 Dear Reader of NCRonline.org, We need your help. We are pleased to make available news and views on NCRonline.org, but we cannot do all we need to do without your financial assistance. Please take a moment to consider contributing to the Friends of NCR campaign. National Catholic Reporter is a nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible in the United States.
Contributions may be sent to:
National Catholic Reporter
115 E. Armour Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
USA Make checks out to: NCR If you wish, you may print a form for submitting your donation. You may also use this form for credit card donations.
OR
|
Posted Sunday May 28, 2006 at 11:07 a.m. CDT
Looking for The Word From Rome column? Here is a link to past columns.
Pope tells Poles 'share the treasure of your faith'
Poles have special vocation as custodians of the Christian deposit, he said
By John L. Allen Jr.
Krakow, Poland
Editor's Note: Read NCRonline.org daily for John Allen's reports on Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Poland May 25-28.
In the most explicit fashion of his four-day trip, Pope Benedict XVI called on Poles today not only to preserve their Catholic heritage, but to carry it with them into the construction of a Europe mindful of its Christian roots.
John Paul II prayed that Poland "would not only find her proper place within a united Europe," Benedict said, "but would also enrich this continent and the whole world with her tradition."
"Today, as your presence in the family of European states is being constantly consolidated, I wish with my whole heart to repeat those words of hope," Benedict said. "I ask you to remain faithful custodians of the Christian deposit, and to transmit it to future generations."
Earlier, speaking to a crowd of more than a million gathered in Krakow's Blonia Park for an open-air Mass, Benedict referred to the special "vocation" of Poland in this regard.
"When Karol Wojtyla was elected to the See of Peter in order to serve the universal church, your land became a place of special witness to faith in Jesus Christ," he said. "You were called to give this witness before the whole world. This vocation of yours is always needed, and it is perhaps even more urgent than ever, now that the Servant of God has passed from this life."
"Do not deprive the world of this witness!" Benedict urged.
Linking himself to the memory of John Paul II, Benedict said that "Krakow, the city of Karol Wojtyla and of John Paul II, is also my Krakow!"
The pope's final words at the Mass returned to the European theme and the question of a Polish "vocation."
"I ask you, finally, to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world the treasure of your faith," he said, "not least as a way of honoring the memory of your countryman, who, as the Successor of Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness," he said.
"I ask you to stand firm in your faith!" Benedict said, echoing the official motto of his four-day journey.
Yesterday papal spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls told a press conference that Benedict XVI follows a "pastoral approach of intelligence," with emphasis on the rationality of the faith, and the pope returned to that theme today.
"The act of accepting revealed truth broadens the horizon of our knowledge and draws us into the mystery into which our lives are immersed," the pope said. "Letting our reason be limited in this way is not something easy to do."
Benedict argued that accepting such a limit is an act of trust, ultimately trust in the person of Jesus Christ.
Last night, in a gathering with some half-million youth in Blonia Park, Benedict did not explicitly raise the question of Poland's role in Europe, instead concentrating on matters of individual faith formation. He urged young people to build their lives on a solid foundation by choosing Christ and the church, leaving the political and cultural implications of that choice unspoken.
Nevertheless, there was a moment where the political dimension of Benedict's message broke through, albeit in unintentional fashion.
Shortly before the pope arrived, a number of dignitaries were introduced as they arrived. The Polish bishops and Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz both drew polite applause from the overwhelming young and deeply Catholic crowd, but when Deputy Prime Minister Roman Giertych's name was announced, a loud roar washed across the park.
Giertych, who also serves as Minister of Education in Poland's center-right government, is head of the League of Polish Families, a traditionalist movement with deep links to the Catholic church. Giertych himself is an Opus Dei supernumerary, and his uncle, Dominican Fr. Wojciech Giertych, is the Theologian of the Papal Household under Benedict XVI. Roman Giertych's father, Maciej, was appointed by John Paul II as an observer at the 1987 Synod on the Laity, and has served in the parliament for the League of Polish Families.
Hence Giertych represents an attempt to translate into politics what Benedict referred to as Poland's special "vocation," and based on the reaction in Blonia Park, these young Poles like what they see.
A second note from the youth rally: the more than half-million young Poles who attended were encouraged to bring small stones with them as symbols of the "rock" of Peter. At the end of the service, the stones were collected, to be used for the construction of a new monument for the Polish church. Scouts in Poland had spent several days collecting stones for the young pilgrims.
As more than one observer noted, this was obviously a special kind of youth rally if organizers actually encouraged participants to bring rocks, and in fact no mayhem ensued.
| More Trip Coverage |
John Allen's preview of the papal trip: Benedict's concerns for Poland trip:.
May 25, The trip is launched: Benedict sets about reawakening Europe's Christian roots.
May 26, A social survey of Poland: Poles are staunchly Catholic but also independent.
May 26, The Pope's message in Victory Square and at Czestochowa: Faith is a gift but also a task.
May 26, Subtext to the pope's visit: Some interesting nuggets.
May 27, A great trip for pilgrims: Benedict offers spiritual and pastoral basics.
May 27, Exploring John Paul's roots: Benedict's visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary.
May 27, A look at the issues: Examining the trip thus far.
May 28, The pope's take on death camps: Attempting to slay God was Auschwitz's greatest evil.
May 28, The Poles' speical vocation: Pope tells Poles 'share the treasure of your faith'.
May 28, U.S.-Polish ties: Knights of Columbus opening Polish councils.
|
|
[John L. Allen Jr. is NCR Rome correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org.]
May 28, 2006, National Catholic Reporter | 
