Jean-Paul II: messianisme ou universalisme éthique?

Abstract

Paweł Rojek in his book Liturgia dziejów [Liturgy of History] reveals the importance of the Polish romantic messianism for the thought of John Paul II. He carefully defends this tradition against the popular charge of heresy, and argue that in fact it preceded the formulation of Catholic social teaching and some crucial doctrines of the Second Vatican Council. In the longest chapter of his book, Rojek developes “Messianism of Work,” an idea very close to me. For John Paul II the Eucharist was an inspiring symbol of cooperation of God and man in the history. In this paper, however, I rise some fundamental doubts concerning Rojek’s interpretation. First, he seems to adopt a false theology of nation in which nations are thought as kind of persons. Second, he suggests that John Paul II supported an alleged “third way” between communism and capitalism. Finally, he neglects the universalistic dimension of papal vision. In result, messianism in this interpretation might function not as dynamic universalistic utopia, but rather static, nationalistic ideology.