POLAND
Bishops’ plenary meetingOn March 10 – 11 the 347th plenary meeting of Poland’s Bishops’ Conference took place in Warsaw. In view of the upcoming expiration of the mandate of President-in-office Msgr. Jozef Michalik and of the vice-President Msgr. Stanislaw Gadecki, the bishops will elect their successors for the years 2009 – 2014. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow and former private secretary of John Paul II is widely indicated as the possible next president. Another candidate to presidency, deemed as possible future president by a large part of the Polish media is Msgr. Slawoj Leszek Glodz, archbishop of Gdansk and previously Archbishop Military Ordinary of Poland. “The unity of the Church in Poland has always been my priority”, “acknowledging the differences in performing pastoral service or the different ways of reaching established objectives”, said Msgr. Michalik in drawing a balance of the past five years. “I tried not to impose my views, but I never renounced my beliefs and I consider this a success”, declared KEP outgoing President. The candidacy of the President of the Polish episcopacy is indicated through secret ballot vote by diocesan ordinary priests, while the two most-voted candidates are the object of the successive elections attended by 133 members of the episcopate: 5 cardinals, 25 archbishops and 103 bishops. The KEP President, in office for 5 years, chairs also the Permanent Council of the Polish episcopacy, consisting in 11 members. However, since the year 2004, his functions, as established by Pope John Paul II in 1994, are separated from the honorary title of the Primate of Poland. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the current primate, will turn 80 this year. His title will pass on to the archbishop of Gniezno, Poland’s first bishopric. In addition to the president’s election, during the plenary meeting Polish bishops will address issues pertaining to the family and priestly vocations, and will examine the possibility of introducing limited parish mandate in ecclesial ordinance.Heroic priestsThese days recurs in Poland the remembrance date of the priests who heroically opposed the Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes. In the second volume of “The Uncompromising” The National Memorial Institute presented four outstanding personalities of the Catholic Church who were unbending despite persecutions and abuse perpetrated by the national authorities. “The measure of the inflexibility of these priests is given by their total impotence vis à vis the security services”, declared one of the authors of the book, who pointed out that after decades of investigation and shadowing, regime officers were forced to give up. Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha (1867-1951), archbishop of Krakow – known as “the Inflexible Prince” – despite the dire times (from World War I to the Communist period) remained faithful to the Church and its principles. In recalling this laudable man of the Church and Polish patriot, the archbishop of Warsaw Msgr. Kazimierz Nycz declared, with an ironical note, that “still after his death the Communists were afraid of this bishop who was later appointed archbishop of Krakow (from 1926 to 1951)”. Equally inflexible were the bishops Pawel Latusek and Franciszek Musiel, while Msgr. Edward Frankowski (born 1937), a few days ago gave an important testimony of his pastoral commitment, delivering a homily in defence of the workers of Stalowa Wola steel mill, who were fired on the wake of the world economic crisis, while the movie on the life of Father Jerzy Popieluszko is being shown in theatres throughout the country. Evidential documentation on the priest’s martyrdom is currently being examined by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.A special fund for Auschwitz”Auschwitz is part of Europe’s historical patrimony. All European Countries are bound to preserve the material traces of that extermination camp for the next generations” wrote Holocaust-survivors on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the liberation from Auschwitz, in a letter to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, asking his contribution to a Special Fund to preserve what is left of the Camp from time degradation. “This is Europe’s cemetery – said Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Auschwitz-camp survivor and President of the Auschwitz Foundation -. What other answer can be given to Holocaust-deniers other than education, remembrance and the promotion of the memory of these places? Facts cannot be denied. And regardless of one’s religious belief, the respect for the memory of the deceased is part and parcel of every cultural tradition”. The Foundation needs 120 million euros, which if adequately invested could bring an annual profit of 4.5-5 million euros that would cover maintenance expenses.
