Autodeklaracja religijna a ocena papieża Jana Pawła II

Abstract

The person of John Paul II has been intriguing various circles for almost 25 years. Much is being written about his unusual achievements, photos are being taken of his numerous encounters, his teaching is being manipulated. There are also a lot of scholarly analyses of the teaching of the Peter of our times. However, few attempts at examining perception of his person and teaching can be found. The article presented deals with one of the dimensions of being religious and one's perception of John Paul II. Before John Paul’s II pilgrimage to Poland (August 2002), 253 persons were examined (average age: 30,4) who declared themselves as either strong believers or believers, or believers not observing their religion, or persons indifferent to religion but searching for God. The following aspects of the perception of the personality of John Paul II were analyzed: authority, emotions raised during the pilgrimage meetings, people’s involvement in prayer for the Pope. On examining the functions of the Holy Father attention was paid to people’s perception of his main roles, anticipated subject matter of his meetings with the Polish people, acceptance of his preaching, his real influence on the personal choices of the respondents and main achievements of his pontificate. The results acquired indicate that a majority of emotions associated with meeting the Pope depends on being religious. The following do not depend on being religious: waiting for the arrival of John Paul II, outlooks concerning family, integration of Poland with the European Union, self-discipline, sense of living, unemployment. Religious self-declaration had influence on understanding the role of the Holy Father, acceptance of his teaching on faith and morality. The following were considered the greatest achievements of his pontificate (according to their importance): rebuilding of faith, pilgrimages, abolishment of the Communism, issuing of numerous documents. The results presented are similar to those in research made by the Chair for Psychology of Religion, Pontifical Academy of Theology, for many years. They point to the universal character of the teaching of John Paul II and to the religious factors underlying perception of his person and role.