledge

good

his

at the

Creator. Often refus-

upset

same time he has broken the

right order that

As

all

as well as

creatures.

a result, the

vidual and social, shows

itself to

Man

finds that he

is

between himself

Man therefore is divided

whole

matic one, between good and

come

evils

to his last end;

and other men and

darkness.

many

him

should reign within himself

in himself.

in

God as his source, man has also

the relationship which should link

and

myself to some extracts

shall limit

I

life

of men, both indi-

be a struggle, and a draevil,

between

light

and

unable of himself to over-

the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone

feels as

though bound by chains. But the Lord himself

REDEMPTION AS THE DIVINE LIMIT IMPOSED UPON EVIL came

to free

and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly

and casting out the prince of this world' (Jn

him

held

lower is

in the

state,

19

bondage of sin. For

sin

12:31),

brought

who

man to a

forcing him away from the completeness that

Both the high

his to attain.

and the deep misery

calling

men experience find their final explanation in the light of this Revelation.

impossible, then, to speak of the "limit imposed

It is

evil"

4

without considering the ideas contained in the passage just

quoted.

God

and

coming of God,

this

way

a joyful

himself came to save us and to deliver us from this "Advent,"

which we celebrate

evil,

in such

weeks preceding the Nativity of the Lord,

in the

truly redemptive.

God

upon

It is

is

impossible to think of the limit placed by

himself upon the various forms of

evil

without reference to

the mystery of Redemption.

Could the mystery of Redemption be the response torical evil affairs? Is

which, in different forms, continually recurs in also the response to the evil of

it

seem that the

evil

Cross

our

own

human

day?

It

can

of concentration camps, of gas chambers, of

police cruelty, of total war,

among

to that his-

and of oppressive regimes

—

evil

which,

other things, systematically contradicts the message of the

—

it

good. Yet

can seem, if

I

say, that

we look more

such

more powerful than any

closely at the history of those peoples

and nations who have endured the persecutions

evil is

trial

of totalitarian systems and

on account of faith, we discover

that this

where the victorious presence of Christ's Cross revealed. Against such a dramatic

may be even more atic evil,

striking.

precisely

most

clearly

background, that presence

To those who are subjected to system-

there remains only Christ

spiritual self-defense, as a

is

is

and

his Cross as a source of

promise of victory. Did not the

sacrifice

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

20

of Maximilian Kolbe in the extermination

become

a sign of victory over evil?

of Edith Stein

who

—

camp

at

Auschwitz

And could not the same be said

that great thinker

from the school of Husserl

perished in the gas chamber of Birkenau, thus sharing the

many

destiny of

other sons and daughters of Israel?

these two figures, so often

named

that tragic history stand out

together,

among

And

how many

besides

others in

their fellow prisoners for the

strength of the witness they bore to Christ crucified and risen!

The mystery of Christ's Redemption puts down deep our

Modern

lives.

tion,

life is

a

predominantly technological

but here too the mystery leaves

Second Vatican Council reminds

To the question of how

which are

self-love,

daily

a

unhappy

this

all

situation can be

these

activi-

Redeemed by

Christ and

new creature by the Holy Spirit, man

can, indeed

Christ.

that he has received them,

that he looks

and

it is

them and enjoys them

freedom: thus he

is

it is

as flowing

upon them and

thanks his divine benefactor for uses

human

must be purified and perfected by the Cross

he must, love the things of God's creation:

hand

mark, as the

endangered by pride and inordinate

and Resurrection of

made

from God

from God's

Spes

is

Man

reveres them.

all

these things, he

in a spirit of poverty

and

brought to a true possession of the

world, as having nothing yet possessing everything.

It

civiliza-

us:

overcome, Christians reply that ties,

efficacious

its

roots in

5

could be said that the whole of the constitution Gaudium

et

an exploration of the definition of the world with which the

document

begins:

REDEMPTION AS THE DIVINE LIMIT IMPOSED UPON EVIL Therefore the world the Council has in

human

mind

is

21

the whole

family seen in the context of everything which

envelops

it: it is

the world as the theater of human history,

bearing the marks of

its travail, its

triumphs and

failures,

the world, which in the Christian vision has been created

and

is

freed

sustained by the love of

from the slavery of sin by

and rose again evil

one, so that

vital

words

Christ,

who was

it

might be fashioned anew according to

—

its

fulfilment.

Cross, Resurrection,

6

and Paschal Mystery

appear again and again throughout Gaudium point to the same thing: Redemption.

God. The scholastics used to speak of the state of the

it

The world

status naturae

is

understood

tion of the Paschal Mystery in the Resurrection. for this choice?

lay

redeemed by

—

redemptae

When I became more

as the

culmina-

Was there a reason

familiar with Eastern theol-

understood better the important ecumenical character that

behind

this conciliar vision.

was an expression of the the Christian East. If

upon

is

frequently invokes the idea. In the lan-

guage of the Council, Redemption

I

et Spes. All three

redeemed nature. Although the Council hardly uses

word "Redemption,"

ogy,

crucified

in order to break the stranglehold of the

God's design and brought to

The

maker, which has been

its

evil,

it is

The

insistence

on the Resurrection

spirituality typical of the great Fathers

Redemption marks the divine

limit placed

for this reason only: because thereby evil

overcome by good, hate by

love,

of

death by resurrection.

is

radically

THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION 5.

In the light of these reflections, one

is

fuller explanation of the nature of

exactly

is

good and

Sometimes scales. In

through the

Redemption evil in

to seek

a

Redemption. What

in the context of the battle between

man

which

the battle

impelled

is

caught up?

expressed using the image of a pair of

is

terms of this symbol, we could say that God,

sacrifice

of his Son on the Cross, placed that expia-

tion of infinite value

on the

ultimately

In

prevail.

side of good, so that

Polish,

the

word

for

it

would always

"Redeemer"

is

Odkupiciel derived from the verb odkupic meaning "regain." Similarly, the Latin

term Redemptor is related to the verb redimere

(regain). This etymological analysis

may bring us closer to

under-

standing the reality of the Redemption. Closely connected to justification.

are the concepts of forgiveness

it

and

Both these terms belong to the language of the

Gospel. Christ forgave sins, strongly emphasizing that the Son of

Man had

the

power

before him, the

first

to

do

so.

When

they brought the paralytic

thing he said was:

"My

son, your sins are

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

24

(Mk

did he add: "Rise, take up your bed

2:5);

only

later

and go home" (Mk

2:11).

In so doing he implicitly

forgiven"

that sin

a greater evil

is

urrection,

than physical paralysis.

when he appeared for the

first

made

And

the point

after the Res-

time in the Upper

Room

where the Apostles were assembled, he showed them the wounds in his

the

hands and

Holy

you

Spirit. If

his side, breathed

you

on them, and

forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven;

retain the sins of any, they are retained"

way he

"Receive

said:

revealed that the

power

(

if

Jn 20: 22-23). In this

to forgive sins,

which only God

possesses, has been given to the Church. At the same time he

reaffirmed that sin delivered,

is

the greatest evil from which

and he showed

man

has to be

that the faculty to bring about this

deliverance has been entrusted to the

Church through the Passion

and redemptive death of Christ. Saint Paul expresses the

same truth

in greater

depth through

the concept of justification. In the Apostle's Letters

those to the

Romans and the

Galatians

especially

—the doctrine of

tion even acquires a polemical connotation. Paul

justifica-

was formed

in

who were

well versed in the study of

Old Covenant, and he challenges

their conviction that the

the schools of the Pharisees, the

—

Law was

man

the source of justification. In reality, he affirms,

does not attain justification through the actions prescribed by the

Law

—

particularly not through observing the multiple prescrip-

which great importance was then

tions of ritual character, to

attached. Justification has 2:15-21).

the

It is

latter,

Christ crucified

through

Father. Hence,

source in faith in Christ

who

his faith in the

Christ, repents of his sins,

is

its

is

justifies sinful

man

(cf.

Gal

every time

Redemption accomplished by

converted, and returns to

God

as his

from one point of view, the concept of justification

an even deeper expression of the content of the mystery of

THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION Redemption. To be

justified before

God, human

enough; the grace which pours forth from Christ's

effort

sacrifice

25

is

not

is

also

needed. Only the immolation of Christ on the Cross has the

power

to restore

man's righteousness before God.

The Resurrection of Christ

clearly illustrates that only the

measure of good introduced by God into history through the mystery of

the

Redemption

human

itive

being.

is

not only

is

and

defin-

eschatological truth revealed to us, that

forth a light to enlighten the

Good News. There

is

is

also shines

whole of human existence

this light

of

world created by God. In

in the

to say the fullness of the Gospel, or

poral dimension

fully to the truth

The Paschal Mystery thus becomes the

measure of man's existence

this mystery,

correspond

sufficient to

in

its

tem-

then reflected onto the created

world. Christ, through his Resurrection, has so to speak "justified" the

work of creation, and

has "justified"

in the sense that

good intended by God

ure" of tory.

it

This measure

creation

is

(cf.

Gn

in

man. He

he has revealed the "just meas-

at the

beginning of

human

his-

not merely what was provided by him in

and then compromised by man through

abundant measure, ization

especially the creation of

sin;

which the original plan finds

3:14-15). In Christ,

man

is

it is

a super-

a higher real-

called to a

new

life,

as

son in the Son, the perfect expression of God's glory. In the words of Saint Irenaeus, gloria Dei vivens is

man

fully alive. 7

—the glory of God

homo

redemption: victory given as a task to man 6.

Redemption, remission, and justification, then, are expres-

and mercy toward

sions of God's love

tionship between the mystery of

freedom? In the the

light

us.

the rela-

is

Redemption and human

of Redemption,

path we must choose

What

how do we

find

our own

in order to realize fully

freedom?

the mystery of Redemption, Christ's victory over evil

In

to us not simply for

our personal advantage, but also

We accept that task as we set out upon working consciously on ourselves

The Gospel me!"

is

calls

calls to

also, for

Mt

with

way of the

—with Christ

— not only

become

his Apostles (cf.

him

is

Mk

is

to the Galilean fishermen

Mt

example, to the rich young 19:16-22,

as

us to follow this very path. Christ's

echoed on many pages of the Gospel and

different people

(cf.

the

10:17-22,

one of the key

Lk

4:19,

man

Mk

in the

1:17,

is

given

as a task.

interior

life,

our Teacher. call

"Follow

addressed to

whom Jesus Jn 1:43), but

Synoptic Gospels

18:18-23). Jesus's conversation

texts to

which we must constantly

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

28

return,

from various points of view,

encyclical Veritatis Splendor.

The

call

"Follow me!"

as

did, for example, in the

I

8

an invitation to

is

set

out along the

path to which the inner dynamic of the mystery of Redemption leads us. This

is

the path indicated by the teaching, so often found

on the

in writings

interior

life

and on mystical experience, about

the three stages involved in "following Christ." These three stages

sometimes called "ways."

are

illuminative way,

We

speak of the purgative way, the

and the unitive way. In

reality,

three distinct ways, but three aspects of the

which Christ

calls

these are not

same way, along

everyone, as he once called that young

man

in

the Gospel.

When do

asks: "Teacher,

what good deed must

I

to have eternal life?" Christ answers him: "If you wish to enter

life,

the

young man

the

keep the commandments" (Mt 19:16-17

young man continues

to ask:

et passim).

And when

"Which?" Christ simply reminds

him of the principal commandments of the Decalogue, and

espe-

those from the so-called "second tablet" concerning rela-

cially

tions with one's neighbor. In Christ's teaching, of course,

commandments

God above

all

explicitly to a

22:34-40;

are

summarized

12:28-31).

properly understood,

means conquering

is

sin,

Law

the

commandment

to love

He

says so

things and one's neighbor as oneself.

doctor of the

Mk

in the

all

in response to a question

(cf.

Mt

Observance of the commandments,

synonymous with

moral

evil in its

the purgative way:

it

various guises.

And

And hence we

conclude

this

leads to a gradual inner purification. It

also enables us to discover values.

that the purgative

way leads

organically into the illuminative way.

Values are lights which illumine existence and, as lives,

they shine ever

more

brightly

on

we work on our

the horizon. So side by side

redemption: victory given as a task to man commandments

with observance of the

meaning—we

purgative ing the

of

life

for

it.

essentially

develop virtues. For example, in observ-

commandment: "You

shall

not

we

kill!"

discover the value

under various aspects and we learn an ever deeper respect

commandment: "You

In observing the

we

adultery!"

come

—which has an

29

to

human

not commit

shall

acquire the virtue of purity, and this

means

that

we

an ever greater awareness of the gratuitous beauty of the body, of masculinity and femininity. This gratuitous

beauty becomes a light for our actions. In observing the com-

mandment: "You

not bear

shall

false witness!"

of truthfulness. This not only excludes

from our truth"

lives,

but

it

which guides

we acquire

in

our

all

our actions.

stage.

And

it

which pervades

allows us to escape

to the risk of sin

and hypocrisy

living thus in the truth,

all

truthfulness.

life

emerges gradually if

we persevere

less

burdened by

With the passage of time,

our Teacher, we

the struggle against sin, light

lying

all

So the illuminative stage in the interior

in following Christ

learn the virtue

develops within us a kind of "instinct for

own humanity a connatural

from the purgative

we

feel less

and

and we enjoy more and more the divine creation. This

from

is

most important, because

a situation of constant inner exposure

—even though, on some degree —

remains present to

this earth, the risk always

so as to

move with

ever greater

freedom within the whole of the created world. This same

dom and simplicity characterizes our

relations with other

free-

human

beings, including those of the opposite sex. Interior light illu-

mines our actions and shows us as

the

good

in the created

world

coming from the hand of God. Thus the purgative way and

then the illuminative is

all

known

journey,

way form

the organic introduction to what

as the unitive way. This

when

is

the final stage of the interior

the soul experiences a special union with God.

30

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

This union

is

realized in contemplation of the divine Being

the experience of love which flows from In this

it

way we somehow anticipate what

eternity,

beyond death and the

the spiritual

life,

together with

even in

his school, teaches that

those

this life

in

with growing intensity.

is

destined to be ours in

grave. Christ, all

and

who

supreme Teacher of

have been formed in

we can

enter onto the path

of union with God.

The dogmatic

constitution

made obedient unto Father

(cf.

Lumen Gentium

death and because of

him

until

created things to the Father, so that )." 9

illustrating

sion.

stand

this exalted

Phil 2:8-9), has entered into the glory of his

All things are subjected to

15: 27-28

states: "Christ,

Evidently the Council

what

it

means

he subjects himself and

God may be all in all

is

by the

kingdom.

(cf. 1

all

Cor

thinking on a very large scale,

to participate in Christ's kingly mis-

At the same time, however, these words help us to under-

how union

with

God

can be achieved during earthly

life.

If

the kingly way, indicated by Christ, leads definitively to the state in

which "God

will

be

experienced on earth

all

is

in

all,"

the union with

attained in just the

God

that can be

same way. We can

find

God in everything, we can commune with him in and through all things. Created things cease to

were, particularly while journey. Creation,

we were

be a danger for us still

and other people

their true light, given to

speak, they lead us to

of our

in particular, not only regain

himself, in the

reveal himself to us: as Father,

once they

at the purgative stage

them by God the

God

as

Creator, but, so to

way

that he willed to

Redeemer, and Spouse.

FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

7-

TOWARD A JUST USE OF FREEDOM

After the fall of the totalitarian systems in which

enslavement reached

its

apex, the prospect of freedom

opened up for the oppressed

citizens

—

other words, of deciding for themselves

Many

human

the possibility, in

and by

themselves.

opinions have been expressed on this matter. The

fundamental question could be formulated as follows: can these

possibilities

How

of free decision best be used so as to

avoid any future return of the evil at work in those systems

and

If

those ideologies?

those societies sensed a

totalitarian systems, a

immediately affects

— the

new freedom

proper use of that freedom. The problem

both individuals and

"good" tive

my

freedom.

as a result,

influence

of the

fundamental new problem arose almost

kind of systematic solution. use of

after the collapse

If

I

use

societies: If it

am

I

free,

well,

and the good

I

it

I

in

therefore requires I

some

can make good or bad

my

turn become more

have accomplished has a posi-

on those around me.

If

on the other hand

wrongly, evil will take root and begin to spread both in

I

use

it

me and

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

34

around me. The danger of the situation

we claim

consists in the fact that

dimension

in

our use of freedom

moral good and

evil.

A

from

—

that

alone.

from

all

It is

often said:

Its

clear:

is

which

cially

from consideration of

which has

at present, diverts atten-

Appeal

is

what matters

made today

is

to free-

to be free, released

in reality

often pure caprice. This

is

is

potentially devastating.

should add immediately that European traditions, espe-

those of the Enlightenment period, have recognized the

need for

a criterion to regulate the use of freedom. Yet the crite-

rion adopted has been not so

honestum) as that of

utility

most important element

much

in the tradition of

In

human

a synthesis in

little

which the leading

own

role

is

are faced with a

European thought,

more

attention.

Man wants

played by the

rationality

acts are free and, as such, they

of the subject.

we

action, the different spiritual faculties tend

subject thus imprints his

Human

a

good (bonum

that of the just

or pleasure. Here

one to which we must now devote

is

ethical

such liberalism can only be described as primitive.

influence, however,

We

today

constraint or limitation, so as to operate according to

private judgment,

much

is,

live

from the

certain concept of freedom,

ethical responsibilities.

dom

which we

to prescind

widespread support in public opinion tion

in

a particular

upon

toward

will.

The

his actions.

engage the responsibility

good and he chooses

it:

he

consequently responsible for his choice. Against the background of this vision of good, which

is

both

metaphysical and anthropological, there arises a distinction of properly ethical character.

It is

good (bonum honestum), the pleasurable

good (bonum

are intimately

the distinction between the just

useful

good (bonum

delectabile).

bound up with human

utile),

and the

These three types of good action.

When

he

acts,

man

TOWARD

A JUST USE OF

FREEDOM

35

chooses a certain good, which becomes the goal of his action. If

the subject chooses a

bonum honestum,

his goal

is

conformed

and

is

therefore a

to the very essence of the object of his action just goal.

bonum

When on

utile,

the subject.

open: only the

means

the goal

is

object of his choice

the advantage to be gained from

The question of

when

hand the

the other

is

it

a

for

the morality of the action remains

the action bringing the advantage

is

just

and

used are just, can the subject's goal also be said to be

just. It is precisely

on

this issue that a rift begins to

emerge

between the Aristotelian-Thomistic ethical tradition and modern utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism ignores the

of good, that of the

first

and fundamental dimension

bonum honestum.

and the ethic derived from

it

set

anthropology

out from the conviction that

man tends essentially toward his own to

Utilitarian

which he belongs. Ultimately, the aim of human action

sonal or corporate advantage.

As

group

interest or that of the

for the

bonum

is

delectabile,

per-

it is

of

course taken into account in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition.

The

great exponents of this current of thought, in their eth-

ical reflection,

good

is

are fully aware that the

accomplishment of a

always accompanied by an interior joy

just

— the joy of the

good. In utilitarian thought, however, the dimension of good and the dimension of joy have been displaced tage or pleasure. In this scheme, the

thought has been

and an end in

like is

bonum

delectabile

for advan-

of Thomistic

somehow emancipated, becoming both

itself.

pleasure above

by the search

In the utilitarian vision,

all else,

man

a

good

in acting seeks

not the honestum. Admittedly, utilitarians

Jeremy Bentham or John Stuart Mill emphasize that the goal

not simply pleasure at sense

into play.

They

level: spiritual

say that these too

pleasures also

must be considered

in

come

making

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

36

the so-called "calculation of pleasures."

It

this calculation

is

which, to their way of thinking, constitutes the "normative" expression of the utilitarian ethic: the greatest happiness of the

number.

greatest

to

conform

One

All

human

action, individually

and

jointly,

has

to this principle.

response to the utilitarian ethic was offered by the phi-

losophy of Immanuel Kant. The Konigsberg philosopher rightly observed that giving priority to pleasure in the analysis of human action

is

dangerous and threatens the very essence of morality. In

his aprioristic vision of reality, tion,

Kant places two things

namely pleasure and expediency. Yet he does not return

bonum honestum.

the tradition of the

Instead he bases

morality on aprioristic forms of the practical

intellect,

imperative character. Essential for morals imperative which, for Kant, "Act only according to a

time will that

Then

it

there

shall is

which the person

a

is

is

human

which have

the categorical

is

maxim by which you can

become

all

a universal law."

at the

same

10

second form of categorical imperative, in

given due priority in the moral order. This

whether in your

to

expressed in the following formula:

the formulation: "Act in such a ity,

in ques-

own

way that you always

treat

is

human-

person or in the person of any other,

never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end."" In this form, the

end and the means reappear

in Kant's ethical

thought, but as secondary rather than primary categories. The

primary category becomes the person. Kant could be said laid the

foundations of modern personalist

ethics.

From the

of view of the development of ethical reflection, this

important

step.

The Neo-Thomists

principle, basing themselves

bonum honestum, bonum

on

utile,

also

to have

is

point

a very

took up the personalist

Saint Thomas's concept of the

bonum

delectabile.

TOWARD clear

It is

from

tical

good and

and

closely linked with reflection

is

yj

a theoretical point of view. If ethics

is

evil,

on the

from both a prac-

a pressing question

evil. It is

losophy concerned with moral good and its

FREEDOM

this synthetic presentation that the question

of the just use of freedom topic of

A JUST USE OF

the branch of phi-

then

has to draw

it

fundamental criterion of evaluation from the essential prop-

erty of the

human

good or

because his will

makes

evil

a choice,

will, in

is

free,

he does so in the

objective goodness or

Man

other words, freedom.

may be

but also

light

fallible.

Whenever he

of a criterion which

utilitarian advantage.

can do

may be

With the

ethics

of the categorical imperative, Kant rightly emphasized the obligatory character of man's moral choices. At the

same time, however,

he distanced himself from the only truly objective criterion for those choices: he underlined the subjective obligation but over-

looked what

lies at

the foundation of morals, that

honestum. As for the

bonum

it

utilitarians,

Kant

ing the theory of

good and

evil

University of Lublin.

and

I

book Love and

finally in the

under the

essentially

title

far

concern-

belongs to moral philosophy.

devoted some years of work to these problems

in the

it is

from the realm of morals.

The whole of the argument developed thus

I

bonum

which

delectabile, in the sense in

understood by the Anglo-Saxon excluded

the

is

put together

at the

Catholic

my ideas on the subject firstly

Responsibility, then in

The Acting Person,

Wednesday catecheses which were published

"Original Unity of Man and

Woman." On

the basis

of further reading and research undertaken during the ethics

seminar

at Lublin,

I

came

to see

how important

were for a number of contemporary thinkers: other phenomenologists, Jean-Paul Sartre,

these problems

Max

Scheler and

Emmanuel

Levinas,

and Paul Ricceur, but also Vladimir Soloviev, not to mention

38

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Through these analyses of anthropological reality,

various manifestations emerge of man's desire for

tion, and confirmation is

to attain salvation.

is

Redemp-

given of the need for a Redeemer

if

man

8.

FREEDOM

IS

FOR LOVE Recent history has provided ample and tragically eloquent evidence of the evil use of freedom. Yet a positive answer still

needs to he given to the underlying question:

does freedom consist of and

what purpose does

Here we are addressing a problem which, been important the events of 1989.

in the past, has

What

is

is

realized

task to be accomplished.

dom

is

Ethics,

through truth.

There

is

Summa

remained

now

It is

is

has always so since

can be

a property of

given to

no freedom without

man

as a

truth. Free-

this principally in his

constructed on the basis of rational truth.

This natural ethic was adopted in his

if it

human freedom? The answer

an ethical category. Aristotle teaches

Nicomachean

serve?

become even more

traced back to Aristotle. Freedom, for Aristotle, the will which

it

What

Theologiae. So

it

its

entirety

was that

by Saint Thomas

the Nicomachean

a significant influence in the history of morals,

in

Ethics

having

taken on the characteristics of a Christian Thomistic ethic. Saint

virtues.

Thomas embraced

The good

that

is

to be

the entire Aristotelian system of

accomplished by

human freedom

is

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

40

good of the virtues. Most of all, this

precisely the

refers to the four

so-called cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude,

and tem-

perance. Prudence has a guiding function. Justice regulates social order.

Temperance and

man's inner to

human

life,

that

on the other hand,

discipline

good

in relation

to say, they determine the

is

and concupiscence:

irascibility

vis concupiscibilis.

fortitude,

vis

irascibilis

and

Hence, the Nicomachean Ethics are clearly

based upon a genuine anthropology.

The other virtues

take their place within the system of the car-

them

dinal virtues, subordinated to

on which the

self-realization of

in different ways. This system,

human freedom

can be described as exhaustive.

It is

in truth depends,

not an abstract or a priori

system. Aristotle sets out from the experience of the moral subject.

Likewise, Saint

Thomas

finds his starting point in

experience, but through this he also seeks the light that

by Sacred Scripture. The

ment

God and

to love

freedom finds its

realization

its

greatest light

offered

is

comes from the command-

neighbor. In this

most complete

moral

commandment, human

realization.

Freedom

is

for love:

through love can even reach heroic proportions.

Christ speaks of "laying

down

his life" for his friends, for other

human beings. In the history of Christianity, many people in different ways have "laid

down

their lives" for their neighbor,

and

they have done so in order to follow the example of Christ. This particularly true in the case of martyrs,

whose testimony has

accompanied Christianity from apostolic times

The twentieth century was the

present day.

Christian martyrs, and this

and

in other

Churches and

is

Ethics,

he also

up

left

to the

great century of

Church

communities.

Returning to Aristotle, we should add

Nicomachean

right

true both in the Catholic

ecclesial

is

us a

that, as well as the

work on

social ethics.

It is

FREEDOM

41

without addressing questions concerning

entitled Politics. Here,

the concrete strategies of political

defining the ethical principles

Aristotle limits himself to

life,

on which any

just political

should be based. Catholic social teaching owes Politics

FOR LOVE

IS

system

much to Aristotle's

and has acquired particular prominence

in

modern

times,

thanks to the issue of labor. After Leo XIII's great 1891 encyclical,

Rerum Novarum, terial

the twentieth century saw several

documents, of

vital

more magis-

importance for the many issues that

gradually surfaced in the social arena. Pius XI's encyclical

Quadragesimo anno, marking the fortieth anniversary of Rerum

Novarum

y

Mater etMagistra,

directly addresses the labor issue. In

John XXIII, for his part, offers an in-depth discussion of social justice

with reference to the vast sector of agricultural labor;

in the encyclical

just

Pacem

peace and a

new

in Terris,

he

sets

later,

out the ground rules for a

international order, resuming

exploring certain principles already contained in

and further

some important

statements by Pius XII. Paul VI, in his apostolic letter Octogesima Adveniens, returns to the issue of industrial labor, while his encyclical just

Populorum Progressio analyzes the various elements of

development. All these issues were proposed for the reflection

of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, and they received particular attention in the constitution

out from the fundamental notion of the this conciliar

family,

this vocation. In particular, it

considers cultural issues,

plex questions of economic, political, ally

and

issues in

internationally.

two

human

document analyzes one by one

dimensions of

and the

Gaudium

I

and

it

person's vocation,

the

still,

I

many

dwells

and

it

myself returned to the

had devoted

a

different

on marriage

addresses

social life

encyclicals, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis

Annus. Yet earlier

et Spes. Setting

com-

both nationlast

of these

and Centesimus

whole encyclical

to

human

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

42

Laborem

labor,

document, intended

Exercens. This

to

mark

ninetieth anniversary of

Rerum Novarum, was published

because of the attempt on

my life.

At the heart of all these magisterial documents of

human

gift

and

freedom. Freedom

same time

at the

called to accept

In choosing

family

and

truth. This allows

man

tions recorded

by

him

Creator as a

a

ism, fascism).

on

political sphere, in national

brings about his

One

own freedom

Once

and

in the

overcome possible devia-

to escape or to

history.

class

is

genuine good in personal and

of these was certainly Renaissance

Machiavellianism. Others include various forms of social ianism, based

theme

implement the truth regarding the good.

economic and

international arenas,

man by the

the

late

Through freedom, man

as a task.

and bringing about

in the

life,

to

given to

is

lies

the

utilitar-

(Marxism) or nationalism (national

had

these two systems

societies affected, especially in the

fallen in

social-

Europe, the

former Soviet bloc, faced the

problem of liberalism. This was treated

at length in the encyclical

Centesimus Annus and, from another angle, in the encyclical Veritatis Splendor. In these debates the age-old questions return,

which had already been treated tury by Leo XIII,

at the

end of the nineteenth cen-

who devoted a number of encyclicals to the issue

of freedom.

From topic,

it is

Freedom

this rapid outline

clear that the issue of

is

make

human freedom

properly so called to the extent that

it

is

fundamental.

implements the

become

good

in

freedom ceases to be linked with truth and begins

to

truth regarding the good. itself. If

of the history of thought on this

truth dependent

Only then does

on freedom,

it

it

sets the

a

premises for dan-

gerous moral consequences, which can assume incalculable dimensions.

When this happens, the abuse of freedom provokes a

FREEDOM reaction which takes the another. This

is

form of one

IS

FOR LOVE

43

totalitarian system or

another form of the corruption of freedom, the

consequences of which we have experienced in the twentieth century,

and beyond.

THE LESSONS OF RECENT HISTORY

9.

Holy Father, you were a firsthand witness of a long and difficult

period in the history of Poland and other former

Eastern-bloc countries (1939-1989). think can be learned

from

What

lessons

do you

the experience of your native

country and, in particular, from what the Polish Church experienced during that period?

The

fifty-year struggle against totalitarianism

a certain providential significance: in

was not without

those years, a wide-

spread need was expressed for self-defense against the enslave-

ment of an

entire population. This should not be

purely negative terms.

system aimed

at the

Not only did the people

understood in

reject

destruction of Poland, and

nazism

as a

communism

as

an oppressive system imposed from the East, but in the process of resistance they also pursued highly positive ideals.

More was

involved than a simple rejection of these hostile systems. Those

same years saw the recovery and the strengthening of the fundamental values by which the people lived and to which they wished to

remain

faithful.

I

am

referring here both to the relatively brief

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

46

German occupation and

period of

to the forty years

Communist domination, during the

Was

People's Republic of Poland.

this process fully conscious?

many

instinctive? In

instances

and more of

Was

it

some degree

to

probably was instinctive to a

it

greater or lesser degree. In their resistance to the regime, the Poles

were not so ments,

a choice

based on theoretical argu-

was more the case that they could not do other than

it

resist. It

much making

was

same time

it

a matter of instinct or intuition,

prompted

a deeper reflection

although

on the

at the

and

religious

values motivating their resistance, to a degree previously

civil

unknown Here

in Polish history. I

should

like to refer to a

conversation

I

had during

my

Rome with one of my college companions, a young priest. He was associated with the work of Fr. Joseph

studies in

Flemish

namely the so-called JOC (YCW), or

Cardijn, the future Cardinal,

Jeunesse Ouvriere Chretienne (Young Christian Workers).

The

topic of our conversation was the situation in Europe after the

as follows:

or less

"The Lord allowed the experience of such an

evil as

communism answer to

My colleague

more

Second World War.

you

to affect

this

question

I

.

And why

a prophetic value.

I

did he allow

"We were

fixed in

it."

it

and

I

His

so great a

This remark by the

my memory. To some

often recall

it?"

spared this in

we could not have withstood

You, on the other hand, can take

young Fleming remained had

.

find significant:

the West, because perhaps trial.

.

expressed himself

see ever

degree

more

it

clearly

the accuracy of his diagnosis. Naturally,

dichotomy tries

in a

it

would be wrong

to overstate the element of

Europe divided between East and West. The coun-

of Western Europe have a more ancient Christian tradition.

They have witnessed the highest accomplishments of Christian

THE LESSONS OF RECENT HISTORY culture. In

Western Europe, the Church has been blessed with

a multitude of saints.

the majestic

There have been stupendous works of

Romanesque and Gothic

basilicas, the paintings artists

47

art:

baroque

cathedrals, the

of Giotto, Fra Angelico, and the countless

of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the sculptures of

Michelangelo, the

dome of Saint Peter's, and the

Sistine Chapel.

It

was here that the Summae Theologiae came

to birth, foremost

Thomas Aquinas;

here were formed

among them

that of Saint

the highest traditions of Christian spirituality, the works of the

German

mystics, the writings of Saint Catherine of Siena in

Italy,

of Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint John of the Cross in Spain. Here the great monastic orders were born, beginning with that of Saint

Benedict,

who

is

rightly called the father

and teacher of Europe;

here too the worthy mendicant orders, including the Franciscans

and the Dominicans, and

also the congregations of the Counter-

Reformation and subsequent centuries, which have done and continue to do so

much good

ary endeavor drew

and

in

our

emerging

its

work. The Church's great mission-

resources principally from Western Europe,

own day wonderful, dynamic apostolic movements are there,

whose witness cannot

temporal order. In

this sense

we may

fail

to bear fruit in the

say that Christ

is

always the

"cornerstone" of the building and the rebuilding of society in the Christian West.

At the same time, however,

we cannot

ignore the insistent

return of the denial of Christ. Again and again

we encounter

signs of an alternative civilization to that built

on Christ

nerstone"

—

a civilization which, even

least positivistic

and agnostic, since

of thinking and acting as easily

if

God

if

as "cor-

not explicitly atheist,

it is

did not

the

is

at

built

upon

exist.

This approach can

be recognized in the modern so-called

the principle

scientific,

or rather

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

48

and

scientistic, mentality,

mass media. To

cially the

can be recognized in

it

live as if

God

outside the parameters of good and

values derived from God.

decide what in

all

is

good or bad. And

did not exist means to

this

live

outside the context of

evil,

man

claimed that

It is

literature, espe-

program

is

himself can

widely promoted

sorts of ways.

on the one hand, the West continues

If,

to provide evidence

of zealous evangelization, on the other hand anti-evangelical currents are equally strong.

human

They strike

at the

morality, influencing the family

very foundations of

and promoting

a morally

permissive outlook: divorce, free love, abortion, contraconception, the fight against life in

its initial

the manipulation of life. This

phases and in

program

final phase,

its

supported by enormous

is

financial resources, not only in individual countries, but also

worldwide posal,

has great centers of

scale. It

through which

it

attempts to impose

developing countries. Faced with

whether

this

is

economic power

all this,

its

own

at its

on

a

dis-

conditions on

one may legitimately ask

not another form of totalitarianism, subtly con-

cealed under the appearances of democracy.

Maybe

when he great a It is

all this

was what

my Flemish companion had in mind

suggested that the West "could not have withstood so

trial,"

and then added "You, on the other hand, can take

significant that after

I

became Pope,

I

heard the same opinion

expressed by an eminent European politician. "If Soviet

communism comes

defend ourselves

.

.

.

us for such a defense

There ." .

.

is

to the West,

no

it."

we

force strong

He

will

said to

me:

not be able to

enough

to mobilize

We know that communism fell in the end

because of the system's socioeconomic weakness, not because

it

has been truly rejected as an ideology or a philosophy. In certain quarters in the West, there are

still

those

who

regret

its

passing.

THE LESSONS OF RECENT HISTORY What

lessons can

"ideologies of evil"

we must

we

from those years dominated by

learn

and the struggle against them?

communism somehow

good, which

Firstly,

I

think

Only then can the harm done by

learn to go to the roots.

fascism or

49

enrich us and lead us toward

undoubtedly the proper Christian response.

is

"Do not be overcome by

but overcome

evil,

From

12:21), writes Saint Paul.

evil

with good"

point of view,

this

have a contribution to make. This will happen

if

we

we

in

(Rom

Poland

learn to go

beneath the surface, without yielding to the propaganda of the Enlightenment. tury,

We managed

and thereby

to resist this in the eighteenth cen-

in the course of the nineteenth century

we were

able to acquire the determination necessary to regain independ-

ence after the First World War. The fiber of the population was revealed once again in the struggle against

Poland was able to

resist until

communism, which

the victory of 1989.

We must not let

those sacrifices prove to have been in vain.

At the Congress of theologians of Central and Eastern

Europe held

at

Lublin in 1991, an attempt was

made to sum up

the

experience of the Churches during that time of struggle against

Communist

totalitarianism,

and

developed in that part of Europe ogy.

It is

is

different

something more than theology

testimony of

life,

testimony of what

God's hands, to "learn Christ," Father's

to testify to

who

it

it.

The theology

from Western theol-

in the strict sense.

means

It is

to place oneself in

entrusted himself into the

hands to the point where he cried out from the Cross:

"Father, into

your hands

I

commend my spirit"

(Lk 23:46). This

is

what "learning Christ" means: penetrating the depths of the mystery of

God, who

world.

I

in this

way brings about

met the participants

age to Jasna Gora,

in that

the

Redemption of the

Congress during

my pilgrim-

on the occasion of the World Youth Day, and

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

50

later

was able

I

these

to read

many

of the papers they had presented:

documents can be upsetting

in their simplicity

and

their

profundity. In trying to speak of these matters difficulty.

on the

They

are so varied

inexpressible. In

we encounter

and complex

all this,

however,

that they often verge

we glimpse

God, manifested through human mediation: both that

men

do,

draw forth marked by in

mercy"

and

also in their errors,

a greater good.

The

the action of in the

from which he

is

good

able to

entire twentieth century

a singular intervention of dives in misericordia

a serious

God, the Father who

(Eph

2:4).

is

was

"rich

THE MYSTERY OF MERCY

10.

Holy Father, could we dwell for a moment on the mystery of love

and mercy?

It

seems important

to

analyze in greater

depth the essence of these two divine attributes of such significance for us.

The psalm

Miserere

prayers that the

is

possibly one of the

Church inherited from the Old Testament.

The circumstances of its origin cry of a sinner, King David, soldier Uriah,

most beautiful

are well

who took

known.

It

was born

as the

for himself the wife of the

committed adultery with

her,

and then,

in order to

conceal the traces of his crime, arranged for her rightful husband to die

on the

battlefield. In a striking

passage from the Second

Book of Samuel, the prophet Nathan points an accusing David, declaring

him

"You are the man!" revelation,

and

is

(2

finger at

responsible for a great crime before God:

Sam

12:7).

The king experiences

a

kind of

overcome with profound emotion which

finds

expression in the words of the Miserere. This psalm probably occurs

more

often in the liturgy than any other:

52

MEMORY AND IDENTITY Miserere mei, Deus,

secundum misericordiam tuam; et

secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum

dele iniquitatem

meam.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea et

a peccato

Quoniam

iniquitatem

meum

etpeccatum

Tibi, tibi soli

et

y

meo munda me.

meam

contra

ego cognosce*,

me est semper.

peccavi

malum coram

tefeci,

ut iustus inveniaris in sententia tua et

aequus

There

words and

is

in iudicio tuo

a particular

.

.

beauty in these gently flowing Latin

in the gradual unfolding of thoughts, feelings,

and

emotions. Clearly the original language of the psalm Miserere was different,

but our ear

more than

is

accustomed to the Latin version, perhaps

to the vernacular translations, although these too are

melodious and evocative in their

own way:

O God, in your kindness, In your compassion blot out my offense. O wash me more and more from my guilt,

Have mercy on me,

and cleanse

me from my sin.

My offenses truly know them; I

my sin

is

always before me.

Against you, you alone, have

what

is

evil in

your sight

I

I

sinned,

have done.

THE MYSTERY OF MERCY That you

may be justified when you

give sentence,

and be without reproach when you judge,

O see, in guilt a sinner

was

I

I

was born,

conceived.

Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of

my heart teach me wisdom.

O purify me, then shall be clean; O wash me, shall be whiter than snow. I

I

Make me hear that the

rejoicing

and gladness,

bones you have crushed

From my sins turn away your and blot out

all

face

my guilt.

A pure heart create for me, O put a steadfast

may revive.

spirit

God,

within me.

me away from your presence nor deprive me of your holy spirit. Do

not cast

me again

Give

with a that

I

spirit

the joy of your help;

of fervor sustain me,

may teach

transgressors your ways

and sinners may return

O

rescue me, God,

to you.

my helper,

my tongue shall ring out your goodness. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.

and

(Ps(s) 50/5i:3-i7)

u

53

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

54

These verses require practically no comment. They speak for themselves, revealing the truth about man's moral

the holiness of his Creator. At the

God

infinite

is

He

God because he knows that sin contradicts

accuses himself before

that

fragility.

same time,

sinful

man knows

mercy, always ready to forgive and to restore

the sinner to righteousness.

Where does

man

of the Old Covenant.

of the

our sake

(cf.

2

Cor

all (cf. Is 53:12),

sin; in this

Son

much on

5:21).

so as to

I

Christ took

make

One God. We,

as the merciful

It is

upon himself the

satisfaction for justice

way he maintained

a

as people

as sin for

sins of us

wounded by justice

and

significant that Sister Faustina

saw

a balance

between the

God, yet she contemplated him not so

the Cross but rather in his subsequent state of risen

She thus linked her mystical sense of mercy with the mys-

tery of Easter, in

death

the

Son of God, treated by the Father

the mercy of the Father.

glory.

He knows

is

New Covenant, are able to recognize in the Davidic Miserere

the voice of Christ, the

this

mercy come from? David

the Father's infinite

(cf.

which Christ appears triumphant over

sin

and

Jn 20:19-23).

have chosen here to speak of

Sister Faustina

and the devo-

tion to the merciful Christ which she promoted, because she too

belongs to our time. She lived in the

first

decades of the twentieth

century and died before the Second World War. In that very period the mystery of Divine Mercy was revealed to her, and what she experienced she then recorded in her Diary. To those

who

survived the Second World War, Saint Faustina's Diary appears as a particular

Gospel of Divine Mercy, written from a twentieth-

century perspective. The people of that time understood her message.

They understood

it

in the light of the dramatic buildup of evil

during the Second World

War and

the cruelty of the totalitarian

THE MYSTERY OF MERCY systems.

It

was

imposed upon is

evil,

of which

alone does not have the

and human

he wills that truth

and

(cf. 1

all

Tim

man

is

to reveal that the limit

both perpetrator and victim,

Of course, there

ultimately Divine Mercy.

history

had wanted

as if Christ

last

history.

word

God

55

is

also justice, but this

in the divine

economy of world

can always draw good from

evil,

should be saved and come to knowledge of the

God

2:4):

risen, just as

is

Love

he appeared to

Jn 4:8). Christ, crucified

(cf. 1

Sister Faustina,

is

the supreme

revelation of this truth.

Here

I

should

return to what

like to

I

said about the experi-

ence of the Church in Poland during the period of resistance to

communism. the

same

It

seems to

me to have a universal value. I think that

applies to Sister Faustina

and her witness

to the mystery

of Divine Mercy. The patrimony of her spirituality was of great

importance, as

we know from

experience, for the resistance

against the evil

and inhuman systems of the time. The lesson

be drawn from

all

also in every part

became

clear

Faustina.

It

is

is

important not only for the Poles, but

of the world where the Church

is

present. This

during the beatification and canonization of

was

as if

does not have the

good

this

Christ had wanted

last

to

Sister

to say through her: "Evil

word!" The Paschal Mystery confirms that

ultimately victorious, that

love triumphs over hate.

life

conquers death and that

^^ ^^^^^^^^» THINKING MY COUNTRY (NATIVE LAND NATION cc„

—

STATE)

11.

ON THE CONCEPT OF PATRIA (NATIVE land)

After the eruption of evil

and

twentieth century, the world

is

the two great wars of the

turning into an increasingly

interdependent group of continents, the

same

—

it

is

time,

Europe—

states,

and

societies; at

or at least a considerable part of

tending toward not only economic but also political

union. Indeed, the range of issues for which the agencies of the

European Community have competence includes much

more than just economics and ordinary politics. The fall of the totalitarian systems in neighboring countries

possible for Poland to regain

ness

its

independence and

toward the West. At present we need

and with

Poland's relationship with Europe world. Until a short time ago there the consequences

—

profits

and

its

it

open-

redefine

the rest of the

was much

costs

to

made

discussion of

—of entry

into the

European Union. There was particular concern that the nation might lose

its

Poland's entry into a larger

and

the State

its

sovereignty.

community makes

us reflect on

culture

the possible consequences for a particular cause that has

been highly valued in Polish history: patriotism. Sustained

60

MEMORY AND IDENTITY by

this sentiment,

been prepared

dom

many

Poles through the centuries have

to give their lives in the struggle for the free-

of their native land, and

supreme

many have

indeed

made

that

sacrifice.

What

in

your view. Holy Father,

is

the

meaning of the

concepts of "native land," "nation," "culture"? How are they

one another?

related to

The Latin word patria ity

is

associated with the idea

and the

real-

of "father" (pater). The native land (or fatherland) can in

some ways be

—

patrimony

identified with

goods bequeathed to us by our nificant that

that

is,

the totality of

forefathers. In this context

it is

sig-

one frequently hears the expression "motherland."

Through personal experience we

all

know

what extent the

to

transmission of our spiritual patrimony takes place through our

Our

mothers.

native land

is

thus our heritage and

whole patrimony derived from that the territory, but the values

more

and the

given nation.

I

It

refers to the land,

spiritual content that

spoke about

this

make up

very matter to

when

the culture of a

UNESCO on June 2,

the Poles were deprived of

and the nation was partitioned, they maintained

their sense of spiritual patrimony, the culture received

forebears. Indeed, this sense developed in

narily

also the

importantly, the concept of patria includes

1980, pointing out that even their territory

heritage.

it is

them

in

from

their

an extraordi-

dynamic way.

It is

well

known

that the nineteenth century

marked

a high

point in Polish culture. Never before had the Polish nation pro-

duced writers of such genius Slowacki,

Zygmunt

Krasiriski,

as

Adam

Mickiewicz, Juliusz

Cyprian Norwid. Polish music had

ON THE CONCEPT OF PATRIA (NATIVE LAND)

6l

never before reached such heights as in the works of Fryderyk

Chopin, Stanisiaw Moniuszko, and other composers, through

whom

the artistic patrimony of the nineteenth century was

enriched for future generations. The same can be said of the plastic arts,

The nineteenth century

painting and sculpture.

century of Jan Matejko and Artur Grottger;

at the

is

the

turn of the

twentieth century Stanistaw Wyspianski appears on the scene, an

extraordinary genius in several czewski and others.

What

followed by Jacek Mal-

fields,

of Polish theater? The nineteenth cen-

tury was a pioneering century for theatrical

we

find the great Wojciech Boguslawski,

art: at

whose

the beginning

artistic

teaching

was received and developed by numerous others, especially

in

Southern Poland, in Krakow and in Lviv, which was then part of Poland.

The

drama and

serious

was

theater

in

through

living

popular theater.

same period of extraordinary

its

It

golden age, both in

must be

said that this

cultural maturity during the

nineteenth century fortified the Poles for the great struggle

which led the nation to regain been struck

off*

the

map

remained there ever

its

independence. Poland, having

of Europe, reappeared in 1918 and has

since.

Not even the insane storm of hate

unleashed from East and West between 1939 and 1945 could destroy

it.

From

this

it

can be seen that the very idea of "native land"

presupposes a deep bond between the spiritual and the material,

between culture and nation

territory. Territory seized

somehow becomes

nation vitality,

itself.

The

spirit

and struggles

expressed

all

a plea crying

by force from

a

out to the "spirit" of the

of the nation awakens, takes on fresh

to restore the rights of the land.

this concisely, in a reference to

enthuse us for work, and work

is

Norwid

work: "Beauty

to raise us up.""

is

to

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

62

Now

that

"native land," Jesus, the

him

all

11:27;

Lk

fundamental. In

he show him" (Jn

from the

and

fact,

is

name he

the

it is

me

been delivered to

by

my

and shows

doing; and greater works than these will

con-

5:20; cf. also Jn 5:2iff.). Christ's teachings

most profound elements of

native land

Here, on the lips of

10:22); "the Father loves the Son,

that he himself

tain the

is

often. "All things have

Father" (Mt

analysis of the concept of

we do well to turn to the Gospel.

word "Father"

most

uses

we have begun our

a theological vision of both

culture. Christ, as the

Father, presents himself to

Son who has come

humanity with

to us

a particular

patrimony, a particular heritage. Saint Paul speaks of this in the Letter to the Galatians:

forth his Son,

"When

born of woman

tion as sons ... So through

and

son;

if

the time had fully come, ... so that

God you

are

God

sent

we might

receive adop-

no longer

a slave, but a

a son then an heir" (Gal 4:4-7).

Christ says: "I

world" (Jn

16:28).

came from the Father and have come This coming took place via a

into the

woman,

his

mother. The heritage of the eternal Father truly passed through

Mary's heart and was thus enriched by

that the extraordinary

all

feminine genius of the mother could bring to Christ's patrimony. In

its

universal dimension, Christianity

which the mother's contribution the

Church

sion,

we

is

is

is

this

patrimony, in

highly significant. This

is

why

called mother: mater Ecclesia. In using this expres-

refer implicitly to the divine

patrimony that we share,

thanks to the coming of Christ.

So the Gospel gave a new meaning to the concept of native land. In

its

original sense,

it

means what we have

inherited

from

our fathers and mothers on earth. The inheritance we receive from Christ orientates the patrimony of tures toward the eternal

human

homeland. Christ

native lands

says: "I

and

came from

cul-

the

ON THE CONCEPT OF PATRIA (NATIVE LAND) Father and have

and going

come

I

am leaving the world

to the Father" (Jn 16:28). Christ's departure to

Father introduces a times

into the world; again

new homeland

into

we speak of the "heavenly home,"

63

human

go to the

history.

Some-

or "eternal home." These

expressions indicate what has been accomplished in the history of

man and

the history of nations through Christ's

world and through his leaving Christ's departure

this

coming

into the

world to go to the Father.

opened up the concept of native land

to

an

eternal, eschatological dimension, but took nothing away from

its

temporal content. of Polish history,

We know

how much

from experience, from the example the thought of the eternal

homeland

can inspire people to serve their earthly native land, motivating

manner of sacrifices

citizens to accept all

degree.

The

saints raised

by the Church

for

it

to the

—often

to a heroic

honor of the

in the course of history, especially in recent centuries,

altars

provide

eloquent proof of this.

The extent

it

native land as also

patrimony comes from God, but

comes from the world. Christ came

to

some

into the world to

confirm the eternal laws of God, the Creator. At the same time, however, he initiated an entirely

By

cultivation.

tion, Christ in

had created. writes

(cf. 1

his teaching,

and by

his

culture. Culture signifies life,

death,

some sense "recultivated" the world

Men and women became "God's

Cor

3:9).

form of "Christian societies

new

all

that the Father

field," as

Saint Paul

In this way, the divine patrimony took

culture." This

and nations, but

the culture of

and resurrec-

it

is

has also

found not only

in Christian

somehow made

humanity. To some extent

it

on the

its

mark

in

has transformed

that culture.

These reflections on the theme of the native land help us to explore

more deeply

the

meaning of the

so-called Christian

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

64

roots of Polish culture, generally.

When we

and indeed of European culture more

use this expression,

culture's historical roots, a historical character.

hand tory.

in

hand with

The

efforts

we normally

and with good reason,

The study of

since culture has

these roots, therefore, goes

that of our history, including our political his-

of the

first

Piast rulers," intended to strengthen

the Polish spirit through the establishment of a State

European ration.

think of the

territory,

were sustained by a particular

on

a defined

spiritual inspi-

An expression of this was the baptism of Mieszko I and his

people (966)

at the instigation

Dubravka. The influence

this

of his wife, the Bohemian Princess

had upon the

cultural orientation

of that Slav nation on the banks of the Vistula

is

well

known.

Those Slav peoples who received the Christian message via

Pais,

15

evangelized from Constantinople, received a different orientation. This distinction within the family of Slav nations lasts right

up

to the present,

lands and cultures.

marking the

spiritual

boundaries of native

12.

PATRIOTISM

A further question arises from these reflections on the concept ofpatria: How are we to understand patriotism in the light

of the preceding discussion?

The preceding explanation of the concept ofpatria and

its

link

with paternity and with generation points toward the moral value of patriotism. If

we

ask where patriotism appears in the

Decalogue, the reply comes without hesitation: the fourth

commandment, which

and mother. pietas

y

It is

obliges us to

it is

covered by

honor our

father

included under the umbrella of the Latin word

which underlines the

religious

and veneration due to parents. because for us they represent

We

God

dimension of the respect

must venerate our

parents,

the Creator. In giving us

life,

they share in the mystery of creation and therefore deserve a veneration related to that

which we give

to

God

the Creator. Patrio-

tism includes this sentiment inasmuch as the patria truly resembles a

mother. The spiritual patrimony which

native land

comes

to us

we

acquire from our

through our mother and

father,

and pro-

vides the basis for our corresponding duty of pietas.

Patriotism

is

a love for everything to

do with our native

land:

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

66

its

history,

its

traditions,

which extends

love

fruits

language,

its

also to the

its

natural features.

It is

a

works of our compatriots and the

of their genius. Every danger that threatens the overall good

of our native land becomes an occasion to demonstrate this love.

Our

history teaches us that Poles have always been willing to

make

great sacrifices to preserve this good, or to regain

many tombs

of soldiers

around the world

who

it.

The

fought for Poland on different fronts

testify to this:

they are widely dispersed, both at

home and abroad. Yet I believe that the same could be said of every country and every nation in Europe and throughout the world.

The such

native land

is

the

common good

of

all

and

citizens

as

imposes a serious duty. History amply documents the

it

often heroic courage with which Poles have carried out this duty,

when

it

was

a question of defending the greater

native land. This

is

good of

their

not to deny that some periods have witnessed

a decline in this readiness to accept sacrifice in order to

promote

values and ideals connected with the notion of native land. At

such times private interest and traditional Polish individualism have intervened as disruptive factors.

The which

native land, then,

social structures

starting

from primitive

whether

this evolution

goal.

is

a

complex

reality, in

the service of

have evolved and continue to evolve, tribal traditions.

of

human

The question

society has reached

Did not the twentieth century witness

arises

its final

a widespread ten-

dency to move toward supranational structures, even internationalism?

And

does this tendency not prove that small nations,

in order to survive, have to allow themselves to be absorbed into

larger political structures? still

These are legitimate questions. Yet

seems that nation and native land,

nent

realities.

like the family, are

it

perma-

In this regard, Catholic social doctrine speaks of

PATRIOTISM "natural" societies, indicating that both the family

have a particular bond with

human

67

and the nation

nature, which has a social

dimension. Every society's formation takes place in and through

no doubt.

the family: of this there can be

Yet

something similar

could also

be said about the nation. The cultural and historical

identity of

any society

is

preserved and nourished by

all

that

is

contained within this concept of nation. Clearly, one thing must

be avoided

at all costs: the risk

of allowing this essential function

of the nation to lead to an unhealthy nationalism. twentieth century has supplied

with disastrous consequences. a

danger?

I

think the right

some

Of

this,

the

all-too-eloquent examples,

How can we be delivered from such

way

is

through patriotism. Whereas

nationalism involves recognizing and pursuing the good of one's

own

nation alone, without regard for the rights of others, patriot-

ism,

on the other hand,

rights to

all

is

a love for one's native land that accords

other nations equal to those claimed for one's own.

Patriotism, in other words, leads to a properly ordered social love.

13-

THE CONCEPT OF NATION

Patriotism, as a sense of attachment to the nation

native land,

must not he allowed

alism. Its proper interpretation

sentiment

If

the

degenerate into nation-

to

depends on what we wish

to

we

to

How,

express through the concept of nation.

understand the nation,

and

this ideal entity to

then, are

which patriotic

refers?

we examine

we

the two terms carefully,

discover a close link

between the meaning of patria (native land) and nation. In Polish, in fact

(nation) ever,

has

—but not only

language

in that

comes from rod (generation); its

patria (ojczy-zna),

root in the term father {ojciec).

who, together with the mother, gives

—the term na-rod

life

The

to a

This "generation" by the father and mother

is

father

is

how-

the one

new human

being.

connected with pat-

rimony, a concept underpinning the notion of patria. Patrimony

and therefore patria are thus intimately linked with the idea of "generating"; but the

with birth

(cf.

word "nation"

the Latin

is

also etymologically linked

word natus meaning "born").

The term "nation" designates

a

community based

in a given

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

70

territory

and distinguished from other nations by

its

culture.

Catholic social doctrine holds that the family and the nation are

both natural Therefore, in

not the product of mere convention.

societies,

human history they cannot be

For example, the nation cannot be replaced by the

else.

though the nation tends naturally

we

replaced by anything State,

even

to establish itself as a State, as

from the history of individual European nations including

see

Poland. In his

work Wyzwolenie (Liberation), Stanislaw Wyspiariski

wrote: "The nation

must

exist as a State

." l6 .

Still less is it

.

possible

to identify the nation with so-called democratic society, since

here

it

is

a case of

Democratic society nation

is

the

two

is

distinct, albeit interconnected orders.

closer to the State than

ground on which the

democracy comes

later, in

State

is

the nation. Yet the

born. The issue of

is

the arena of internal politics.

After these preliminary remarks about the nation, to turn

good

once again to Sacred Scripture: here we find the elements

of an authentic theology of the nation. This Israel.

it is

The Old Testament

chosen by the Lord

as his

more

especially true for

describes the genealogy of this nation,

own

people.

ally refers to biological ancestors. Yet

ogy, perhaps even

is

The term "genealogy" usu-

we can

also speak of geneal-

validly, in a spiritual sense.

Our thoughts

turn here to Abraham. Not only do the Israelites trace their ancestry to him, but in a spiritual sense, so too 4:11-12)

do Christians

and Muslims. The story of Abraham and

of his unusual paternity, of the birth of Isaac

how

—

his call

(cf.

Rom

by God,

all this illustrates

the road to nationhood passes through "generation" via the

family and the clan.

At the beginning, then, there

is

an act of generation. Abra-

ham's wife, Sarah, already advanced in years, gives birth to a son.

Abraham now

has a descendant in the

flesh,

and gradually from

THE CONCEPT OF NATION his family a clan

is

formed. The Book of Genesis recounts the suc-

development of

cessive stages in the

through

Isaac,

down

this clan:

from Abraham,

patriarch Jacob has twelve

in their turn, beget the twelve tribes

which constitute the nation of

God

The

to Jacob.

and those twelve sons,

sons,

Jl

Israel.

chose that nation, confirming their election through his

mighty acts

in history,

beginning with their deliverance from Egypt

under the leadership of Moses. From the time of the great lawgiver

onward, we can speak of an

consisted purely of families

and

not be reduced to this alone.

It

Israelite nation,

even

if at first it

of

clans. Yet the history

Israel

can-

also has a spiritual dimension.

God

chose this nation in order to reveal himself, in and through to the world. This revelation has

reaches

Moses of

its

was

their faith in the

which defined the

faith,

the Decalogue, that

God

is,

is

speaks to

spiritual life

one God, Creator of heaven and

spiritual life

of Israel

—and alongside

the moral law inscribed

of stone received by Moses on

mission

Abraham and

and through him he guides the

earth,

Israel's

starting point in

culmination in the mission of Moses.

"face to face,"

Israel. It

its

Israel,

Mount

on the

their

tablets

Sinai.

defined as "Messianic" because from that

nation the Messiah was to come, the Anointed one of the Lord.

"When

the time had fully come,

who became man through

womb

of a daughter of

God

sent forth his son" (Gal 4:4),

the action of the Holy Spirit in the

Israel,

Mary of

Nazareth.

The mystery of

the Incarnation, foundational for the Church, forms part of the

theology of the nation. In becoming

man, the consubstantial Son,

eternal

a "generation" of a different order.

Holy

Spirit." Its fruit is

sonship. This

is

flesh, that

Word It

is,

in

becoming

of the Father, initiated

was generation "from the

our supernatural sonship, our adoptive

not about being born "of the

flesh," in the

words

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

72

of the Evangelist Saint John.

nor of the (cf.

Jn

will

1:13).

It is

about being "born not of blood

of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God"

Those who are born "of God" become members of

the "divine nation," to use an apt formula dear to Ignacy Rozycki. It

resembles the expression "People of God," which gained cur-

rency through the Second Vatican Council. In using this image in the constitution

Lumen Gentium,

to refer to those

who

no doubt intends

the Council

"were generated of God" through the grace

of the Redeemer, the incarnate Son of God,

who

died and rose

again for our salvation. Israel

Scripture.

is

the only nation

It is

a history

here

God

after

having spoken in

whose history

recounted in Sacred

is

which forms part of divine Revelation:

reveals himself to humanity. In the "fullness of time,"

many and various ways

became man. The mystery of the Incarnation

"All

men

new Israel,

that

is

earth, since

its

new People

accordingly present in

is

citizens,

kingdom whose nature

who is

are taken

from

all

the

New

all.

Covenant,

leads into the

New Covenant. of

God

.

.

.

The

the nations of the

all

nations, are of a

nations

place in the history of salvation. Christ

bring salvation to

all

forms part of

not earthly but heavenly."

words, this means that the history of its

it

the people of the

are called to belong to the

one People of God

also

same time

the history of Israel, although at the history of the

men, he himself

to

came

is

17

In other

called to take

into the world to

The Church, the People of God founded on

is

the

new and

universal Israel: here every

nation has equal rights of citizenship.

14-

HISTORY

"The history of all nations of salvation " In this

is

called to enter into the history

statement

we

discover a

sion within the concepts of "nation"

salvation-history dimension.

and

verse

it

}

more

detail?

could be said that the whole created uni-

and therefore has

subject to time

is

"native land": the

Holy Father how would you

describe this very important aspect in

Broadly speaking,

new dimen-

a history. Living

beings have a particular kind of history. Yet not one of them, no other animal species possesses a historical dimension of the kind that ily.

we attribute to man, or to

Man's historicity

tify history.

He

is

is

nations, or to the entire

human fam-

expressed in his specific capacity to objec-

not simply subject to the course of events, nor

does he limit himself to acting and behaving in a certain way as

an individual or as a to reflect

the

way

it

on

member

his history

and

of a group: he also has the capacity

to objectify

it,

unfolds stage by stage. Individual

a similar capacity, as

do human

societies,

Like individuals, then, nations are

memory. So

it is

giving an account of

human

and

families have

especially nations.

endowed with

historical

understandable that they should seek to record

in

74

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

writing what they remember. In this way, history becomes histori-

ography. People write the history of the particular group to which

they belong. Sometimes they also write their personal history, but

more important

for

respective nations.

our purposes

And

recorded in writing, are

is

what they write about

their

the histories of nations, objectified and

among

the essential elements of culture

the element which determines the nation's identity in the temporal

dimension. "Can history ever swim against the tide of conscience?" I

asked this question years ago in a

country."

18

It

arises

patriotism. In the is

from

poem

worth quoting some

Freedom

—

"Thinking

extracts

from the poem

here:

a continuing conquest,

cannot simply be possessed!

It

comes

but keeping

as a gift,

and struggle

it is

are inscribed

on

a struggle.

pages, hidden yet

open.

For freedom you pay with that your

all

your being, therefore

call

freedom

which allows you,

in

paying the price,

to possess yourself ever anew.

At such a price do we enter history and touch her epochs.

Where

is

who

the dividing line between those generations

paid too

little

and those who paid too much?

On which

my

tried to formulate a response. Perhaps

It

Gift

entitled

on the concepts of nation and

reflection I

poem

side of that line are

we?

it

HISTORY Over the struggles of conscience, history places

75

a layer of

events,

Brimming with

victories

and

defeats.

History does not conceal them

—

it

proclaims them.

How weak the people that accepts defeat, that forgets until

its

its call

to keep vigil

hour should come.

The hours continually return on the

great clockface of

history.

Herein the liturgy of life.

That

vigil is the Lord's

which comes

word and

the people's

word

to us ever anew.

The hours become

a

psalm of ceaseless conversions.

Let us take part in the Eucharist of the worlds.

The

text

ends thus:

O earth, you do not cease to be

an atom of our age.

Learning

we

new hope,

pass through this time toward a

And we fruit

new

earth.

raise you, ancient earth,

of the love of generations,

the love that overcame hate. 19

The

history of every individual,

and therefore of every people,

possesses a markedly eschatological dimension.

The Second Vatican

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

76

Council has

and

much

to say

on

this subject

et Spes. It

is

throughout

its

teaching,

Lumen Gentium and Gaudium

especially in the constitutions

an important way of reading history in the

Gospel. The eschatological aspect

means

that

human

light of the life

makes

sense and the history of nations also makes sense. Admittedly, is

it

people and not nations that have to face God's judgment, but

in the

judgment pronounced on

individuals, nations too are in

some way judged.

Can

there be such a thing as an eschatology of the nation?

Nations have an exclusively historical meaning, whereas man's vocation

is

eschatological. Yet man's vocation leaves

the history of nations. This

express in the

poem quoted

is

another idea that

its I

mark on

wanted

to

above, perhaps a further echo of the

Second Vatican Council's teaching. Peoples recount their history through narratives recorded in

documents of many

culture takes shape.

different types,

The

language, with which

through which national

principal instrument of this process

man

expresses the truth about the world

and about himself, and he shares with others the

fruits

of his

investigations in various fields of knowledge. In this way,

munication takes

is

place, leading to greater

com-

knowledge of the truth

and thereby deepening and consolidating the

identities of the

respective interlocutors.

In the light of these considerations

the concept of "native land." In

the experience of

my own

national identities were

my address to UNESCO,

native land,

chord with delegates from still

we can now clarify further

societies

and

I

recalled

this struck a particular

whose

native lands

in the process of formation.

and

We Poles

passed through that phase around the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries, as

we were reminded on

the occasion of the

HISTORY millennium of Poland's baptism. tism,

we

77

When we speak of Poland's bap-

are not simply referring to the sacrament of Christian

initiation received

by the

historical sovereign of Poland, but

first

which was decisive

also to the event

and the formation of

its

for the birth of the nation

Christian identity. In this sense, the date

of Poland's baptism marks a turning point. Poland as a nation

emerges from

its

prehistory at that

history. Prehistory records the

moment and begins to

exist in

presence of individual Slav tribes.

In ethnic terms, perhaps the

most

significant event for the

foundation of the nation was the union of two great

tribes: the

Polanians of the North and the Vistulans of the South. Yet these

were not the only Silesian,

tribes.

The

Polish nation also incorporated the

Pomeranian, and Mazovian peoples. From the time of

Poland's baptism, the different tribes began to exist as the Polish nation.

NATION AND CULTURE 15-

Holy Father, tity

in discussing the cultural

What

understood?

How

does

it

How

is

mean and what

do we define more precisely the

role

culture to he

is its

genesis?

of culture in the

of a nation?

The origins of history— in the

Book of

traceable to that

same

source. Everything

ground and breathed into a living being"

unlike any other. says: "Let there

be

.

knows

—

are

.

of dust from the

2:7).

life,

in creating other beings

in this

ness"

(Gn

man

in his

1:26).

make man The

Biblical

in

and man

This decision by the Creator was

one case

he, as

it

God

our image, according

author goes on to

image; in the image of

God

simply

were, goes back

into himself for a kind of Trinitarian consultation decides: "Let us

found

contained in these

his nostrils the breath of

(Gn

,"

is

God formed man

Whereas .

as every believer

Genesis. Likewise the origins of culture are

simple words: "The Lord

became

historical iden-

of the nation, you are addressing a complex subject.

Certain questions present themselves:

life

and

say:

to

and then our

"God

like-

created

he created him; male and

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

80

God

female he created them. fruitful

and multiply,

Finally,

on the

sixth

them and

the earth and subdue

fill

said to them: it"

(Gn

Be

1:27-28).

day of creation: "God saw everything that he

had made, and indeed, words

blessed

it

was very good" (Gn

Book of

in the first chapter of the

1:31).

We find these commonly

Genesis,

attributed to the so-called "priestly tradition."

work of

In the second chapter, the

theme of man's creation tively,

and more

is

treated

psychologically.

of his solitude, on being

He

the visible universe.

he

not one of them

world.

names

having considered is

descrip-

like

all

to the creatures sur-

living beings in turn,

him.

He

feels

alone in the

God provides for him in his loneliness by deciding to create

woman. According

to the Biblical text, the Creator causes a deep

upon the man, during which he forms Eve from one of

sleep to

fall

his ribs.

As he awakes from

sleep, the

man

upon the new creature like himself and he at last

more

into existence in the midst of

gives suitable

And

extensively,

begins with man's awareness

It

summoned

rounding him. realizes that

more

the Yahwist redactor, the

is

bone of my bones and

way, the female of the

human

flesh of

species

is

looks with

cries

amazement

out with joy: "This

my flesh" (Gn 2:23). In this placed in the world along-

side the male. There follows the

famous passage which

profound commitment involved

in living as a couple: "Therefore a

man

leaves his father

and

his

mother and

reveals the

cleaves to his wife,

and

they become one flesh" (Gn 2:24). This union in the flesh leads to the mysterious experience of parenthood.

The Book of Genesis goes on beings, created felt

by God

as

to recount that the

two human

male and female, were both naked and

no shame. They remained thus

until the

moment when

they

allowed themselves to be seduced by the serpent, symbol of the evil spirit. It

was the serpent who persuaded them

to take the fruit

NATION AND CULTURE of the tree of knowledge of good and

words

these insinuating

that

be opened and you will be

like

not

For

die!

When

both the

promptings of the

evil spirit,

(Gn

3:4-5).

began to inal

feel

shame

The

innocence.

encouraging them with

at their

when you

speaks of a

the

they

woman

the

woman

bodies.

They had

serpent's head, that

Redeemer and Keeping will

now

we read "Be

mind

return to the

that

fruitful

God

(cf.

this brief sketch first

created

in his

and multiply, and

fill

will

outlines

God

crush the

coming of the

of man's original

state,

we

Book of Genesis, where

image and likeness and

the earth

have dominion over the fish of the sea" (Gn the earliest

they

Gn 3:15).

chapter of the

man

on the

relationship. Yet

to say he foretells the

evil"

both the

sin for

whose offspring

work of salvation

his

in

is

will

lost their orig-

Book of Genesis

mutual

for their

in the future

acted

knew they were naked and

third chapter of the

man, and

your eyes

it

God, knowing good and

man and

own

eat of

most eloquently the consequences of original

woman and

command: "You

to disobey God's clear

God knows

will

evil,

8l

and subdue

1:28).

said:

it;

and

These words are

and most complete definition of human

culture.

To

subdue and have dominion over the earth means to discover and confirm the truth about being human, about the humanity that belongs equally to ity,

God

man and

to

woman. To

us and to our

has entrusted the visible world as a

In other words, plish the truth

gift

and

human-

also as a task.

he has assigned us a particular mission: to accom-

about ourselves and about the world.

We

must be

guided by the truth about ourselves, so as to be able to structure the visible world according to truth, correctly using

purposes, without abusing

it.

it

to serve

our

In other words, this twofold truth

about the world and about ourselves provides the basis for every intervention by us

upon

creation.

82

MEMORY AND IDENTITY This mission to the visible world, as outlined in the

Book of

Genesis, has evolved throughout history, gaining pace to a

remarkable degree in modern times. tion of machines: since that time

It all

began with the inven-

we have transformed not only

the raw materials supplied by nature but also our In this sense

tion never changes:

norm

we have

to

governing industrial produc-

remain

we

Book of Genesis, we

grasp

now,

industrial civilization.

civilization has always

From

is its

cognitive dimension.

time to analyze in depth the Genesis, from which

human

all

first

this

is

culture depends not only

side world, but also

toward the

step,

the beginning until

been linked to the growth of our

knowledge of the truth about the world, that of science. This

discover the

and fundamental

original

its

meaning; from here we can proceed, step by

modern

are han-

man-made products.

In the opening pages of the

essence of culture, and

about

faithful to the truth

and about the object of our work, whether we

dling natural raw materials or

truth of

products.

human work has acquired the character of industrial

production. Yet the essential

ourselves

own

is

We

to say the

growth

could usefully take

three chapters of the

ultimately derived.

Book of

Of

course

on our knowledge of the out-

on our knowledge of ourselves, including our

twofold gender: "male and female he created them" (Gn

The

first

chapter of the

tion of culture

when

Book of Genesis completes

this illustra-

command

concerning

it

relates

God's

human

generation: "Be fruitful and multiply,

subdue

it"

(Gn

1:28).

1:27).

The second and

fill

the earth and

third chapters provide fur-

ther material that helps us to understand God's plan. Here

we

read about man's solitude, about the creation of a being like him,

about the wonder

from

his flesh,

felt

by the

man on

seeing the

woman drawn

about the vocation to marriage, and,

finally,

about

NATION AND CULTURE

83

the entire history of original innocence, tragically lost through

—

original sin love based

all this

expresses the importance for culture of a

on knowledge. This

fundamentally

is

the source of

the source of a creative

still, it is

expression through

love

whom

had made, and indeed, "very good"

is

in the is

as

is,

were, reflected in

"God saw everything

said:

was very good" (Gn

and likeness, in

it

all

1:31).

The

art,

lies at

that he

predicate

man and woman,

cre-

their original innocence

and

first

nakedness characteristic of the time preceding the

what

of

it

it is

applied especially to the

ated in God's image

that seeks

human culture, from the outset, is the ele-

ment of beauty. The beauty of the universe God, of

wonder

art.

Deeply ingrained in

the eyes of

new life. More

the very heart of the culture that

is

This

Fall.

expressed in works

whether they be paintings, sculptures, buildings, pieces of

music, or other products of creative imagination and thought.

Every nation draws Poles, for

life

from the works of its own

also to the centuries-old

this

and

that followed,

my

during

first

poetry to be written down,

earliest Polish

and

1979,

melody which accompanies

we draw life. When I was

pilgrimage to Poland,

young people gathered on Lech's

Hill.

I

in

Gniezno

spoke of

The song Bogurodzica

This

the tradition of Adalbert, Poland's patron saint, to is

from the Gniezno tradition

actually attributed.

It is

in

this to the

specifically

the song

from

it:

comes is

We

example, trace ours back to the song Bogurodzica

{Mother of God), the

all

culture.

in Polish culture.

whom

a tradition stretching

back

through centuries. The song Bogurodzica became the national anthem, and

it

guided the Polish and Lithuanian armies

battle against the

Teutonic Order

tinct tradition, originating

Saint Stanislaus.

It

at

Grunwald/ There

from Krakow and linked

found expression

in the Latin

in their is

a dis-

to the cult of

hymn, Gaude,

84

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

Mater Polonia,

still

sung

in Latin today, just as Bogurodzica

two traditions intertwine. Indeed,

in old Polish. These

is

sung

for a long

time Latin, alongside Polish, was the language of Polish culture.

Much

poetry was written in Latin, including that of Janicius, for

example, as well as political and moral

those of

treatises, like

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski or Orzechowski, and likewise the

work of Nicolaus Copernicus: De

underwent

lestium. Literature in Polish

from Mikolaj Rey

to Jan

revolutionibus orbium caea parallel

whom

Kochanowski, with

renown throughout Europe. Kochanowski's (PsaXterz

Dawidow)

is still

death of his daughter

development, it

attained

Psalter of

David

sung today. His Laments ( Treny) on the

mark a high point in lyric poetry. Moreover,

The Farewell of the Greek Envoys (Odprawa postow greckich)

is

a

magnificent play drawing upon ancient models.

What I have said here reminds me of my address to UNESCO on the

role of culture in the

speech lay in the fact that

testimony to culture

—

it

life

of nations. The impact of that

offered not a theory of culture but a

the simple testimony of one who, through

personal experience, could express what culture had meant in the history of his

own

nation and what

What

every nation.

tures,

human

represents in the history of

the role of culture in the

is

We must

African nations, for example? treasury of the

it

ask

race, the treasury of so

how

life

of young

this

common

many different cul-

can be built up over time, and we must ask

respect the proper relationship between economics

without destroying

this greater

in deference to the forces. It matters

best to

and culture

human good for the sake of profit,

overwhelming power of one-sided market

little,

in fact,

whether

this

kind of tyranny

imposed by Marxist totalitarianism or by Western the course of

how

my address

I

said,

is

liberalism. In

among other things:

NATION AND CULTURE

Man lives a really human life thanks to culture is

a specific

is

that

'is'

.

.

men who

'for'

by

The nation

.

are united

and

culture

is,

it is

and

'being'

.

.

.

.

Culture

.

Culture

man, becomes more man,

as

in fact, the great

by various

The nation

culture.

ties,

community of

but above

all,

and

therefore the great educator of

men

community which

in the

community.

It is

possesses a history that goes

beyond the history of the individual and the family

am the

pre-

exists 'through' culture

may 'be more'

in order that they this

'existing'

through which man,

more

cisely

way of man's

.

85

...

I

son of a nation which has lived the greatest expe-

riences of history,

which

to death several times,

remained

spite of partitions

power but

neighbors have condemned

but which has survived and

has kept

itself. It

sovereignty, not

its

its

identity,

and

it

and foreign occupations,

has kept, in its

national

by relying on the resources of physical by relying on

solely

its

culture. This culture

turned out, under the circumstances, to be more powerful

than

all

other forces.

What

I

say here concerning the

right of the nation to the foundation of

future

but

is

it is

not, therefore, the

its

and

culture

its

echo of any 'nationalism',

always a question of a stable element of

human

experience and of the humanistic perspective of man's

development. There society, It is

which

is

fundamental sovereignty of

manifested in the culture of the nation.

a question of the sovereignty through which, at the

same time, man

What national

exists a

I

life

is

supremely sovereign.

said

on

that occasion about the role of culture in

was

my

personal testimony to the Polish

spirit.

My

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

86

convictions

on

this subject

had already acquired

dimension. At that time, on June of

my

pontificate.

I

2,

had completed

neys: in Latin America, in Africa,

neys

I

became convinced

my

history of

I

was

1

few of

and

in Asia.

me

greatly in

my

had gained of the

I

I

had acquired of

bond between me and the peo-

was meeting. Indeed, the experience of

helped

apostolic jour-

During those jour-

and the knowledge

native land,

second year

in the

my

a

that the experience

the value of the "nation," created a ple

1980,

a universal

my own

native land

encounters with people and nations

all

over the world.

My words

UNESCO

to

about national identity

as expressed

through culture were particularly well received by the delegates

from Third World countries. Some delegates from Western Europe

— so

it

seemed

might ask why. One of my Equatorial Africa: an

me

to

first

—had

greater reservations.

apostolic journeys

enormous country,

made up of many

single nation be

different clans

and

formed out of such great

African countries are in a similar situation.

to Zaire, in

which 250 languages

in

are spoken, including four principal languages,

lation

was

One

and with

How

tribes.

diversity?

Maybe

in

a

popucan a

Almost

all

terms of the

development of their national consciousness they have reached a stage corresponding to the era of in Polish history. thesis

which

I

Our

Mieszko

I

or Boleslaw the Brave

kings faced similar challenges. The

first

presented at

UNESCO

about the formation of

national identity through culture struck a chord with the most

needs of all young nations in search of ways of consolidating

vital

their

own

sovereignty.

Modern Western European which could be denned

countries have arrived at a stage

as "post- identity."

of the effects of the Second World mentality

among European

It

me that one form a common

seems to

War was

to

citizens, against the

background of a

NATION AND CULTURE continent tending toward unification. Obviously, there are reasons for this trend toward a united Europe.

One

87

many

reason

is

surely the gradual demise of exclusively nationalistic categories in people's sense of identity. Western

European nations,

as a rule,

do

not consider that they risk losing their national identity. The

French are not afraid of ceasing to be French by virtue of their entry into the European Union, and the same ians, the Spanish, etc.

Nor

true of the

Ital-

are the Poles afraid of this, although

the history of their national identity Historically, the Polish spirit has tion.

is

is

much more

had

complex.

a very interesting evolu-

Probably no other European nation has evolved in quite the

same way. From the outset, at the time when the Polanian, Vistulan, and other

tribes

were merging,

it

was the Polish

spirit

of the Piast

dynasty that provided the unifying element: theirs was, so to speak, the "pure" Polish spirit. Later, for five centuries, the Polish spirit of

the Jagiellonian era prevailed.

22

This

made

possible the emergence

many cultures, many

reli-

gions. All Poles bear within themselves a sense of this religious

and

of a Republic embracing

national diversity.

I

many

myself

nations,

come from Matopolska, from

the terri-

tory of the ancient Vistulan tribe, closely linked to Krakow. in

Malopolska

there

was

—and perhaps more

in

Krakow than elsewhere

a sense of proximity to Vilnius, to Lviv,

A further element of great tion of Poland least a third

of

importance

and

to the East.

in the ethnic

was the presence of the Jews.

my

And yet

I

composi-

remember

classmates at elementary school in

that at

Wadowice

were Jews. At secondary school they were fewer. With some

on very was is

friendly terms.

And what

their Polish patriotism.

multiplicity

struck

Fundamental

me

I

was

about some of them

to the Polish spirit, then,

and pluralism, not limitation and

closure.

though, that the "Jagiellonian" dimension of the Polish

It

seems,

spirit,

men-

tioned above, has sadly ceased to be an evident feature of our time.

THINKING "EUROPE" (POLAND EUROPECHURCH)

—

EUROPE AS "NATIVE LAND" l6.

After reflecting on the basic concepts of native land, nation,

freedom, and culture,

it

seems appropriate, Holy Father,

return to the theme of Europe, to look at

with the Church and this

to

How do you What

is

your vision of

assess the events of the past, the pres-

ent situation of the Continent,

millennium?

relationship

consider the role of Poland within

broader context. Holy Father, what

Europe?

its

to

and

its

prospects in the third

are Europe's responsibilities for the

future of mankind?

A

Pole cannot reflect in depth

on

his native land

without

speaking of Europe and discussing the way the Church has

helped to shape these two

one another, yet therefore,

their

realities.

They

mutual influence

our discussion

will

are clearly distinct is

from

profound. Inevitably,

touch upon one or other of these

elements: native land, Europe, the Church, the world.

Poland

is

part of Europe.

It

is

a clearly defined territory

located in the European Continent, and

it

came

into contact with

Latin Christianity through neighboring Bohemia.

When we speak

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

92

we should

of the birth of Christianity in Poland,

back to the origins of Christianity Apostles,

we

the two continents

and

at that

Peter,

our minds

in Europe. In the Acts of the

read that Saint Paul, while proclaiming the Gospel in

Asia Minor, received a mysterious

began

cast

(cf.

call to cross

Acts 16:9).

the border between

The evangelization of Europe

moment. The Apostles

themselves, especially Paul

brought the Gospel to Greece and Rome; with the pass-

ing of centuries, the seeds

sown by the Apostles

yielded abundant

The Gospel entered Europe by a variety of routes:

fruit.

peninsula, the area that

peninsula, the British

is

now

Isles,

the Italian

France and Germany, the Iberian

and Scandinavia.

It is

significant that

one of the main centers from which missionaries

set out,

other

than Rome, should have been Ireland. In the East, Byzantine Christianity spread outward from Constantinople, likewise the later Slav

form.

Of particular importance

the mission of the brothers Cyril their task of evangelization

ing in contact with

and Methodius, who

Rome. At

its

on

was no

and those of the West.

do we begin our discussion of Europe by speaking of

which formed Europe, giving birth

is

that

it

was evange-

to the civilization of

peoples and their cultures. As the faith spread through the

Continent, ples,

it

favored the formation of individual European peo-

sowing the seeds of cultures different

together by a patrimony of Gospel. In this

upon is

set off

that time, of course, there

evangelization? Perhaps the simplest answer lization

world was

from Constantinople, while remain-

division between Christians of the East

Why

for the Slav

way

common

it

was

but linked

values derived from the

the pluralism of national cultures developed

a platform of values shared

how

in character,

in the first

throughout the Continent. That

millennium, and also to some degree,

despite the emergence of divisions, in the second millennium:

EUROPE AS "NATIVE LAND" Europe continued to

93

by the unity of its founding values, amid

live

the pluralism of national cultures.

made

In arguing that evangelization

bution to the formation of Europe, the influence of the ancient world.

a

we do not intend

The Church

ing out her task of evangelization, absorbed

older cultural patrimony.

am

Greece and Rome, but

itage of

the

I

Church encountered

fundamental contrito devalue

herself, in carry-

and transformed the

speaking principally of the herI

also include that of the peoples

as she spread

throughout the Continent.

In the evangelization of Europe, which supplied a certain cultural

unity to the Latin world in the West and the Byzantine world in the East, the

now

call

Church acted according

to the criteria of

what we

inculturation. She contributed to the growth of native

and national

How

cultures.

fitting, therefore, that

the

Church

and then

Saints Cyril

and Methodius patrons of Europe, thereby pointing

to the great

should have proclaimed

work of inculturation

first

Saint Benedict

that took place over the centuries,

reminding us that the Church lungs." This a healthy

is

in

Europe must breathe with "two

a metaphor, of course, but

organism needs two lungs

an eloquent one.

more

Just as

in order to breathe properly,

so too the Church, as a spiritual organism, needs these tions in order to attain

and

fully to the riches

two

tradi-

of Revelation.

The long formation of Christian Europe continued throughout the

first

millennium and much of the second. In the process,

not only did the Christian character of Europe take shape but also the European spirit. visible

The

fruits

of this process are perhaps more

today than they were in patristic or medieval times. In those

days, of course,

much

of the world was unknown. To the East

of Europe lay the mysterious Asian Continent with cultures

and

religions older than Christianity.

its

ancient

The enormous

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

94

American Continent was fifteenth century.

unknown

totally

The same obviously

was discovered even

As

later.

until the

end of the

applies to Australia,

for Africa, in ancient

which

and medieval

times only the northern, Mediterranean part was known. Therefore

mature

only

later,

reflection in

when

"European" categories could take place

the entire globe began to be explored. In earlier

times,

we thought in categories associated with particular empires:

firstly

the Egyptian Empire, then the constantly changing empires

of the Middle East, then the Empire of Alexander the Great, and, finally,

the

Roman

Empire.

The Acts of the Apostles recount an event of

great signifi-

cance for the evangelization of Europe and for the history of the

European Athens,

spirit.

when

I

refer to

what happened

Saint Paul arrived there

at the

Areopagus in

and delivered

a deservedly

famous speech:

how

extremely religious you are in every

Athenians,

I

see

way. For as

I

went through the

city

and looked

found among them an

the objects of your worship,

I

with the inscription, 'To an

unknown

fore

you worship

God who made

as

unknown,

the world

Lord of heaven and

this

I

God'.

What

is

proclaim to you. The

and everything

in

it,

he served by

human

though he needed anything, since he himself life

he made

all

and breath and

all

things.

he

who

is

made

hands, as

gives to

From one

all

ancestor

nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he

allotted the times of their existence

of the places where they would search for

altar

there-

earth, does not live in shrines

by human hands, nor

mortals

carefully at

God

in the

hope

live,

that they

and the boundaries so that they

might

would

feel after

him

EUROPE AS and find him For

—though indeed he him we

of

us.

as

even some of your

'In

live

is

own

we

ignorance,

now

he

from each one being';

are

are God's offspring,

we

is

or

like gold,

art

silver,

all

repent, because he has fixed a day

the world judged in righteousness

human

people everywhere to

on which he

will

him from

As we read

have

man whom he has

by a

appointed, and of this he has given assurance to raising

or

and imagination of

has overlooked the times of

commands

95

we

an image formed by the

God

far

poets have said, 'For

ought not to think that the deity

mortals. While

not

and move and have our

indeed his offspring.' Since

stone,

NATIVE LAND"

all

by

the dead. (Acts 17:22-31)

this passage,

we observe

that Paul arrived at the

Areopagus well prepared: he knew Greek philosophy and poetry. In his address to the Athenians he started out

"unknown God,"

to

whom

from the idea of the

they had dedicated an

altar.

He

wisdom,

described the eternal attributes of this God: pure

spirit,

omnipotence, omnipresence, and

way, through a

justice. In this

kind of theodicy in which he appealed solely to rational data, Paul prepared his hearers to of the Incarnation. in

Man,

his

listen to the

He went on

in Christ crucified

and

proclamation of the mystery

to speak of the Revelation of risen.

But

it

was

point that

Athenian audience, hitherto seemingly well disposed to what

he had been saying, began to react negatively. of the resurrection of the dead, will

at this

God

hear you again about

mission

at the

to tradition,

some mocked; but

him and

in failure,

believed.

others said 'We

it

was

even

if

some of his

Among

was Dionysius the Areopagite.

they heard

So

this'" (Acts 17:32).

Areopagus ended

teners remained with

"When

that Paul's lis-

these, according

96

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

Why

have

I

quoted here the whole of Paul's address

Areopagus? Because

it

would achieve

tianity

evangelization,

which

to virtually every

serves as an introduction to

at the

what Chris-

in Europe. After the magnificent progress of in the course of the first

millennium spread

European country, came the Christian univer-

salism of the Middle Ages: the era of simple, strong, and pro-

found

the era of

faith;

Summae

stupendous

Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals and

theologiae. Europe's evangelization

seemed

not only complete, but thoroughly mature, not just in terms of philosophical and theological thought, but also in sacred art

and

architecture, in social solidarity (guilds, confraternities, hos-

pitals,

.

.

.

).

Yet

from 1054 onward,

this

seemingly mature Europe

was torn apart by the profound wound of the "Eastern schism." Within the single organism of the Church, the two lungs had ceased to function together: each had begun to form an almost

independent organism. This division cast a shadow over the itual life

spir-

of Christian Europe from the beginning of the second

millennium.

The

arrival of

modern times brought

divisions, this time in the West.

further disputes

Martin Luther's stand marked the

onset of the Protestant Reformation.

He was

such as Calvin and Zwingli. The

between the Church

British Isles

and

rift

followed by others,

and the See of Peter should be seen

in the

in a similar light.

Having been united throughout the Middle Ages from the

reli-

gious perspective, Western Europe suffered grave divisions on the threshold of

modern

times,

and these became more deeply

entrenched in the centuries that followed. There were

political

consequences, according to the principle cuius regio eius

religio

the religion of a territory cally,

is

to

be determined by the

these consequences included wars of religion.

—

ruler. Tragi-

EUROPE AS NATIVE LAND forms part of European history and

All this

on the European

heavily

spirit,

shaping

its

it

has weighed

vision of the future

and anticipating further divisions and new sufferings emerge cified

later.

and

Yet

risen,

it

should be pointed out that

remained a

of the Reformation

era.

97

that

would

faith in Christ, cru-

common denominator for Christians

They were divided

in their relationship

with the Church and with Rome, but they did not reject the truth of Christ's Resurrection, as

done

at the

Areopagus

unfortunately,

The tery

it

some of

in Athens.

Or

Saint Paul's listeners at least,

would gradually come

not

to that.

and

came

First

the French Enlightenment, followed all its

the Enlightenment was opposed to what Europe result

of evangelization.

ers at the

live

radical

Its

exponents were rather

Areopagus. Most of them did not

the "unknown

in

early eighteenth centuries, the era of the

by the English and German versions. In

different forms,

had become

as a

like Paul's listen-

reject the existence

of

God" as a spiritual and transcendent Being in whom

and move and have our being" (Acts

Enlightenment thinkers, more than

Paul's address at the

17:28). Yet the

most

fifteen centuries after

Areopagus, did reject the truth about Christ,

Son of God who had revealed himself by becoming man, being

born of the Virgin

at

Bethlehem, proclaiming the

eventually giving his

life

for the sins of

all

Good News, and

mankind. So-called

"Enlightened" European thought tried to dissociate

God-Man, who died and exclude has

Mys-

—the Cross and Resurrection—entered European thought

Enlightenment.

the

initially. Later,

rejection of Christ and, in particular, of his Paschal

the late seventeenth

"we

had

him from

rose again,

effort

from

adherents

this

was made to

the history of the Continent. This approach

many stubbornly faithful

cians of today.

and every

itself

among thinkers and

still

politi-

MEMORY AND IDENTITY The exponents of postmodern thought the positive heritage

and the

errors of the Enlightenment. At

times, however, their criticism reject

are critical of both

excessive, because they even

is

Enlightenment positions on humanism, confidence in rea-

son, progress. Yet the polemical attitude of

thinkers toward Christianity

many Enlightenment

undeniable. The real "cultural

is

drama" still unfolding today consists of a supposed tension between Christianity

and ideas

those just mentioned, although in

like

actual fact these ideas are profoundly rooted in the Christian tradition.

Before continuing with this analysis of the European I

should

another

like to refer to

New Testament

spirit,

the passage

text:

where Jesus presents the allegory of the vine and the branches. Christ says: "I

he develops

am

the vine, you are the branches" (Jn

this great

metaphor, sketching

Incarnation and Redemption.

He

is

as

it

15:5).

Then

were a theology of

the vine, the Father

is

the

vine grower, and individual Christians are the branches. Jesus

proposed

man

as a

when he

this

image to the Apostles on the eve of

his Passion:

branch of the vine. Blaise Pascal comes close to describes

found and

man

as a "thinking reed."

metaphor

essential aspect of the

23

Yet the

is

this idea

most pro-

what Christ

says

regarding the cultivation of the vine. God, man's Creator, cares for his creature. his

own

As the vine grower, he

particular way.

He

grafts

cultivates

mankind onto

divinity of his only-begotten Son.

Why this "cultivation" on

man

God's part?

God

Is it

eternal

and

possible to graft a

the Vine that

given by Revelation

is

into existence in the

image and likeness of God

clear:

is

for this very reason.

human branch onto

is

does so in

the stock of the

The Son who

consubstantial with the Father becomes

He

it.

incarnate?

from the beginning, (cf.

The answer

man

is

called

Gn 1:27), and

EUROPE AS "NATIVE LAND" so,

from the beginning,

itself

his

humanity already conceals within

something of the divine. His humanity, then, can be

"culti-

vated" in this extraordinary way. Moreover, in God's plan of vation,

is

it

grafting,

sal-

only by agreeing to be grafted onto Christ's divine

man

Vine that

99

can become

fully himself.

Were he

to refuse this

he would effectively condemn himself to an incomplete

humanity.

Why,

at this

point in our reflections on Europe, do

Christ's parable of the vine

of the drama of the European

Enlightenment. In rejecting Christ, or place in

human

history

pean thought signaled "vine,"

him

and

speak of

and the branches? Perhaps because

offers us the best explanation

it

I

at least in

culture, this

a revolution.

marginalizing his

development

Man

was cut

off

in Euro-

from the

he was no longer grafted onto that Vine which guarantees

the possibility of attaining to the fullness of his humanity.

could be said that, in a qualitatively

new and

previously

It

unknown

way, at least on such a scale, a path had been opened up that

would lead toward the devastating experiences of evil which were to follow.

According to Saint Thomas's definition, a

good

that

ought to be present

evil

is

in a given being.

the absence of

A good

which

ought to be present in man, as a being created in the image and likeness of

God and redeemed by

ticipation in the nature

won

this

and the

Christ from sin,

life

of

God

that of par-

himself, since Christ

extraordinary privilege for us through the mystery of

the Incarnation and Redemption. To deprive is

is

man

of such a good

equivalent, in the language of the Gospel, to cutting the

"branch" off from the vine. Consequently, the

human branch

cannot develop toward that fullness which the "vine grower," that is,

the Creator, intended

and planned

for

it.

17-

THE EVANGELIZATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

The evangelization of Central and Eastern parts of Europe, as Your Holiness has mentioned, followed a path of its own.

This surely

had an influence on

the cultural characteristics

of those peoples.

It

is

right to give separate treatment to the evangelization

which

originated in Byzantium, aptly symbolized by Saints Cyril and

Methodius, the Apostles of the

Slavs.

They were Greeks, originally

from Thessalonica. They undertook the evangelization of the Slavs, setting first

out from the territory of present-day Bulgaria. Their

concern was to learn the local language, assigning

to a certain

its

number of graphic symbols which formed

Slav alphabet,

known

changes,

in use

is still

sounds

the

first

thereafter as "Cyrillic." This, with a few

today in Eastern Slav countries, while West-

ern Slavs have adopted the Latin alphabet, using Latin

initially as

the language of the cultivated classes, then gradually building their

own

Cyril

up

literature.

and Methodius were sent on

their mission

by the Duke

of Great Moravia, into territory which belonged to that State in

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

102

the ninth century. tulan tribe,

They probably

also reached the land of the Vis-

beyond the Carpathians. They

Pannonia, that

is

certainly

to say present-day Hungary,

and

went

as far as

also to Croatia,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the area around Ochrida, the region of Slav Macedonia. They sionary

activity.

The two

left disciples

who

continued their mis-

saintly brothers also influenced the evan-

gelization of the Slavs in the territories to the north of the Black Sea. In fact,

through the baptism of Saint Vladimir in 988, the

evangelization of the Slavs extended throughout Kievan Rus, and later

spread gradually into the north of present-day Russia, as far

as the Urals. In the thirteenth century, after the

which destroyed Kievan Rus,

this evangelization

severe trial of historic proportions. Yet the ical centers in

the north, especially in

it

invasion

went through

a

new religious and polit-

Moscow, not only succeeded

in protecting the Christian tradition in

but also in spreading

Mongol

its

Slavo- Byzantine form,

within Europe as far as the Urals and

beyond, into the territory of Siberia and Northern Asia. All this

forms part of European history and

way, the nature of the European the principle cuius regio eius led to wars of religion,

wars were contrary to the

spirit. If,

religio,

reflects, in

under the influence of

the post-Reformation period

many

Christians recognized that these

spirit

of the Gospel. Gradually they suc-

ceeded in establishing the principle of religious

would allow people sial

membership

some

to choose religious

for themselves.

over, the various Christian

liberty,

denomination and

which eccle-

With the passage of time, more-

denominations, especially those of an

evangelical Protestant bent, began to seek understandings

agreements: the

initial steps

menical movement. As decisive

moment

and

of what was to grow into the ecu-

far as the Catholic

in this process

Church

is

concerned, a

was the Second Vatican Council,

THE EVANGELIZATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE in

which she

definitively expressed her

the Churches

and

own

position regarding

communities outside Catholic

ecclesial

103

all

unity,

committing herself wholeheartedly to the ecumenical endeavor. This was of great importance for the future twentieth century

tians. In the

more than

full

unity of all Chris-

ever before, Christ's fol-

lowers realized that they could not do other than seek after the unity for which Jesus prayed

may

all

on the eve of his

me"

hope of

full

am

in you,

may

may believe that you have sent Orthodox East

ecumenical dialogue, we

unity in a not-too-distant future.

see, for its part, is

this

I

(Jn 17:21). Given that the Patriarchates of the

are also actively engaging in

the

me and

be one. As you, Father, are in

they also be in us, so that the world

Passion: "That they

determined to do whatever

it

may cherish

The

apostolic

can to promote

end through dialogue both with Orthodoxy and with

indi-

vidual Churches and ecclesial communities in the West.

As we read

came

in the Acts of the Apostles, Christianity

Europe from Jerusalem via Asia Minor.

It

to

was from Jerusalem

that the missionary roads leading Christ's Apostles "to the ends of

the earth" (Acts 1:8) originally set out. Yet,

from apostolic times,

the center of missionary outreach shifted to Europe, firstly to

Rome, where the holy Apostles

Peter

Christ, then to Constantinople, that

gelization

tium.

had

From

Christ's

its

in

Rome and

to

So evan-

in

Byzan-

these cities the missionaries set out in fulfilment of

nations, baptizing

and of the Holy still

them

Spirit"

therefore and

in the

(Mt

evident in

make

name of the

28:19).

The

its

disciples of

all

Father and of the Son

effects

of this missionary

modern Europe. They

the cultural orientation of

Rome

to say, Byzantium.

two principal centers

command: "Go

activity are

is

and Paul bore witness

are reflected in

peoples. If the missionaries from

initiated a process of inculturation that gave rise to Latin

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

104

Christianity, those

Greek and

first

from Byzantium promoted

its

Byzantine form:

later Slav, "Cyrillo-Methodian."

These were the

two principal paths along which the evangelization of the Continent proceeded. Gradually, with the passage of the centuries, evangelization

reached beyond the boundaries of Europe. The epic story

though the

rious one, it.

modern

In the

a glo-

shadow over

sense of this term, colonialism began with the

discovery of America. great

issue of colonialism has cast a

is

The American continent

European "colony":

the activity of the Spanish

in

its

was the

first

southern and central part through

and the Portuguese, and in the northern

part through the initiative of the French

nialism was a passing

itself

phenomenon.

and the

English. Colo-

A few centuries after the

dis-

covery of America, both the south and the north of the continent

saw new

societies

emerging and new post- colonial

states,

which

to

an ever greater degree have become true partners with Europe.

The

celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the dis-

covery of America provided an opportunity to study the important question of the relationship between the growth of American society in both north ples.

and south and the

This fundamental question arises whenever colonization

occurs.

It

also applies to Africa.

It

nization always implies importing

older stem. ples,

rights of indigenous peo-

but

it

comes from the and

grafting "the

new" onto an

Up to a point, it assists the progress of indigenous peoalso brings with

it

a

form of expropriation not only of

their land but also of their spiritual patrimony.

lem manifest

itself in

uation should

we

How did this prob-

North and South America? What moral

give to

situations that have

we have an

fact that colo-

it

eval-

in the light of the different historical

emerged?

It is

right to ask these questions,

and

obligation to seek a satisfactory response. Similarly

we

THE EVANGELIZATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

made by the

have an obligation to acknowledge the mistakes nial settlers,

and

make

as far as possible, to

efforts to

105

colo-

provide for

their reparation.

In any case, the issue of colonialism belongs to the history of

Europe and of the European

Europe

spirit.

is

developed continent. Providence, one might

Europe the task of

initiating a

a small but highly

say,

has entrusted to

wide-ranging exchange of goods

between various parts of the world, between countries, nations,

and peoples. Nor must we forget that the Church's missionary activity all over the

the

Good News

and west

world

set

out from Europe. Having received

of salvation from Jerusalem, Europe

—became

all

the crises,

present day. Perhaps the situation

Church

Church

in

east

a great center of evangelization for the rest of

the world, and, despite

later the

—both

Europe

in other continents.

is

it

changing.

will find that

Should

has remained so to the

this

it

Maybe sooner

or

needs the help of the

happen,

it

could be inter-

preted as a kind of settlement of "debts" incurred by those conti-

nents toward Europe for the proclamation of the Gospel.

We

cannot speak of modern European history without con-

sidering the late

two great revolutions: the French Revolution

in the

eighteenth century and the Russian Revolution in the early

twentieth century. Both were a reaction against feudalism, which in

France took the form of "Enlightened absolutism" and in Rus-

sia that

of Tsarist "autocracy" (samodierzawie). The French Revo-

lution,

which claimed many innocent victims, eventually brought

Napoleon

to

power; he proclaimed himself Emperor of the

French and succeeded in dominating Europe through his military genius during the

Napoleon's

fall,

first

decade of the nineteenth century. After

the Congress of Vienna restored the system of

Enlightened absolutism to Europe, particularly to those countries

106

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

responsible for the partition of Poland.

The end of the nineteenth

century and the beginning of the twentieth reinforced this

distri-

bution of power and witnessed the birth and establishment in

Europe of younger nations, including

Italy.

In the second decade of the twentieth century, the European situation deteriorated, leading to the outbreak of the First

World

War, a deadly confrontation between the "Great Alliances" the one

hand France,

other hand

Germany and

some peoples the

map

Britain,

and Russia, joined by

Austria. Yet this

to gain their freedom.

same

Italy;

—on

on the

conflict enabled

When the War ended in 1918,

of Europe once again included certain States which had

hitherto been denied their freedom by powerful invaders.

The

year 1918 marks the recovery of independence by Poland, Lithuania, Latvia,

and Estonia. Farther south, the

free

Czechoslovak

Republic was born, while some other Central European nations

became part of the Yugoslav Federation. Ukraine and Belarus did not achieve their independence

and aspirations of

at this stage, despite the

their peoples. This distribution of

Europe, representing a

new

political situation,

place for barely twenty years.

was

to

hopes

power

in

remain

in

18.

THE POSITIVE FRUITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

The eruption of evil during the

First

World War had an

even more terrifying sequel in the Second and in the crimes of which

we spoke earlier. Holy Father, you

sidering

modern Europe we should not limit ourselves

said that in conto the

evil to the destructive aftermath of the Enlightenment the French Revolution. then, are

we

to

and

That would be too one-sided. How,

widen our field of vision

the positive aspects of modern

so as to include also

European history?

The European Enlightenment not only

led to the carnage of

the French Revolution but also bore positive fruits, such as the ideals of liberty, equality,

rooted in the Gospel. Even

and

fraternity, values

when proclaimed

which are

independently, these

ideas point naturally to their proper origin. Hence, the French

Enlightenment paved the way for

human many

rights.

Of

a better

course, the Revolution violated those rights in

ways. Yet this was also the time

to be properly

understanding of

when human

acknowledged and put into

effect

rights

more

began

forcefully,

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

108

leaving behind the traditions of feudalism. that these rights were already

man

created by

God

in his

It

should be stressed

known to be rooted in

own

the nature of

image, and as such they are pro-

claimed in Sacred Scripture from the opening pages of the Book of Genesis. Christ himself speaks of them repeatedly; for example,

when he

man and

not

says in the Gospel that "the Sabbath

man

for the Sabbath"

(Mk

2:27).

was made for

With these words,

he authoritatively asserts man's higher dignity, definitively indicating the divine foundation of his

human

rights.

Similarly the rights of nations are linked with the Enlighten-

ment

and even with the French Revolution. During

tradition

period, that to exist,

is

to say the eighteenth century, the right of nations

to maintain their

own

culture,

sovereignty mattered greatly to

continent and elsewhere. to lose

its

this

It

many

and

to exercise political

nations on the European

mattered for Poland, which was about

independence despite the constitution of

May

24

3,

.

It

mattered particularly, across the ocean, for the United States of

America, which was coming into existence ficant that these three events

at this time. It

—the French Revolution

1789), the proclamation of the constitution of

May

is

signi-

(July 14,

3 (1791) in

Poland, and the Declaration of Independence in the United States

of America (July

4,

1776)

—took

place so close together in time.

Yet something similar could be said of several Latin countries,

which were

just arriving at a

ness after a long feudal period,

new

American

national conscious-

and consequently were developing

aspirations toward independence

from the Spanish or Portuguese

crown.

So we see that the demand for

was increasing, light

upon

albeit

liberty, equality,

and

amid much bloodshed. These

the history of peoples

and nations,

fraternity

ideals

at least in

shed

Europe

THE POSITIVE FRUITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT and America, thereby ushering

which

idea of fraternity,

is

in a

new

historical era.

it

more

firmly in

Europe and the history of the world. Fraternity

bond uniting not only men but

also nations.

The

and not simply by

tion of the will of the

the rights of

men and

a

among

power games or the imposi-

most powerful, with

insufficient regard for

nations.

The values of liberty, tial at

political

is

history of the

world should be governed by the principle of fraternity peoples,

for the

thoroughly rooted in the Gospel, the

period of the French Revolution established the history of

As

109

equality,

and

fraternity

were providen-

the beginning of the nineteenth century because this was a

period of great social transformation. The capitalism of the early Industrial Revolution did violence to liberty, equality, nity in various ways, allowing the exploitation of

deference to the laws of the market. especially

the

its

and

frater-

man by man

The Enlightenment

in

vision,

concept of freedom, certainly favored the birth of

Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, but

it

also led, quite inde-

pendently, to the enunciation of principles of social justice rooted in the Gospel. It

is

striking

how

often the logic of Enlightenment

thought led to a profound rediscovery of the truths contained in the Gospel. This

becomes

clear in the great social encyclicals,

from Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII to Centesimus Annus in the

late

twentieth century. In the

documents of the Second Vatican Council, we

find a

stimulating synthesis of the relation between Christianity and the

Enlightenment. Admittedly the texts do not refer to this but

if

examined

in greater

cultural context, they offer

depth

in the light

many valuable

directly,

of the contemporary

insights.

The Council's

exposition of doctrine adopted a deliberately non-polemical stance.

It

chose instead to continue the process of inculturation

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

110

which has accompanied Christianity from the time of the AposTaking their cue from the Council, Christians can engage

tles.

with the modern world and enter into a constructive dialogue with

it.

Like the

suffering

Good Samaritan, they can

man, tending the wounds

come to

also

the aid of

that he bears at the beginning

of this twenty- first century. Care for the needy

incomparably

is

more important than polemics and denunciations concerning, Enlightenment in paving the way for

for example, the role of the

The

the great historical catastrophes of the twentieth century. spirit

of the Gospel

is

seen primarily in this willingness to offer

fraternal help to those in need.

"In reality

it is

that the mystery of

only in the mystery of the

man

truly

becomes

clear."

25

Word made With

flesh

these words,

the Second Vatican Council expresses the anthropology that at the heart

of the entire Conciliar Magisterium. Christ not only

teaches us the ways of the interior

the

"Way"

life,

but he proposes himself as

to be followed in order to arrive at

"Way" because he

is

the

to

Word made "Adam, the

conciliar text continues:

who was

lies

flesh,

first

our

goal.

the perfect

man, was

He

is

the

Man. The

a type of

come, Christ the Lord. Christ the new Adam,

him

in the

very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals

man

to himself

and brings

to light his highest calling."

26

Christ alone, through his humanity, reveals the totality of the

mystery of man. Indeed,

meaning of

this

mystery

creation in the image

it is

if

and

only possible to explore the deeper

we

take as our starting point man's

likeness of

God.

Man

cannot under-

stand himself completely with reference to other visible creatures.

The key to

his self- understanding lies in

Prototype, the

Word made

The primary and

contemplating the divine

flesh, the eternal

Son of the

Father.

definitive source for studying the intimate

THE POSITIVE FRUITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT nature of the

The

human

being

therefore, the

Most Holy

Trinity.

"image and likeness" from the opening

Biblical expression

pages of the

is,

111

Book of Genesis

(cf.

Gn

1:26-27) points toward this.

So for an in-depth account of the essence of man, we must return to that source.

The constitution Gaudium theme. Christ

Human

by the very

nature,

1:15).

disfigured ever since the that

fact

it

He

Adam

has restored in the children of

God which had been

absorbed, in

continues to develop this

the 'image of the invisible God' (Col

man who

the perfect likeness to

"is

et Spes

is

that

first sin.

was assumed, not

him, has been raised in us also to a dignity beyond

compare." 27 The element of dignity essential, for Christian

very important, not to say

is

anthropology.

It

affects every

branch of

the discipline, not only the theoretical aspects but practical matters as well, ical

such as moral teaching, and even documents of polit-

character.

The dignity proper

teaching of the Council,

but even

more on

man. The Council

is

to

man, according

to the

human

nature,

based not simply on

the fact that, in Jesus Christ, text continues:

"By his incarnation,

worked with human hands, he thought with

human

will,

all

things except sin."

became

he, the

Son

a

human mind. He

and with a human heart he

loved.

Born

made one of us,

like to

us in

of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been 28

truly

way united himself with each man. He

of God, has in a certain

acted with a

God

These formulations are the

Church's profound doctrinal reflection during the

fruit first

of the

millen-

nium, concerning the correct way to speak of the mystery of the Incarnate God.

The question was addressed by almost

all

the

Councils, which continually return to different aspects of this

fundamental mystery of its

faith.

The Second Vatican Council

bases

teaching on the great wealth of earlier doctrinal reflection on

112

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

Christ's divine

humanity, so as to draw forth a conclusion that

essential for Christian anthropology. This

character

is

where

its

is

innovative

lies.

The mystery of the Incarnate Word helps us

to

understand

the mystery of man, including his historical dimension. Christ, in fact, is

the

new Adam,

the Corinthians

as Saint Paul teaches in the First Letter to

(cf. 15:45).

Redeemer of the

first

The new Adam

Adam,

that

by the consequences of original

Gaudium

sin.

To quote once again from

et Spes:

which he

and

freely shed. In

to

the devil

life

him God

for us

by

his blood,

reconciled us to him-

one another, freeing us from the bondage of

and of sin, so

the apostle: the for

man's Redeemer, the

of historical man, burdened

is,

As an innocent lamb he merited

self

is

me' (Gal

Son of God

2:20).

By

one of us could say with

that each

'loved

me and

suffering for us he not only gave us

an example so that we might follow he also opened up a way. death are

made holy and

Christian

is

certainly

If

we

in his footsteps, but

follow this path,

acquire a

life

new meaning

and

The

bound both by need and by duty to

struggle with evil through

death; but, as

gave himself

many

afflictions

and

to suffer

one who has been made a partner

Paschal Mystery, and as one

who

in the

has been configured to

the death of Christ, he will go forward, strengthened by

hope, to the resurrection. 29

It is

said that the Council brought about

what Karl Rahner

has called the "anthropological revolution." This

but

it

is

a valid insight,

should be remembered that the revolution was profoundly

THE POSITIVE FRUITS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT Christological in character.

can Council

The anthropology of the Second Vati-

rooted in Christology, and therefore in theology.

is

Attentive study of the passage quoted above

Gaudium

et Spes takes

from the constitution

us to the very heart of the revolution that

took place in the Church's approach to anthropology. basis of this teaching,

I

Hominis that "man

way for

Gaudium tery of

is

et Spes

man, rooted

the

stated in the encyclical

the Church."

for

destiny,

to

all

God,

and since

as

which

is

all

it is

men

divine,

is

existentially.

we must hold

made

that the

Holy

partners, in a

posed which was made

Spirit offers

way known

to

31

a

markedly dynamic charac-

in the light of his vocation;

Once again

of good

one and the same

are in fact called to

in the Paschal Mystery."

man

men

all

active invisibly. For since Christ died

the possibility of being

speaks of

Redemptor

mystery of the Incarnate Word,

in the

The Council's anthropology has ter: it

the

emphasizes that the explanation of the mys-

whose hearts grace

all,

On

30

"holds true not for Christians only but also for will in

113

it

speaks of

him

man

pro-

that vision of the mystery of

known

to believers

is

through Christian

Revelation.

Through and suffering

whelms

in Christ, light

is

thrown on the

and death which, apart from

us.

his death,

riddle of

his Gospel, over-

Christ has risen again, destroying death by

and has given

becoming sons Abba, Father!

life

in the Son,

abundantly to us so

we may

that,

cry out in the Spirit:

32

This understanding of the central mystery of Christianity

responds directly to the challenges of contemporary thought,

114

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

which has a

similarly existentialist orientation. In

the key question particularly the spective, the

about the meaning of

is

meaning of

Gospel

suffering

modern thought,

human

existence,

and death. From

reveals itself as the

this per-

supreme prophecy.

prophecy regarding man. Without the Gospel,

man

It is

remains a

dramatic question with no adequate answer. The correct response to the question about

man

is

Christ,

Redemptor Hominis.

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH 19-

In October 1978 Your Holiness

left

Poland, so sorely tried

by the war and communism, and you came

become the Successor of brought you closer

more open in the past.

to the

to

a

Peter.

to

new post-conciliar form of Church:

problems of the

tasks facing the

What approach should

to

Your Polish experiences

laity

and

the world than

Holy Father, what do you consider

most important

Rome

Church

to

be the

in today's

world?

the hierarchy take?

Today an enormous amount of work

is

needed on the part of

the Church. In particular, the lay apostolate

Second Vatican Council reminds

is

needed, as the

us. It is absolutely essential to

develop a strong sense of mission. The Church in Europe and in every continent has to recognize that

it is

always and everywhere a

missionary Church (in statu missionis). The mission belongs so

much

to

its

nature that at no time and in no place, not even in

countries of long-established Christian tradition, can the

Church

be other than missionary. This sense of mission, renewed by the

Second Vatican Council, was further promoted by Pope Paul VI

116

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

throughout the

of his pontificate, with the help of the

fifteen years

Synod of Bishops. Hence the apostolic exhortation tiandi, in

which Pope Paul spoke from the

weeks of my own path, as

pontificate,

I

Evangelii nun-

From

heart.

the

first

sought to continue along the same

my first document, the encyclical Redemptor Hominis^ can

testify.

Church must work

In this mission, received from Christ, the tirelessly.

self

and

She must be humble and courageous, his Apostles. If she

cized in various ways

all,

encounters obstacles,

if

she

him-

is criti-

—maybe accused of proselytism or —she should not be discouraged. so-called

of trying to clericalize social

Most of

like Christ

life

she should not cease to proclaim the Gospel. Saint

Paul was already aware of this

when he wrote to his

disciple: "Pro-

claim the message, be persistent whether the time

is

favorable

or unfavorable, convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching" (2

urgent inner imperative claim the Gospel!"

from? Clearly

it

(1

Tim

4:2). Saint

when he

Cor

9:16).

says:

Paul

testifies to

"Woe to me

Where does

comes from recognizing

name

"Christ yes, the

of Christ

(cf.

Church no!"

Acts

is

do not pro-

this conviction

come

no other name has

that

been given to us under heaven through which apart from the

if I

another

men

can be saved,

4:12).

some

the protest heard from

of our contemporaries. Despite the negative element, this stance

appears to show a certain openness toward Christ, which the

Enlightenment excluded. Yet Christ, if he

which

is

truly accepted,

his Mystical Body.

nation; there

the

is

is

Son of God

his will, in the

it is

only an appearance of openness.

is

There

inseparable from the Church, is

no Christ without the

Incar-

no Christ without the Church. The Incarnation of in a

human body is prolonged, in accordance with

community of human beings

that he constituted,

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

among them: "And remember,

guaranteeing his constant presence I

am

117

with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). Admit-

tedly, the

Church,

this

of Christ,

human

institution,

continually in need of

is

and renewal: the Second Vatican Council acknowl-

purification

edged

as a

with courageous candor. 33 Yet the Church, as the Body

is

normal locus

the

for the presence

and action of Christ

in the world. It

could be said that these ideas directly or indirectly express

the thinking behind the initiatives adopted for the celebration of the second millennium of Christ's birth third.

I

spoke of

this in the

two apostolic

time to the Church and, in a sense, to in Tertio I

all

letters

I

wrote

people of good

at that

will.

concerned the entire

human

race

an unprecedented degree. Christ belongs to the history of

humanity, and he gives shape to that history. only he can,

like the yeast in the

Gospel.

He brings

From

all

it

to

life

and of the world. And our

own

this process

continually unfolding

is

as

man

—even

day.

The image of the Church presented by the dogmatic tution

all

eternity God's

plan has been to accomplish in Christ the divinization of

in

Both

Millennio Adveniente and in Novo Millennio Ineunte

stressed that the Great Jubilee

to

and the launching of the

Lumen Gentium needed

in

John XXIII himself wisely sensed

some way this,

when,

consti-

to be completed. in the last

weeks

before his death, he decided that the Council would prepare a special

document concerning

the

Church

in the

modern

world.

This task proved to be extremely fruitful. The constitution

Gaudium

et Spes

expressed the Church's openness to the whole

content of the concept of "world." In Sacred Scripture, of course, this

word has

a dual

meaning. When, for example, the sacred

authors speak of the "spirit of this world"

(cf.

1

Cor

2:12),

they

118

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

mean

everything in the world that separates us from God: today

we would

express this under the heading of secularization. Yet

this negative

meaning of "world"

positive meaning: the

sum

is

balanced by the

world as God's creation, the world

as the

of the goods that the Creator has given to man, entrusting

them

him

to

as a task to

be completed with

responsibility.

The world, which

tory, bears the

marks of his

Damaged by man's and

in Scripture

risen,

it

34

say: Gloria

ing to God's love.

mans

his-

of

triumphs, and his

failures.

has been redeemed by Christ crucified active cooperation, awaits

its

glo-

Paraphrasing the words of Saint Irenaeus, one

Dei

— mundus secundum amorem Dei ab homine

—the glory of God

excultus

and

like the theater

travail, his

and now, with man's

rious fulfilment.

might

sin,

is

initiative, insight,

is

the world perfected by

man accord-

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH

20.

AND STATE The Church's missionary particular society

and

activity

T

in

political

in

a

see the relationship between

our present situation?

he constitution Gaudium

The

always carried out

in the territory of a particular State.

Holy Father, how do you Church and State

is

et Spes

community and

the

has this to say:

Church

and independent of each other

are

in their

autonomous

own

fields.

Nevertheless, both are devoted to the personal vocation

of man, though under different

redound the more as

titles.

This service will

effectively to the welfare of

all

insofar

both institutions practice better cooperation accord-

ing to the local

and prevailing

situation. For man's hori-

zons are not bounded only by the temporal order; living

on the

level

of

human

of his eternal destiny.

35

history he preserves the integrity

120

MEMORY AND IDENTITY The way

the Council understands the term "separation" of

Church and

State

tems interpreted

is

it.

far

It

removed from the way

came

totalitarian sys-

as a surprise and, in a certain sense,

under

also as a challenge for several countries, particularly those

Communist

rule. Clearly, these

regimes could not disagree with

the Council's position, but at the

was

at

odds with

same time they

realized that

Church and

their notion of separation of

it

State.

According to their vision, the world belongs exclusively to the

Church has

State; the

its

own

sphere, which

"boundaries," so to speak, of the world. the

Church

"in" the

world

the Church, the world

is

conflicts

The

conciliar vision of

with that interpretation. For

both a task and a challenge.

Christians, but particularly for the lay faithful.

prominence

beyond the

lies

It is

so for

The Council gave

to the question of the lay apostolate, that

active presence of Christians in the

life

all

is,

the

of society. Yet according to

Marxist ideology, this was precisely the area where

it

was neces-

sary to establish exclusive control by the State and the party.

This

is

worth pointing

out, because there are political parties

today which, despite their firm democratic credentials, demonstrate a

and

growing tendency to interpret the separation of Church

State according to the

society has the will to

do

so.

means

And

it is

Communist model.

to defend

itself.

Naturally, today's

Yet society

must have the

in this area that a certain passivity in the

attitude of believing citizens gives cause for concern. their sense of their religious rights

was keener

It

seems

in the past,

as if

when

they were readier to defend them through the democratic means

much more muted

at their disposal.

Today such reactions

and have

gone into abeyance, perhaps partly because of

virtually

are

insufficient preparation of the political elite.

In the twentieth century great efforts were ple believing, to

make them

reject Christ.

made

to stop peo-

Toward the end of the

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE century, the

end of the millennium, those destructive

weakened, yet they

left

a trail of devastation

121

forces were

behind them.

I

am

speaking of a devastation of consciences, with ruinous conse-

quences in the moral sphere, affecting personal and social morality

and the mores of family

life.

Pastors of souls,

every day with the spiritual lives of their flocks,

than anyone.

When

I

who engage

know

this better

have occasion to speak with them,

I

often

hear disturbing admissions. Sadly, one could describe Europe the

dawn of

Political

are not

as a continent of devastation.

programs, aimed principally

enough

they could even

up

new millennium

the

for the

to heal

wounds of

make them

at

economic development,

this nature.

worse. Here an

We

the contrary,

enormous

have only to ask the Lord, and to ask

that he send laborers for this harvest that

be reaped.

On

task opens

Church. The evangelical harvest in today's world

great indeed.

at

is

is

insistently,

ready and waiting to

EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER CONTINENTS 21.

Holy Father, perhaps

it

would be

helpful to consider Europe

the point of view of its relationship with other conti-

from

nents.

You yourself took part

in the

you have met many people from cially

work of the Council and

all

over the world, espe-

during your numerous apostolic journeys.

What

impressions have you formed from these encounters?

shall

I

speak principally of

during the Council

course of

my work

itself

my

and

part in the Assemblies of the

me

relationships between cially

in the years that followed, in the

with the different dicasteries of the

Curia. Particularly important for

encounters allowed

experience as a Bishop, both

to

Roman

me was the experience of taking

Synod of Bishops. These various

form

a fairly accurate picture of the

Europe and non-European countries, espe-

non-European Churches. The relationships took shape,

in the light

siarum, a

of conciliar teaching, in terms of the commutlio

communion

services, leading to

eccle-

consisting of an exchange of goods and

mutual enrichment. The Catholic Church

in

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

124

Europe, especially in Western Europe, has lived for centuries alongside Christians of the Reformation; in the East the Orthodox are in the majority.

The most Catholic continent outside Europe is

Latin America. In North America Catholics constitute a relative majority.

The

situation in Australia

the Philippines,

most people belong

overall, Catholics

nent,

and Oceania is quite

form

to the

a minority. Africa

where the Church continues

to

is

Church, but in Asia a missionary conti-

grow significantly. Most non-

European Churches were established by missionaries

from Europe. Today these Churches have definite character.

South America,

Whereas

in Africa,

their

in the past the

and

pean "export," de facto they

in Asia, could

now

similar. In

own

who

set

identity

Church

in

out

and

a

North and

be considered a Euro-

constitute a kind of spiritual

counterweight for the Old Continent, the more so inasmuch as a certain process of dechristianization

is

taking place there.

The twentieth century has been marked by the three "worlds."

The meaning of

this

phrase

rivalry is

well

between

known:

during the Communist domination of Eastern Europe, the area

behind the iron curtain, the "collectivist" world, came to be known as the

Second World

in contrast to the capitalist First World,

up of the West. Everywhere

else

was known

as the

made

Third World,

alluding, in particular, to developing countries.

In such a divided world, the

Church quickly

needed to develop a varied approach

With regard

realized that she

to her task of evangelization.

to social justice, a vital element of evangelization, the

Church continued

to

promote just progress among the peoples of

the capitalist world, yet without yielding to the processes of dechristianization rooted in the old Enlightenment traditions. In

her dealings with the Second World, the

Church sensed the urgency of aligning

Communist

herself,

above

world, the

all,

with the

EUROPE

IN

THE CONTEXT OF OTHER CONTINENTS

human

defense of

rights

and the

125

rights of nations. This applied

not only to Poland, but also to neighboring countries. Finally, in

Third World countries, as well as introducing Christianity to the people, the

Church took

it

upon

herself to

draw attention

to the

unjust distribution of goods, not only between different social

groupings but between different regions of the world. In

the

fact,

gap became increasingly evident between the rich North, which

was growing

richer,

and the poor South, which continued

and penalized

exploited

in

many ways

even

to

be

end of the

after the

colonial era. Instead of diminishing, the poverty of the South

was

constantly increasing. Such are the consequences of unbridled capitalism,

which makes the rich ever richer while forcing the

poor into conditions of growing degradation. This

is

the vision of Europe's place in the world that

gained

I

my contacts with the Bishops of other continents during and after the Council. After my election to the See of Peter, on October from

16, 1978,

I

both here all

was able in

to confirm this vision

and explore

my

further,

Rome and on my pastoral visits to different Churches

over the world. This vision has informed the

ducted

it

way

I

have con-

ministry of evangelization in a world which for the

most part has already heard the Gospel. During these years

I

have

always tried to devote particular care to those activities which bring the Church into dialogue with the stitution

Gaudium

et Spes

modern

Krakow.

when

I

The con-

speaks of the "world," but this term

actually denotes a range of different worlds.

the Council,

world.

made my

I

spoke of this during

intervention as Metropolitan of

democracy: possibilities

and

risks

MODERN DEMOCRACY 22.

The French Revolution spread throughout the world the slogan "liberty, equality, fraternity" the program of modern

democracy. Holy Father, what

democratic system in

Our

its

it

reflections so far have led us to consider a question

is

political

significant for

European

civiliza-

the question of democracy, understood not only as a

system but also as an attitude of mind and a principle of

conduct. Democracy ancient Greece in

your evaluation of the

current Western form?

which seems particularly tion:

is

modern

it

times.

is

rooted in Greek tradition, although in

did not have the exact meaning

The

classical distinction

known: monarchy,

forms of

racy,

and democracy. Each of these systems

to the question

regime

is

well

has acquired

between the three pos-

sible

political

it

gives

its

aristoc-

own answer

about the primary subject of power. In a monar-

chical system, the subject

is

an individual, whether he be king,

emperor, or sovereign prince. In an aristocratic system the subject is

a social

titles

group which exercises power on the basis of particular

of merit such

as, for

example, prowess

in battle, lineage,

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

130

wealth. In a democratic system, however, the subject of

the whole

society, the "people,"

direct exercise of

power by

demos

all is

in Greek.

power

is

Obviously the

impossible, so the democratic

form of government depends on the work of

representatives of

the people, designated through free elections. All three

ways of exercising power have existed

of history, and

all

in the course

three continue to exist today, despite the

mod-

ern trend which decisively favors the democratic system as the

one which best corresponds

man

and, specifically, to the

hard not to acknowledge every

man

is

we consider

and

social nature of

demands of social justice.

that, if society

is

In fact,

it is

made up of men and

should be allowed to partic-

a social being, everyone

ipate in power, even If

to the rational

if indirectly.

Polish history,

it

is

possible to observe the

gradual transition from one to another of these three political systems, and also their progressive interpenetration. If the State of

the Piast was clearly monarchical in character, from the time of the Jagiellonians the tional;

when

monarchy became more and more

constitu-

that dynasty died out, the government, while

still

monarchical, came to depend on an oligarchy composed of the nobility. Yet since the nobility

was quite

extensive,

it

was neces-

sary to have recourse to a form of democratic election of those

who would among

represent the nobles. This led to a kind of democracy

the nobility.

with democracy a single State.

Thus did

among

While

a constitutional

monarchy

coexist

the nobility for several centuries within

at first this

Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian

was one of the strengths of the

State, the

changing circumstances brought to

light

passage of time and

more and more imbal-

ances and weaknesses in the system, which eventually led to the loss

of independence.

MODERN DEMOCRACY When

it

regained

the Polish Republic was estab-

its liberty,

lished as a democratic state with a president

liament. After the in 1989, the

fall

and

a bicameral par-

of the so-called People's Republic of Poland

Third Republic returned to a system similar to that

which had existed before the Second World War. As of the People's Poland, "people's

it

must be

democracy," power

munist party

was

at the

131

lay

for the period

said that, despite the label of

de facto in the hands of the

(a party oligarchy): the first secretary

same time the country's

Com-

of the party

political leader.

This brief sketch of the history of different forms of govern-

ment

allows us to arrive at a better evaluation of the democratic

credentials of a system according to the criteria of social ethics.

monarchical and oligarchical systems (for example, the

While

in

Polish

democracy of the

nobility),

one part of society (often the

vast majority)

is

condemned

because power

is

concentrated in the hands of a few; this ought

to a passive or subordinate role,

not to happen in democratic regimes. Does

it

not happen?

really

Certain situations which can arise in democracies justify the question. Catholic social ethics favor the democratic solution in principle, because

corresponds more

and

social nature of

add that we are

still

a long

democracy

—

— monarchy,

good.

though,

is

Yet

mentioned it is

imporsys-

and

aristocracy,

can, in certain conditions, help to achieve the essen-

purpose of exercising power, that

mon

man.

I

way from "canonizing" this

tem. Each of the possible solutions

tial

closely, as

the rational

earlier, to

tant to

it

An

is

indispensable presupposition for any solution,

respect for fundamental ethical norms. Politics

ply social ethics, as Aristotle recognized. This virtues have to be exercised to turn corrupt.

com-

to say, to serve the

if

a given

Greek tradition gave

means

is

that

system of government a

name

simcivic-

is

not

to the degeneration

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

132

of each of the systems mentioned. That of the monarchy was

known

as tyranny, while for pathological

Polybius coined the term "ochlocracy," that

forms of democracy is

domination

to say,

by the populace. After the collapse of the ideologies of the twentieth century,

and

especially after the

pinned

what

a

their

of

communism,

various nations

hopes on democracy. Yet we need to ask ourselves

democracy ought

racy, the true State life is

fall

of law

to be. is

It is

often said that with

democ-

realized. In this system, in fact, social

regulated by laws established by parliaments with legislative

power. In these assemblies, norms are drawn up which delimit the

conduct of

citizens in the various areas of social

clearly requires legislation that will ensure

ment. In

this

way a

That I

common

said,

it

their father.

jointly

helpful to return to the history of Israel.

in God's promises; he trustingly accepted his

significant that

who

good.

may be

father of

purpose of every

free citizens

have already spoken of Abraham as the one

became the

Every area

ordered develop-

State of law accomplishes the

democracy: that of forming a society of pursue the

its

life.

many

nations.

From

this

who

put his

faith

word and thereby point of view,

it is

both Jews and Christians look to Abraham

So do Muslims. Yet the basis of the State of

as

Israel as

an organized society came not from Abraham but from Moses. It

was Moses who led

and

his fellow Israelites out of the land of Egypt,

in the course of their

journey through the desert he authori-

tatively established a State of

This

is

law in the Biblical sense of the word.

something worth underlining:

Israel, as

people, was a theocratic society, in which

God's chosen

Moses was not only

the charismatic leader but also the prophet. His task, in God's

name, was

to build the juridical

and

religious foundations for the

MODERN DEMOCRACY common

people's

which took place

A

life.

at the foot

was established between of the

Law

Law

the

key

given by

moment

to

work was

the event

of Mount Sinai. There, the Covenant

God and the

God

in this

133

people of

Israel

Moses on the mountain.

consisted of the Decalogue: the ten

ten principles of conduct, without which

on the

basis

Essentially,

commandments,

the

no human community,

no nation, not even the international community, can function.

The commandments, carved on two stone received

on

Sinai, are also inscribed

us this in the Letter to the

tells

written

on

witness"

The

(2:15).

their

who do

adultery,

do not

from the Sinai code seeks

human put

social

society

at risk.

life. If

steal,

is

Moses

Sinai.

is

.

.

.

is

kill,

false witness,

Each of these commands

fundamental good of

to defend a

such a law

is

placed in doubt, ordered

not the author of the tablets of the

conduct based on

is

Com-

the mountain. Rather,

and the spokesman of the Law given

He

is

also binding, as

becomes impossible and man's moral existence

the servant

God on

requires

conscience also bears

do not bear

mandments which he brought down from he

hearts. Saint Paul

not accept Revelation: do not

honor your father and your mother

human and

own

divine law of the Decalogue

natural law, for those

do not commit

on human

which Moses

Romans: "What the law

which

their hearts, to

tablets

to

him by

goes on to formulate a highly detailed code of this

Law, which he consigns to the sons and

daughters of Israel in the Pentateuch. Christ confirmed the

commandments

of the Decalogue as

the foundation of Christian morals, synthesizing

twin precepts of love of

God and

love of neighbor.

them

And

he gives a

truly comprehensive interpretation of the term "neighbor"

Gospel.

The

love to

which the Christian

everyone, including enemies.

When

I

is

in the

in the

committed embraces

was writing the essay

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

134

Love and Responsibility, the greatest presented

itself to

me

commandment of the Gospel norm.

as a personalist

Precisely because

man is a personal being, it is not possible to fulfil our duty toward him

except by loving him. Just as love

ment with regard to

is

the

supreme command-

the personal God, so too only love can be our

human

fundamental obligation toward the

person, created in

God's image and likeness. It is

this

both Old and of

all

human

system.

other is

moral code, coming from God and sanctioned

New

legislation in

The law

human

Covenants, which

must not contradict the natural

definition of law: Lex est

law

is

quaedam

us this famous

rationis ordinatio

ad bonum

—the

promulgated for the sake of the com-

by him who has the care of the community. 36 As

a

on the truth of being: the truth of

"rational ordering," law rests

God, the truth of man, the truth of is

Thomas gave

law, that

curam communitatis habet promulgata

eo qui

a rational ordering

mon good

a democratic

man, by parliaments, and by every

to say, the eternal law of God. Saint

commune, ab

also the intangible basis

any system, particularly

established by

legislator

is

in

all

created

reality.

That truth

the basis of natural law. To this the legislator adds the act of

promulgation. For God's

modern

legislation

Let us

now

it

Law

happens

this

happened on

and

for

in parliaments.

consider a question of great importance to the

history of Europe in the twentieth century.

It

was

elected parliament that consented to Hitler's rise to

many

Sinai,

in the 1930s.

And

the

a regularly

power

in Ger-

same Reichstag, by delegating

powers to Hitler (Ermachtigungsgesetz), paved the way for

full

his pol-

icy of invading Europe, for the establishment of concentration

camps, and for the implementation of the so-called tion" to the Jewish question, that

is

"final solu-

to say, the elimination of

MODERN DEMOCRACY millions of the sons and daughters of Israel. Suffice

135

to recall

it

these events, so close to us in time, in order to see clearly that law established

They

by man has

are the limits

definite limits,

which

it

must not

overstep.

determined by the law of nature, through

which God himself safeguards man's fundamental good.

Hitler's

crimes had their Nuremberg, where those responsible were

human

judged and punished by this

element

is

lacking, even

judgment of the Divine rounds the manner

in

however,

there always remains the

supreme

A

Legislator.

which

when he judges men and

From

if

many

cases,

justice. In

Justice

profound mystery sur-

and Mercy meet

God

their history.

this perspective, as

we

enter a

millennium, we must question certain

new century and

legislative choices

the parliaments of today's democratic regimes. diate

in

example concerns abortion

laws.

a

new

made by

The most imme-

When

a

parliament

authorizes the termination of pregnancy, agreeing to the elimination of the

innocent

unborn

human

child,

it

commits

a grave abuse against

being utterly unable to defend

itself.

an

Parlia-

ments which approve and promulgate such laws must be aware that they are exceeding their proper

competence and placing

themselves in open conflict with God's law and the law of nature.

BACK TO EUROPE? 23.

A

highly topical question concerns Poland's relationship

with the exist

new Europe. One might ask what

traditional links

between Poland and modern Western Europe. Could

difficulties arise

tutions?

from

its

recent entry into European insti-

Holy Father, how do you

see the place

and

the role

of Poland within Europe?

After the fall of communism, a number of voices were heard in

Poland

in

support of the thesis that the nation needed to

re-enter Europe. There were certainly it

in this

East

good reasons

way. Clearly, the totalitarian system imposed from the

had separated us from Europe. The so-called "iron curtain"

had been an eloquent symbol of

this.

From

other points of view,

however, the thesis of the "return to Europe," even the

for expressing

most recent period of our

Although

politically separated

Poles spared

no

history, did not

from the

efforts in those years to

bution to the formation of the

rest

in relation to

appear correct.

of the Continent, the

make

their proper contri-

new Europe. How can we

their heroic struggle in 1939 against the Nazi aggressor

forget

and then,

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

138

in 1944, the uprising in

tion?

Another

which led

Warsaw against the horrors of the occupadevelopment was that of Solidarnosc,

significant

to the

fall

of the totalitarian system in the East

only in Poland, but also in neighboring countries. So

it is

—not

hard to

accept without further clarification the thesis that Poland "had to

return to Europe." She was already in Europe, having actively participated in

its

formation.

have spoken of

I

this

on numerous

occasions, protesting against the injustice that has been

Poland and to the Poles by the misleading

done

to

thesis of a "return"

to Europe.

This protest led

me

to take another look at Polish history, in

order to find out what contribution Poland has

mation of the so-called "European which began centuries ago

at the

particularly at the Congress of

spirit." It is a

to the for-

contribution

time of the "baptism of Poland,"

Gniezno

in the year 1000. Receiv-

ing baptism from neighboring Bohemia, the the Piast

made

Kingdom of Poland chose

entity in that part of Europe; despite

first

to establish a its

sovereigns of

new

political

historical weaknesses, the

nation has proved able to survive and to serve as a bastion against various external pressures.

So we Poles were involved in the formation of Europe. contributed to the course of its history and

from aggression. nica (1241),

Suffice

it

when Poland

we fought

We

to defend

it

to recall, for example, the Battle of Leg-

halted the

Mongol

invasion of Europe. 37

Then

there was the whole issue of the Teutonic Order, which

came

to the attention of the

Yet Poland's contribution level too, she

had

was not purely

a significant

Europe. In this area, credit

manca, and

Council of Constance (1414-1418). 38

is

military.

On the cultural

impact on the formation of

often given to the School of Sala-

in particular to the Spanish

Dominican Francisco de

— BACK TO EUROPE? Vitoria (1492-1546), for drawing so. Yet

it

up international

should not be forgotten that earlier

Wlodkowic

and

rightly

the Pole Pawel

still,

(1370-1435) proclaimed those same principles as the

basis for the orderly coexistence of peoples.

the

law,

139

sword but with persuasion

Conversion not with

Plus ratio

quam

—

vis

is

the

golden rule of the Jagiellonian University, which has done so

much

promote European

to

culture. This university witnessed

Krakow

the activity of such eminent scholars as Mateusz of

and Nicolaus Copernicus

(1330-1410)

important

fact

should be mentioned:

(1473-1543).

at a

Another

when Western

time

Europe was seething with the wars of religion that followed the Reformation, wars to which a misguided solution was applied by

means of the principle

cuius regio eius

religio,

the last of the Jagiel-

Sigismund Augustus, solemnly declared:

lonians,

"I

am

not the

king of your consciences." In Poland there were no wars of gion. Instead there Politically, there

Union of

Brest

was

a

reli-

tendency to seek accords and unions.

was the union with Lithuania;

ecclesially, the

was agreed toward the end of the sixteenth cen-

tury between the Catholic Church and Eastern-rite Christians.

Although

little is

known about

all this

in the West,

cates an essential contribution to the

Christian

spirit.

it

clearly indi-

formation of Europe's

Hence the sixteenth century

is

rightly called

on the other hand,

especially the

Poland's "golden age."

The seventeenth second

half,

sphere, at this

century,

saw the beginnings of

home and

a crisis both in the political

abroad, and in the religious sphere.

From

point of view, the defense of Jasna Gora in 1655" not only

seemed

like a historical

warning

for the future:

miracle but could also be interpreted as a it

drew attention

to the

from the West, dominated by the principle cuius

danger coming regio eius religio^

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

140

and

also

idated if

from the

where

East,

more and more.

Tsarist autocracy

In the light of

all this, it

was being consolcould be said that

the Poles have a fault vis-a-vis Europe and the European

it is

that they allowed the magnificent heritage of the fifteenth

and sixteenth centuries

to perish.

The eighteenth century was

The

spirit,

a time of

profound decadence.

Poles permitted the patrimony of the Jagiellonians, of

Bathory, and of John Sobieski

III,

to be destroyed.

It

must not be

forgotten that, toward the end of the seventeenth century,

John Sobieski

III

who

saved Europe from the

the battle of Vienna (1683). His victory

Ottoman

removed

it

was

threat at

that particular

danger from Europe for a long time. Here, history was in a sense repeating

itself,

reliving

what had happened

in the thirteenth cen-

tury at the Battle of Legnica. The mistake the Poles

made

in the

eighteenth century was that they failed to safeguard that heritage,

whose ultimate champion was the

known

that Poland

was entrusted

victor of Vienna.

to the

Saxon dynasty

It is

well

as a result

of external pressures, especially on the part of Russia, which

wanted values

to destroy not only the Republic of

it

Poland but also the

embodied. In the course of the eighteenth century, the

Poles were unable to halt this process of decay, or to defend themselves against the destructive influence of the liberum veto. 4 "

The

nobles failed to restore the legitimate rights of the third estate or

of the great multitudes of peasants; they failed to liberate them

from serfdom and render them responsible lic.

by

citizens of the

These were serious mistakes made by the a

good part of the

tunately, also

aristocracy,

by some Church

by

Repub-

nobility, especially

State dignitaries and, unfor-

dignitaries.

In this examination of conscience regarding our contribution

to Europe, then,

we have

to devote particular attention to our

BACK TO EUROPE? eighteenth-century history.

acknowledge the

full

On

the one hand, this allows us to

extent of the mistakes

on the other hand,

time, but,

141

and

failures

of that

also encourages us to note the

it

beginnings of a renewal. For example,

mission for National Education, the

us not forget the

Com-

attempts at armed

resist-

let

first

ance to the invaders and, especially, the great work of the Diet of

Four Years. The burden of our mistakes and 41

these things,

with her, as

and

if

it

crushed Poland. Yet in

falling,

in a testament, seeds of rebirth that

the recovery of independence

and

outweighed she brought

would lead

to

to Poland's later contribution

new

to the building of Europe. This after the

failures

chapter would begin only

nineteenth-century regimes and the so-called "Holy

Alliance" had fallen.

With the recovery of independence once again participate actively

Thanks

to

some

was possible To

tell

in the

in 1918,

Poland could

formation of Europe.

leading politicians and eminent economists,

it

to attain significant results in a short space of time.

the truth, in the West, especially in Great Britain, Poland

was viewed with suspicion. Yet with each passing year she showed herself to be a reliable contributor to postwar Europe.

was

a

courageous contributor, as became clear

And

she

in 1939: while the

Western democracies deluded themselves into thinking they could achieve something by negotiating with Hitler, Poland chose to accept the war, despite the clear inferiority of her military

technological forces. At that

judged that

this

was the only way

and the European

On

moment

and

the Polish authorities

to defend the future of

Europe

spirit.

the evening of October

16, 1978,

when

I

appeared

balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica to greet the people of the pilgrims gathered

on the

at

the

Rome and

piazza, waiting for the result of the

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

142

conclave,

said that

I

I

came "from

not great. By

graphical distance

is

hours. In calling

a "far country"

it

a far country." In fact, the geoair I

the journey takes barely two

intended to allude to the pres-

ence of the "iron curtain." The Pope from behind the iron curtain truly

came from

afar,

center of Europe. actually located

even

The

in reality,

The geographical

on

he came from the very

center of the Continent

is

Polish territory.

During the iron curtain gotten.

if,

Europe was almost

years, Central

division between East

for-

and West was applied rather

mechanically; this was aptly symbolized by Berlin, the

capital of Ger-

many, which belonged partly to West Germany and partly to East

Germany. In reality, the division was quite

and military purposes. but

it

It

artificial. It

served political

established the boundaries of the

two blocs,

did not take account of the history of the peoples concerned.

For the Poles East, partly

moved

it

was unacceptable

to

be described

as a

people of the

because the nation's boundaries, in those very years, had

farther West.

I

imagine that

it

was equally

difficult for the

Czechs, the Slovaks, and the Hungarians to accept this label, to say

nothing of the Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians.

From

this point of view, to

from Krakow, could serve ply the

summons

It

a

Pope from Poland,

an eloquent symbol.

It

was not sim-

of an individual, but of the entire Church to

which he belonged since nation.

as

summon

seems to

me

birth; indirectly,

it

was

also a call to his

that Cardinal Stefan Wyszyhski

saw and

expressed this aspect of the event in a particularly profound way. Personally ish

I

have always been convinced that the election of a Pol-

Pope can be explained

in

terms of

all

that the Primate of the

Millennium had achieved, along with the

rest

of the Episcopate

and the Polish Church, despite the oppressive limitations and persecutions to which they were subjected in those difficult years.

BACK TO EUROPE?

143

In sending the Apostles to the furthest ends of the earth,

my

Christ said to them: "You will be

witnesses" (Acts

1:8).

Christians are called to be witnesses of Christ. In a particular

Church

the pastors of the

from Poland

are so called.

to the See of

significant choice:

it

was

Rome,

of the Church from which that Cardinal it

for the

had

good of the Universal Church.

a particular significance for

way

electing a Cardinal

the conclave was

wanted

as if they

By

All

to call

came

upon

—and

making

a

the witness

to call

upon

In any case, their choice

Europe and

for the world.

By

a

tradition lasting almost five centuries, the responsibility of the

See of Peter had devolved

upon an

of a Pole seemed like a revolution. clave, following the indications

Italian Cardinal. It

election

demonstrated that the con-

of the Council, was seeking to

read the "signs of the times" and to ponder light

The

its

decisions in the

of these.

In this context, that Central

It

usefully reflect

on the contribution

and Eastern Europe can make today to the formation

of a united Europe. sions.

we might

seems to

I

have spoken about

me

this

on numerous occa-

most important contribution the

that the

countries of that region can offer

is

to defend their identity.

The

nations of Central and Eastern Europe have preserved their identity,

and even consolidated

them by the Communist

it,

despite

all

dictators. For

that

was imposed upon

them, the

fight to preserve

national identity was a fight for survival. Today the two parts of

Europe

—

East

nomenon,

and West

positive in

—

are

coming

itself, is

closer together. This phe-

not without

danger facing Eastern Europe today seems to

risk.

me

The

principal

to be the weak-

ening of its identity. During the struggle against Marxist

totalitar-

ianism, that part of Europe went through a process of spiritual

maturation, thanks to which certain values essential for

human

144

life

MEMORY AND IDENTITY have not declined there as

much

Europe, for example, there

is still

the supreme guarantor of

human

where does the

risk lie?

It lies

in

as in the West. In Eastern

a strong conviction that

dignity and

human

God

is

So

rights.

an uncritical submission to the

influence of negative cultural models, widespread in the West. For

Central and Eastern Europe, where such tendencies can seem a kind of "cultural progress," this

lenges today. This,

I

tual confrontation

is

one of the most serious

like

chal-

am convinced, is the area where a great spiriis

taking place, the outcome of which will

determine the face of the new Europe being formed

at the start

of

the millennium.

In 1994, at Castel Gandolfo, a

theme

of the identity of

European

The discussion focused on

symposium was held on

the changes brought about by the

events of the twentieth century in the

way European

national identity are understood in the context of lization.

the

societies (Identity in Change).

identity

modern

and civi-

At the beginning of the symposium, Paul Ricceur spoke

of remembering and forgetting as two important and mutually

opposed forces that operate ory

is

in

human and

social history.

the faculty which models the identity of

both a personal and a

collective level. In fact,

human

it is

ory that our sense of identity forms and defines

Mem-

beings at

through

itself in

mem-

the per-

Among the many interesting things I heard on that occasion, this struck me particularly. Christ was acquainted with this law of memory and he invoked it at the key moment of his mission. When he was instituting the Eucharist during the Last Supper, he said: "Do this in memory of me" {Hocfacite in meam sonal psyche.

Memory

evokes recollections. The

in a certain sense, the "living

memory" of Christ: of the

commemorationem; Lk

Church

is,

22:19).

mystery of Christ, of his Passion, death, and resurrection, of his

BACK TO EUROPE? Body and Blood. This "memory" Eucharist.

It

Eucharist in

own and

at the

tion of

The Eucharist

same time more

man and

the

Master, continually discover their

highlights something universal

new

divinization of

man

memory

to

highlights the divinizaIt

speaks of the

of the redemption and universal, also triggers

understand himself deeply, within the definitive

communities

in

It

which

clan, the nation. Finally,

it

allows

him

to understand the diff-

his history evolves: the family, the

allows

him to understand the history of

language and culture, the history of beautiful.

more profound

of memory, both personal and collective.

perspective of his humanity. erent

it

man, so profound and so

many other dimensions allows

—

creation in Christ.

redemption of the world. This

It

accomplished through the

is

follows that Christians, as they celebrate the

"memory" of their

identity.

145

all

that

is

true, good,

and

24-

THE MATERNAL

MEMORY OF THE CHURCH In recent decades in various parts of the world,

changes have taken place and

much

need for the Church

to

to

adapt

has been said about the

new

would you define the elements of this

order to answer this question,

it is

The

cultural realities.

urgent question of the Church's identity also

In

enormous

identity,

How

arises.

Holy Father?

helpful to consider

from

it

another angle. In describing the events of Jesus's infancy, Saint

Luke (Lk

says:

2:51).

"His mother treasured

these things in her heart"

all

This refers to her recollection of his words and of the

events surrounding the incarnation of the Son of God.

served in her heart the tion,

because that was the

conceived in her those the

memory

womb

Jn

1:14).

the Incarnate

She preserved the

months when the Word was hidden within

moment

of

Our

remembered how no room

Lord's birth with

Jesus

in the inn,

pre-

of the mystery of the Annuncia-

moment when

(cf.

Mary

was born

in

all

that

her.

Word was

memory of Then came

went with

it.

Mary

Bethlehem: since there was

he entered the world

in a stable (cf.

Lk

2:7).

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

148

amid supernatural

Yet his birth occurred

came

pay homage

signs:

nearby

fields

later in

Bethlehem, the Magi came from the East

to

then, together with Saint Joseph,

her son from Herod's wrath

recorded in Mary's that she passed

it

Mary had to

on

to Saint Luke,

on

it

(cf.

Lk

(cf.

flee to

2:15-17);

Mt

2:1-12);

Egypt to save

Mt 2:13-15). All this was faithfully

memory and we may

She also passed

her.

(cf.

to the Child

shepherds in

reasonably conclude

who was

particularly close to

to Saint John, to

whom

Jesus

had

entrusted her at the hour of his death. It is

true that John summarizes the entire infancy narrative in

a single phrase:

"And the Word became

flesh

and

lived

among

us"

(Jn 1:14), framing this simple statement with the magnificent Pro-

John do we find

logue of his Gospel. Yet

it is

an account of the

miracle worked by Jesus, at his mother's

request

(cf.

first

also true that only in

And

Jn 2:1-11).

it is

John again, and he alone, who

recounts the words with which Jesus, at the hour of his agony, entrusted his mother to that

Mary preserved

ory. "His

all

him

memory is

Jn 19:26-27).

We may

presume

these events carved indelibly in her

mother treasured

Mary's

(cf.

all

mem-

these things in her heart" (Lk 2:51).

a source of singular

ing Christ, an incomparable source.

Mary

importance for knowis

not only a witness to

the mystery of the Incarnation, in which she knowingly cooperated.

She also followed step-by-step the gradual self-revelation of

her Son as he was growing up beside her. The Gospel stories are familiar.

The twelve-year-old

Jesus

tells

sion he has received from the Father leaves Nazareth, his

ated with him: this Galilee

Lk

(cf.

Jn 2:1-11)

(cf.

Mary Lk

mother always remains becomes

clear

and elsewhere

8:19-21). In particular,

Mary was

of the special mis-

2:49). Later,

in

some way

from the miracle (cf.

when he

at

Mk 3:31-35; Mt

associ-

Cana

in

12:46-50;

to witness the mystery of the

THE MATERNAL MEMORY OF THE CHURCH Passion and there

is

its

no mention of it

she was the

Mary was

first

to

Jn 19:25-27). Even

(cf.

in the Biblical texts,

whom the

it is

if

conceivable that

Risen Lord appeared. In any event,

present at his Ascension into heaven, she was with the

Apostles in the Upper Spirit,

on Calvary

fulfilment

149

Room

and she was a witness

awaiting the descent of the Holy

Church on the day

to the birth of the

of Pentecost.

This maternal

memory of Mary is

particularly important for

the divine-human identity of the Church.

memory

of the

new People of God

is

It

could be said that the

intimately associated with

Mary's memory, and that the celebration of the Eucharist

relives

events and teachings of Christ learned from the lips of his

mother. Moreover, the Church has a maternal

own, because she herself

The Church,

is

of her

mother who remembers.

a mother, a

in her turn, safeguards

memory

what was present

in

Mary's

Church grows,

princi-

memories.

The Church's memory grows pally

through the witness of Apostles and the suffering of mar-

tyrs. It is a

starting

memory which

term

reveals itself gradually in history,

from the Acts of the Apostles, but

identified with history. cal

as the

to describe

It is

it is

something quite

Tradition. This

specific.

word

function of remembering by handing on.

cannot be

it

The

totally

techni-

refers to the active

What

else

is

Tradition

but the task assumed by the Church of transmitting (in Latin, tradere) the

mystery of Christ and the entirety of

preserved in her

memory?

stantly sustained

It is

a task in

by the Holy

Spirit.

which the Church

During

course, Christ speaks to the Apostles of the

teach you everything and remind you of

you" (Jn

14:26).

The Church, when she

his teaching

con-

his farewell dis-

Holy

all

is

that

Spirit: I

"He

will

have said to

celebrates the Eucharist,

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

150

which

Holy ory.

the "memorial" of the Lord, does so in the power of the

is

Spirit,

To

who from day

this

to

day awakens and directs her

marvelous and mysterious work of the

mem-

Spirit, the

Church, from generation to generation, owes her essential identity.

And

this

has already lasted for two thousand years.

The memory of this fundamental

endowed

his

identity,

with which Christ

Church, has proved stronger than

introduced by

men

the divisions

all

into their ecclesial inheritance. At the begin-

ning of the third millennium, Christians, though divided

among

themselves, are conscious that unity and not division belongs to the

most profound essence of the Church. And they are conscious

of this by virtue of the words of institution of the Eucharist: this in

memory

of

me" (Lk

"Do

These are univocal words;

22:19).

words which admit neither divisions nor schisms. This unity of memory accompanies the Church from generation to generation as history runs

is

a

woman. To

course,

and

tell

the truth,

families, in the history of tribes

many

it is

has this to say about Mary: she faith, charity,

in the history of in the

reasons for the Marian

The Second Vatican Council type of the Church in the

"is a

and perfect union with

mystery of the Church, which

is itself

Christ. For in the

rightly called

virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in

way because

hers

is

the

memory is the most

most

faithful

memory, or

faithful reflection

mother and

eminent and singular

42 fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother."

her

to the

Church, for the large number of shrines dedicated to

in different parts of the world.

order of

partly because

and nations, and thus too

history of the Church. There are

Mary

expresses itself

memory belongs more

mystery of woman than to that of man. Thus

cult in the

it

memory. This happens

particularly in Mary's

Mary

its

Mary

led the

rather, because

of the mystery of God,

THE MATERNAL MEMORY OF THE CHURCH

151

transmitted in her to the Church and through the Church to

humanity.

What him,

it is

There

is

here

at issue

is

the mystery of

not only the mystery of Christ. In

is

man

that

is

revealed from the beginning.

probably no other text on the origins of

and yet so complete as that contained

creation of lar

man

as

male and female

vocation in the universe

is

nal state, a state of innocence different scenario of sin

(cf.

and

Gn

1:27),

but his particuIn brief but

the truth about man's origi-

and happiness, we observe the very

its

effects

—what

scholastic theology

describes as status naturae lapsae (the state of fallen nature)

we

immediate divine

learn of the

Redemption

(cf.

Gn

history from the beginning: the

the whole of ten.

and

human

The Church

is

a

his

fall.

herself the

memory of his Within

pointing to the

mother who,

a clear

making

echo of

like all

memory

this truth

of the Year 2000. The Church celebrated

framework

Redemption,

Mary, treasures

their

of man's

creation, his voca-

this essential

history, the history of

the story of her children,

There was

initiative

—and

3:15).

The Church preserves within

tion, his elevation,

of

find an account of the

made abundantly clear.

we glimpse

quite transparent terms,

so simple

in the first three chapters

Book of Genesis. Here not only do we

the

man

is

writ-

in her heart

problems her own.

during the Great Jubilee it

as a jubilee

of the birth

of Jesus Christ, but also as a jubilee of man's origins, of man's

appearance

The

in the universe,

constitution

man

is

Gaudium

fully revealed

In reality

it is

of his elevation, and of his vocation. et Spes rightly said that the

mystery of

only in Christ:

only in the mystery of the

that the mystery of

man

truly

becomes

Word made clear.

flesh

Adam,

the

152

MEMORY AND IDENTITY first

man, was

a type of him

Lord. Christ the

new Adam,

who was to come,

Christ the

in the very revelation of the

mystery of the Father and of his

love, fully reveals

himself and brings to light his highest calling.

man to

43

Saint Paul said something similar:

The

first

man, Adam, became

Adam became tual that

a living being; the last

a life-giving spirit.

is first,

But

it is

not the

but the physical and then the

spiri-

spiritual.

man was from the earth, a man of dust, the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so The

first

are those

who

image of the the

man

are of heaven. Just as

man

of dust,

of heaven.

(1

Cor

we

we have borne

will also bear the

the

image of

15:45-49)

This was the essential meaning of the Great Jubilee. The occurrence of the year 2000 was important not just for Christianity

but for the entire

which

is

Christ.

It

human

family.

asked repeatedly, finds

its

The question about man, complete answer in Jesus

could be said that the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 was

the jubilee both of Christ's birth and of the answer to the question about the

meaning and sense of being human. And

the

memory

enable

is

memory Mary's memory and the man to rediscover his true identity at

linked to the dimension of

Church's

it

dawn of the new millennium.

THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN HISTORY 25.

We and

have arrived at the crucial question concerning his destiny:

How

meaning of history?

are

we

to

man

understand the deepest

Is it sufficient to

adopt an approach

the question that remains within the limits of time

to

and

space?

Human history obviously unfolds within space and time. Yet It is

not only we

dimension of

it

in a horizontal

also has a vertical dimension.

who write our history: God writes

history,

dimension

which we might

it

with

us.

This

label "transcendent," the

Enlightenment decisively rejected. The Church, however, returns to

repeatedly: the

it

Second Vatican Council provides

clear evi-

dence of this. In

what way does God write our history? An answer

in the Bible,

right

up

ning of

is

given

from the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis

to the final pages of the Apocalypse. At the very begin

human

promise. Such

history, is

the

God

God

reveals himself as the

God

of the

of Abraham, the great patriarch of

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

154

whom Saint Paul (cf. Rom 4:18): he

says that he

"had

hoping against hope"

faith

accepted without question God's promise that

he would become the father of a great nation. To it

was an impossible promise: he was,

wife, Sarah,

had

grown

also

old.

after

fulfilled (cf.

Isaac

ing for

God to

18:11-14).

God's promise to Abraham was

Israel

ham and

is

God's chosen nation, to

entire history of Israel

a time of wait-

a specific object: God's "blessing" for Abra-

his descendants.

will bless you,

make of you

and make your name

be a blessing ... by you

all

to go

a great nation,

great, so that

you

will

the families of the earth shall bless

themselves" (Gn 12:2-3). To understand the

we have

God

These are the words with which

enters into dialogue with him: "I will

promise,

is

whom he

carry out this promise.

The promise has

this

Gn

and from him issued Abraham's descendants, gradually

promised a Messiah. The

I

(cf.

Gn 21:1-7). The son of his old age was given the name

growing into a nation.

and

his

speaking, their hopes

of having any descendants seemed non-existent

And yet a child was born to them.

appearances,

an old man, and

all,

Humanly

all

back to the

first

salvific

importance of

chapters of the

of Genesis and, in particular, to the third chapter, where

Book

we

read

of the Lord's conversation with the dramatis personae of the original Fall.

for

God

calls first

the

man and

what they have done. And when the

instigated the transgression

is

serpent. sin of

blames

his wife, she

promise of the future plan of

already contained in the curse addressed by

God

our

God

sal-

to the

curses the evil spirit, the instigator of the original

first

express the

to account

(cf.

interesting to note that the

vation

man

woman

Gn 3:11-13). It was he who had of God's command (cf. Gn 3:1-5). Yet

in turn points to the tempter

it is

then the

parents, but at the

first

same time he

Messianic promise.

He

utters

words

that

says to the serpent: "I will

THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN HISTORY

woman and

put enmity between you and the offspring heel"

(Gn

and

hers;

3:15). It is

between your

he will strike your head, and you a synthetic outline, but

promise of salvation

is

contained here and

will strike his

says everything.

it

we

155

The

already obtain a

glimpse of the entire history of humanity as far as the Apocalypse: the

woman announced

in the

Protoevangelium appears in

the pages of the Apocalypse clothed with the sun

with twelve

stars,

while the ancient dragon presses

wishing to devour her offspring

Rv

(cf.

continue, between the sin inherited from our saving grace

won by

the promise

made

coming, the

last

Christ,

to

good and

first

Son of Mary. He

Abraham and

upon

her,

12:1-6).

Until the end of time, this struggle between

completion.

and crowned

is

evil will

parents and the

the fulfillment of

inherited by Israel.

With

his

times have begun, the times of eschatological

God kept his word to Abraham by making a Covenant

with Israel through Moses, and in Christ his Son he opened up to all

mankind

history. This

the prospect of eternal is

life

beyond the end of earthly

man's extraordinary destiny: called to the dignity

of an adopted son of God, he accepts this vocation in faith and he

commits himself of the

human

to build

up the Kingdom,

on earth

race

in

which the history

will reach its definitive point

of

arrival.

am reminded of some verses that wrote years ago, speaking of man and the God-Man, the incarnate Word of God, in whom alone history acquires its full meaning. said: In this regard,

I

I

I

Oh Man, on You call, for You search in whom man's history finds its body. I

I

I

approach you saying, not "Come"

But simply "be."

156

MEMORY AND IDENTITY Be there where not one trace but where

man

is

found

once did dwell,

where heart and

soul, desire, pain, will,

were consumed by emotions ablaze with holy shame.

Be

as the eternal

seismograph of things

invisible

but

real.

O

Man,

whom are met the heights and depths of

in

man, in

whose deep center weighs no

Man

in

dark, but only heart,

whom each man can find what's nearest to his

heart,

the root of all his actions, mirroring

human

gazing on

Man,

ever to

you

life

and death,

doings,

come, wading through the slender

I

stream of history going to meet each heart, each thought (history

is

thronged with thoughts and death of hearts).

Your Body

I

seek for

Your depth

it is I

Here, then,

is

all

of history,

seek. 44

the answer to the crucial question: the deepest

meaning of history goes beyond history and tion in Christ, the

beyond the

human

Humanity

God-man. Christian hope The Kingdom of God

limit of time.

history, is

finds

and there

called to

it

grows, but

its

goal

is

its full

explana-

projects itself is

the

grafted onto life

to

come.

advance beyond death, even beyond time,

toward the definitive onset of eternity alongside the glorious Christ in the

communion

immortality" (Wis

3:4).

of the Trinity. "Their hope

is full

of

EPILOGUE The final conversation took place

in the small

dining room

of the Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo. The Holy Father's secretary,

Archbishop Stanistaw Dziwisz, also took part.

"SOMEONE MUST HAVE GUIDED THAT BULLET" 26.

What really happened on May tion

13,

1981? Did the assassina-

attempt and the events surrounding

it

some

reveal

truth about the Papacy, perhaps one previously overlooked? Is it

possible to read in

them a

special message

personal mission, Holy Father? You went assailant in prison,

you view

What

and you met him face

to face.

your

How do

the events of those days now, after all these years?

and

significance have that attack

nected with

john paul

about your

to visit

n:

it

It

acquired in your

was

all

the events con-

life?

a testimony to divine grace.

certain similarity to the trials suffered

I

see here a

by Cardinal Wyszyriski

during his imprisonment. The experience of the Primate of Poland, though, lasted

more than

lasted rather a short time, just a

shoot,

and he

certainly shot to

three years, while

my own

few months. Agca knew

kill.

guiding and deflecting that bullet.

Yet

it

was

as if

how

to

someone was

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

160

stanishaw dziwisz: Agca shot been

The

fatal.

wounding him finger.

more

Then

bullet passed

to

through the Holy Father's body,

in the stomach, the right elbow,

the bullet

fell

asked the Holy Father: "Where?"

"Does

ach."

and the

between the Pope and me.

I

left

index

heard two

and two people standing near us were wounded.

shots,

I

That shot should have

kill.

He

replied: "In the

stom-

hurt?" "It does-

it

There was no doctor within reach. There was no time think.

We

and

lance

to

immediately carried the Holy Father into an ambuset off at great

speed toward the Gemelli Hospital. The

Holy Father was praying

sotto voce.

Then, during the journey, he

lost consciousness.

A number of factors would determine whether or not he survived, for

example the question of time, the time

God

is

visible.

john paul short time vive.

I

it

was

ii

I

would have been too

Yes,

I

remember

in pain, I

and

this

In

late.

Everything points toward

I

had

a sense that

was a reason

at the hospital,

situation

I

would

to be afraid, but

I

stanislaw dziwisz: Almost immediately hospital, the

hand of

it.

said to Father Stanislaw that

What happened

the

all this,

that journey to the hospital. For a

remained conscious.

strange trust. assailant.

:

took us to

more minutes, some obstruction along

reach the hospital: a few the way, and

it

I

I

sur-

had

had forgiven

a

my

do not remember.

after

we

arrived at the

Holy Father was taken into the operating room. The

was very

grave.

The Holy Father had

lost a great deal

of

blood. His blood pressure was falling dramatically, his pulse barely registered.

Sacrament of the

The doctors suggested Sick.

I

did so at once.

that

I

administer the

"someone must have guided that bullet" john paul

11: 1

was already

practically

on the other

stanislaw dziwisz: Then he was given

john paul

11:

161

side.

blood transfusion.

a

The further complications and

delays in the

whole

process of recovery can be traced back to that transfusion.

stanislaw dziwisz: The

first

who

doctors in the hospital

blood was

gave their

went

Father. This second transfusion

rejected,

own blood

about that

finger healed

by

bullet. "If

itself,

Holy Father was transferred

The doctors were

such a situation could have been internal organs were cult.

As

happened, the wounded

it

without any treatment.

After the operation, the

recovery room.

afraid of infection,

lethal.

Some

to a

which

in

of the Holy Father's

damaged. The operation had been very diffi-

happened, everything healed

it

They

to survive.

he survives, we can do something

they said to me. As

later"

per-

understandably, to the finger which had

at all,

been wounded by the

Holy

to the

The doctors who

well.

formed the operation did not expect the patient paid no attention

but there were

slightest complication,

perfectly,

without the

even though such complex operations

fre-

quently do lead to problems.

john paul Krakow

11:

Rome

In

a dying Pope, in

... In

the university students organized a demonstration: the

"white march." 4S

When

I

went

to Poland,

thank you for the 'white march'."

Our

Poland mourning

I

also

I

said: "I

went

have

come

to Fatima, to

to

thank

Lady.

O

dear Lord!

It

was

a

hard experience.

the following day, toward noon.

"Yesterday

I

didn't say Compline."

And

I

I

didn't

wake up

until

said to Fr. Stanislaw:

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

162

stanislaw dziwisz: To be "Have

I

said

john paul

precise,

n:

I

it

ply unconscious for quite

was reasonably good. At

theless, his recovery

Fr.

still

you asked me:

the previous day.

some

time.

They

Stanislaw knew.

situation was. Besides,

When

I

I

was sim-

my morale

awoke,

least initially.

stanislaw dziwisz: The next Father suffered greatly.

Father,

was

knew nothing of what

me how serious the

hadn't told

Holy

Compline?" You thought

three days were awful.

He had tubes and cuts

was quite

fast.

The Holy

everywhere. Never-

At the beginning of June, the

Holy Father returned home. He wasn't even required

to observe a

special diet.

john paul

ii

:

As you

see,

stanislaw dziwisz: At

I

have quite a strong constitution.

a later stage, though, his system

attacked by a dangerous virus as a consequence of the transfusion, or his general debilitated condition.

had been given an enormous quantity of

him

against infection. This significantly

immune

system. That was

how

The Holy Father was returned Thanks improved

first

was

blood

The Holy Father

antibiotics to protect

weakened

his natural

a further illness could develop.

to the hospital.

to intensive medical treatment, his state of health

to the point

where the doctors decided they could pro-

ceed to a further operation to complete the surgery carried out on the day of the attack. feast

of

The Holy Father chose August

Our Lady of the Snows, which

is

5

for this, the

kept in the liturgical cal-

endar as the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. This second phase of treatment was equally successful.

August

13,

three

months

On

after the attack, the doctors issued a

"someone must have guided that bullet"

163

medical bulletin to say that the hospital treatment had been con-

The

cluded.

patient was definitively discharged

months

Five

not a trace of

fear,

meet the

nor even of

hospital.

Holy Father returned

after the attack, the

Saint Peter's Square to

from

once again. He showed

faithful

although the doctors had

stress,

He

on

warned

that this

"Again

have become indebted to the Blessed Virgin and to

I

was

Patron Saints. Could

I

a possibility.

said

that occasion: all

the

forget that the event in Saint Peter's Square

took place on the day and

at the

hour when the

of the Mother of Christ to the poor

remembered

to

for over sixty years at

everything that happened to

little

Fatima

me on

first

appearance

peasants has been in Portugal? For, in

that very day,

I

felt

that

extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to

be stronger than the deadly

john paul

We

prison.

11:

Around Christmas

spoke

at length. All

professional assassin. This initiative,

sioned

it

him

became

bullet."

was someone to carry

clear that Ali

it

1983

means

that the attack

else's idea;

someone

out. In the course of

Agca was

my

attacker in

was not

else

his

own

had commis-

our conversation

it

wondering how the attempted

still

ulously, attending to every tiny detail.

The

visited

Agca, as everyone knows, was a

assassination could possibly have failed.

had escaped death.

I

He had planned

And yet his

it

metic-

intended victim

How could this have happened?

interesting thing

the religious question.

was that

He wanted

his perplexity

to

had

know about

led

him

to

the secret of

Fatima, and what the secret actually was. This was his principal

concern;

more than anything

else,

he wanted to

know

this.

Perhaps those insistent questions showed that he had grasped

something

really

important. Ali Agca had probably sensed that

over and above his

own

power, over and above the power of

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

164

shooting and

look for

killing, there

was

a higher power.

hope and pray that he found

it. I

stanislaw dziwisz:

I

He

it.

would describe the Holy

and health

Father's miracu-

from heaven. The attempted

lous return to

life

assassination,

humanly speaking, has remained

as a gift

then began to

a mystery. Nei-

ther the trial nor the attacker's long imprisonment has clarified I

witnessed the Holy Father's

visit to Ali

had already forgiven him publicly attack.

On

the prisoner's part

He was

forgiveness."

The Pope

in his first speech after the

did not hear the words:

attacker's

and often inquired

On the

in prison.

"I

ask for

only interested in the secret of Fatima. The

Holy Father received the occasions,

I

Agca

it.

spiritual level, the

after

mother and family on

him of the prison

several

chaplains.

mystery consists in the whole dra-

matic sequence of events, which weakened the health and strength of the effectiveness

Church and I

Holy

and

any way impair the

fruitfulness of his apostolic ministry in the

in the world.

do not consider

famous

Father, but did not in

an exaggeration to apply in

it

saying: Sanguis

this case the

martyrum semen christianorumf Perhaps

there was a need for that blood to be spilled in Saint Peter's

Square,

on the

site

of the martyrdom of the early Christians.

Without doubt, the the entire

Church

first fruit

of that blood was the union of

in prayer for the Pope's survival.

the night following the attack, pilgrims

Throughout

who had come

for the

General Audience and an ever increasing number of local people

prayed in Saint Peter's Square. In the following days, in cathedrals, in churches,

and

in chapels

and prayers were offered in this regard: "It

is

all

over the world, Mass was celebrated

for the Pope's intentions.

difficult for

me

to think of

He himself said all this

without

"someone must have guided that bullet" emotion, without deep gratitude to everyone, to gathered in prayer on the day of severed in

it

time ...

for all this

May 13, and I

am

to

all

all

165

those

who

who

per-

those

Lord

grateful to Christ the

and to the Holy Spirit, who, through this event which took place in Saint Peter's Square to

on May 13

common prayer. And thinking of this great prayer,

get the

words of the Acts of the Apostles referring

him was made

prayer for

john paul do

11: 1

am

God by the

for-

to Peter: 'Earnest

Church' (Acts

12:5 )."

constantly aware that in everything

I

47

say

and

I

act in

what

I

do

as the Successor of Peter.

Let us take the example of the

contributory factor in

earlier, a

in

cannot

my vocation, my mission, my ministry, what is not just my own initiative. I know that it is not alone

happens

economic doctrine, but

cient

I

of

in fulfillment

who

to

many hearts

at 5:17 p.m., inspired so

its

Communist

system. As

demise was certainly

to account for

its

what happened

said

I

defi-

solely

terms of economic factors would be a rather naive simplifica-

On the other hand, it would obviously be ridiculous to claim

tion.

that the I

first

Pope brought down communism single-handedly.

think the explanation can be found in the Gospel.

disciples returned to their Master, having

mission, they said: "Lord, even the

your name" (Lk this, that

10:17).

was our duty'" (Lk

unworthy

growing

— and

I

think

in I

And on

servants,

a

rejoice in

names

another occasion he

we have only done what

17:10).

Unworthy servants

me

"Do not

the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your

adds: "Say: 'We are

is

been sent out on

are subject to us in

Christ replied to them:

are written in heaven" (Lk 10:20).

vant"

demons

When the

me

.

.

.

The sense of being an "unworthy

in the

feel at

midst of

ease with this.

all

that

ser-

happens around

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

166

Let us return to the assassination attempt:

I

think

it

was one

of the final convulsions of the arrogant ideologies unleashed during the twentieth century. Both fascism and nazism eliminated people. So did

communism. Here

tion continued, justifying itself

in Italy, the practice of elimina-

by similar arguments: the Red

Brigade killed innocent and honest men. In rereading the transcriptions of those conversations of

some

years ago,

I

would note

that the manifestations of violence

from the so-called anni dipiombo

(years of lead) have

been

signi-

world has seen the

ficantly reduced. Yet in recent years the

of so-called "terror networks" that place the

lives

rise

of millions of

innocent people under constant threat. Striking confirmation of this

was provided by the destruction of the Twin Towers

York (September

Madrid (March

11,

bomb

2001), the

11,

blast in

in

New

Atocha Station

in

2004), and the slaughter at Beslan in North

Ossetia (September 1-3, 2004).

Where

are these

new

eruptions of

violence leading?

The demise naled a

first

of nazism and then of the Soviet Union

failure. It revealed the utter

sig-

absurdity of the large-scale

violence that formed part of the theory and practice of those

we be

systems. Will history? in the

Or

will

human

able to learn

from the dramatic lessons of

we be prey once more

spirit,

to the passions at

work

yielding yet again to the evil promptings of

violence? Believers

know

that the presence of evil

is

always accompa-

nied by the presence of good, by grace. As Saint Paul wrote: "The free gift

is

one man's

not

like the trespass.

trespass,

much more

For

gift in

for the

many" (Rom

5:15).

the

many died through

surely have the grace of

the grace of the one

the free

if

man,

Jesus Christ,

the

God and

abounded

These words retain their relevance

"SOMEONE MUST HAVE GUIDED THAT BULLET" Redemption

today.

good

for

ately,

Where

ongoing.

is

also grows. In

our times

evil

167

grows, there the hope

evil

has grown disproportion-

operating through perverted systems which have practiced

on

violence and elimination

a vast scale.

I

am

not speaking here

of evil committed by individuals for personal motives or through individual initiatives. small-scale evil,

The

evil

of the twentieth century was not a

was not simply "homemade."

it

gigantic proportions, an evil tures in order to accomplish

which availed

its

itself

wicked work, an

was an

It

evil

of

of state struc-

evil built

up

into

a system.

At the same time, however, divine grace has been superabundantly revealed. There

no

is

forth a greater good. There

form

is

evil

no

from which God cannot draw

suffering

which he cannot trans-

into a path leading to him. Offering himself freely in his

passion and death on the Cross, the Son of

of

self all the evil

just

or

The

took upon him-

suffering of the Crucified

God

is

not

one form of suffering alongside others, not just another more

less

painful ordeal:

himself for us ing

sin.

God

up

a

all,

Christ gave a

new dimension,

that suffering entered

"sting"

(cf. 1

Cor

an unequaled suffering. In sacrificing

it is

new

a

human

15:55-56)

new meaning

order: the order of love.

which

inflicts pain,

duced into human

history,

which

is

it

is

hope of

that "sting,"

liberation,

which

is

hope

tearing

which burns and consumes

from within.

It

intro-

the history of sin, a blameless

forth even

from

door

for the definitive elimination of

humanity

evil

that

a radically

suffering accepted purely for love. This suffering opens the to the

true

wounding man

on the Cross gave

to suffering, transforming

open-

It is

history with original sin. Sin

mortally. Yet the passion of Christ

new meaning

to suffering,

apart.

It

is

this suffering

with the flame of love and draws

sin a great flowering of good.

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

168

All itself a

in

human

suffering,

pain,

all

infirmity contains within

promise of salvation, a promise of joy:

my sufferings

applies to

that

all

all

for

your

social

and

political evil

ments the world today: the afflicting individuals

am now rejoicing

sake," writes Saint Paul (Col 1:24). This

forms of suffering, called forth by

enormous

human

"I

evil

evil. It

applies to

which divides and

of war, the evil of oppression

and peoples, the

evil

of social injustice, of

dignity trodden underfoot, of racial and religious dis-

crimination, the evil of violence, terrorism, the arms race this evil

our

tor-

is

—

all

present in the world partly so as to awaken our love,

self-gift in

generous and disinterested service to those visited

by

suffering. In the love that

we

find

hope

pours forth from the heart of Christ,

for the future of the world. Christ has

world: "By his

wounds we

are healed" (Is 53:5).

redeemed the

NOTES

i.

De

tiality), 3.

civitate

Cf.

2.

Dei XIV,

28.

Miedzy heroizmem a bestialstwem {Between Heroism and Bes-

Czestochowa, 1984.

"A part of that force which always desires

plishes

good"

(Faust, Part

Scene

I,

4.

No.

5.

Pastoral constitution

3:

and always accom-

evil

"In the Study").

13.

Gaudium

et Spes, 37.

6. Ibid., 2. 7.

Adversus haereses,

8.

Cf. nos. 6-27.

9.

No.

10.

IV, 20, 7.

36.

Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der

Sitten, in

Werke, iv (Darmstadt,

1956), 51. 11.

Ibid., 61.

12.

© The Grail

13.

Promethidion. Rzecz

Norwid, Pisma 14.

The

(England). Used with permission.

wszystkie,

w

iii:

dwoch dialogach

Poematy (Warsaw,

Piast dynasty ruled

dynasty, but

it

from 960 to

z epilogiem, in Cyprian 1971), 440.

1379.

It

only began to be designated with this

was the

first

name from

Polish

the sev-

enteenth century onward. [Ed.] 15.

Kievan Rus was

initially (at

tion of Slav principalities

the end of the ninth century) a collec-

grouped around the leading

figure of the

prince of Kiev. Gradually Rus expanded to cover a territory reaching

from Kiev

in the

south to Novgorod in the north. From the early

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

170

years of the tenth century there

is

documentary evidence of commercial

contacts with the Byzantine world. Later, cultural contacts also devel-

oped, through which Christianity

first

came

to be proclaimed in the

land of Kiev. The baptism of Prince Vladimir led to the systematic spread of Christianity throughout the principality, which then became the center from

which the Gospel was carried

to

much

of the Slav

world. [Ed.] 16.

Stanislaw Wyspiariski, Wyzwolenie, in Dzieta zebrane, v (Krakow,

1959), 98. 17.

Lumen Gentium,

18. Cf.

13.

Karol Wojtyla, Poezje (Poems), (Krakow, 1998),

quoted have been translated specially for 19. Cf. ibid.,

20.

Founded

in 1190

a military order

vows of poverty,

chastity,

moved toward

against the

verses

this publication.

by German merchants and pilgrims during the

Third Crusade,

the Brothers of the Hospital of

order

The

214-220.

siege of Acre in the

became

212.

Mongols

it

originally called the

Our Lady of

whose members,

all

Order of

the Teutons. In 1198

from the

it

took

nobility,

and obedience. In the thirteenth century, the

eastern Europe, gaining distinction in the fight in

Hungary

Slavs of northeastern Europe. Later

military state, Prussia,

was

its

territory

(1211-1225)

and against the pagan

formed

a full-fledged monastic-

it

bounded by the

Baltic Sea, the Oder,

and the Neva. The expansion of the Teutonic Knights toward the was halted when they were defeated by Alexander Nevsky's army in

east

1240.

A decisive moment for the Order was its defeat in 1410 by the Polish and Lithuanian armies

at the battle

of Grunwald, which marked the begin-

ning of its decline. [Ed.] 21.

Nos.

6, 7, 14:

VOsservatore Romano, English edition (June

23,

1980), 9-12. 22.

The

Jagiellonian dynasty ruled not only in Poland (1386-1572),

but also for certain periods in Lithuania, Hungary, and Bohemia. The

name comes from Wladyslaw Jagietto (1350-1434), grand duke of Lithuania, who married Hedwig, queen of Poland, thereby favoring the conversion of Lithuania to Christianity and contributing to that country's

union with Poland.

NOTES 23. Cf. Pensees, ed.

24.

On May 3,

171

Brunschvicg, 347.

1791 the "Diet of

Four Years" promulgated

a constitu-

tional charter that was, in effect, the first written constitution in

Europe. [Ed.] 25.

Gaudium

et Spes, 22.

26. Ibid. 27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. 31.

No. No.

14.

22.

32. Ibid. 33. Cf.

Lumen Gentium,

8;

Gaudium

34. Cf. Pastoral constitution 35.

36. 37.

No.

etSpes, 43; Unitatis redintegration

Gaudium

6.

et Spes, 2.

76.

Summa

Theologiae,

I

— II,

q. 90, a. 4.

There was a heavy price to pay for victory: the

completely destroyed by the Mongols,

who

city

of Legnica was

then decided to withdraw.

[Ed.] 38.

This

is

a reference to the

pamphlet Satira by Johannes Falken-

somewhat polemi-

burg, in which the Teutonic Order was defended in cal

terms against the king of Poland. The text was suspected to be

heretical

and condemned by the Council.

39. Jasna

Gora

(in Latin Clarus

[Ed.]

Mons)

is

considered the "national

shrine" because of the light that the Poles have always

icon of the Black

Madonna

drawn from

the

venerated there in the dark times of wars

and foreign occupations. Ever since the

fifteenth century, Jasna

Gora

has been the most visited shrine in Poland. At the time of the Swedish invasion (1655), which cloister in

is

known

in Polish history as the "flood," the

of the shrine became a fortress that the invader did not succeed

conquering. The nation read this event as a promise of victory in the

recurring dark experiences of history

On Our Way, New York

(cf.

John Paul

oppose

Rise, Let

Us Be

2004, 51-53). [Ed.]

40. This consisted in the right of every

(sejm) to

II,

a law or even the

member

work of an

of the parliament

entire legislative session,

MEMORY AND IDENTITY

172

rendering

it

null

and

void. According to traditional law, the Polish

nobility were politically equal

had

tary law

the

first

to be

time in 1652,

quent years, until attempts,

it

was

it

among themselves, and

every parliamen-

unanimously approved. The liberum

veto,

used for

was practiced with increasing frequency

in subse-

paralyzed the Polish political system. After repeated

eliminated by the constitution of

finally

May

3, 1791.

[Ed.] 41. Cf.

note 24, page

42.

Lumen Gentium,

43.

No.

171.

63.

22.

44. Karol Wojtyla, Easter Vigil, 1966, in Poezje (Poems), 180.

The

verses quoted have been translated specially for this publication. 45.

This

is

a reference to the procession held at

Krakow on

the Sun-

day following the attempted assassination. Tens of thousands of dents and citizens took part,

all

opposition to the darkness of the procession

made

its

way

where

at

dressed in white, to symbolize their

evil

and

violence.

From

in silence along Trzech

Karmelicka Street and Szewska

stu-

Street, as far as

Blonia Square,

Wieszczow

Street,

Market Square (Rynek),

noon, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, Archbishop of Krakow,

celebrated Mass. 46.

"The blood of martyrs

47. Catechesis at the

L'Osservatore

is

the seed of Christians."

General Audience of October

Romano, English edition (October

7,

12, 1981), 3.

1981, par.

5:

FOR MORE THAN A Q__UARTER OF a century, Pope John Paul I I has led the billion-member-strong Catholic Church, and he is one of the most influential politi­ cal figures in the world. His key role in the downfall of communism in Europe, as well as his apologies for the Church's treatment of Jews and victims of the Inquisition, racism, and religious wars, won him world­ wide admiration.

Fronr cover Phorograph by Francois Lochan Timt Life Picturts Gttty Imagts Back covtr Phorograph by Micha,/ Gregg Corbis Jacktr dmgn Gabridt Wi/so11

PUBllSIIED BY RIZZOLI INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS INC

JOO rark A,enue South CY. York WW"-

Y 10010

Rl77(.)LJU\A COM

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In this compelling volume, Pope John Paul II speaks for the

time on global

politics.

He

on freedom and

discusses his views

democracy and speaks about the twentieth-century ideologies of

communism and

nazism.

first

totalitarian

Making an emphatic

appeal for mankind to regard freedom "not only as a gift but task" to be used for the

between

all

common

good, he

religions

dialogue

calls for a

the world's civilizations and religions.

This inspiring and thought-provoking work reflection

a

on human

and

life,

and

will

is

a

unique

be admired by thinkers of

all

nationalities. U.S. $19.95

CAN

$279!

ISBN 0-8478-2761-5

51995

9

780847"827619

>