CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Poland: the 30th anniversary of martial law”Don’t let’s forget that price we paid for freedom and let’s commemorate those who paid the most for freedom”. This was written by mgr. Wiktor Skworc, new archbishop of Katowice (Poland), in his pastoral letter to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the enforcement of martial law in the country, which took place on 13th December 1981 at the order of general Wojciech Jaruzelski. As mentioned by mgr. Skworc, in the Eighties, “the peaceful building of a democratic State inspired by John Paul II’s doctrine”, which aroused “admiration in other peoples across Europe and in the rest of the world”, was interrupted by the communist authorities that, “by enforcing martial law, brutishly challenged the reborn social objectivity of the Polish population and its fight for the country’s freedom and sovereignty”. The archbishop of Katowice, capital of the region of Lower Silesia, wishes in his letter that “those who live in a free Poland, conquered and paid for with bloodshed and sufferings, may not forget the past when they build the present and the future”. Urging the devotees to pray for the country, especially for all the victims of martial law, mgr. Skworc speaks of the need to tell the young about the historical truth of facts. Such words take on a special meaning in the context of many considerations that are leaking in the media over these days. Such comments often quote general Jruzelski himself, who is 88 and seriously ill today; even if Solidarnosc had 10 million members and as many supporters in a country with a population of less than 40 million, Jruzelski, despite asking to be forgiven, says he is certain that “the enforcement of martial law met the expectations of civil society”, even if the actual threat of soviet aggression and the Red Army’s invading Poland was never proved.Croatia: the Pope remembers fr. BoskovicIn his message to Croatian pilgrims, at the end of the Angelus of December 11, Benedict XVI addressed the participants in the symposium on Ruder Josip Boskovic, “that Jesuit scientist and diplomat”, the Pope said, “personified and bore witness to the bond between faith and science, who left his traces also in Rome”. The International Symposium dedicated to “Father Joseph Ruder Boskovic: Cultivator of Truth” took place on Saturday at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Boskovic, considered of Croatian nationality, since he was born in Dubrovnik (the Roman Ragusa of ancient times), three hundred years ago, on May 18 1711, and died in Milan on February 13 1787. This is not the first time that Benedict XVI remembers this Croatian scientist in public. During his visit to Croatia, past June 4, in the meeting with representatives of civil society, political, cultural and business world gathered in the Zagreb’s National Theatre, the Holy Father paid tribute “to the illustrious Croat, but also to the true Jesuit the cultivator of truth”. His Holiness observed that Boskovic’s theory of continuity accords well with some of the great discoveries of modern physics. In fact, the scholar from Dubrovnik is considered one of the precursors of atomic physics.Ukraine: appeal for the good of the countryRepresentatives of three Ukrainian churches – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), are concerned about the socio-political situation in the country and appeal to all the people of goodwill to join forces and take an active stance to resolve urgent social issues. In the first days of December, on the 20th anniversary of the referendum in which the Ukrainian nation confirmed its independence, patriarch Filaret of the UOC-KP, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, and bishop Hilarii of Makariv, vicar of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC, met with representatives of national elite of Ukraine. Participants of the meeting believe that “only in an open dialogue can we have clear thinking that will encourage everyone to take personal responsibility for his neighbour, community and country”. According to the authors of the joint appeal, uniting the society around the principles of “love, justice and mutual support” is the best protection against political and economic crisis that can only be overcome “by changing social and personal priorities”.
