Papież Słowianin do braci Słowian. Fenomen słów i spotkań

Abstract

John Paul II (1920–2005) was the first Slavic Pope in the history of the Church. He engaged to play a major role in promoting Slavic nations in Europe. One of his aims was to remind us the creative presence of Slavic Christians in the community of universal Church. In the first part of this paper the author analyses two important documents of papal teaching (encyclical Slavorum apostoli of 1985 and the apostolic letter Euntes in mundum of 1988). The Pope reminded us the dignity and deeper meaning of the Christianisation of the Slavs. He understood this as a grand event in the history of salvation. Describing the mission of St. Cyril and Methodius and the baptism of Kievan Rus, John Paul II called the Slavs to rediscover the spiritual Christian values hidden in their native culture. The Slavic Christians should show Europe a full meaning of ecclesial catholicity and embrace the difficult challenge of meeting diverse cultures and religions. They are called to create unity of the Eastern and Western traditions in the Church and recognize dignity and human rights of every person, nation and culture. They are to overcome ethnic tensions and develop the dynamism of evangelisation. Indirectly the Pope drew attention to the political situation of the world enslaved by communism in Eastern Europe. In the second part of the article the author discusses John Paul II’s meetings with Andrei Sakharov, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Andrei Gromyko. Pope talked to people having different concepts of man, politics, history and ethics. Even the toughest audiences he regarded as a pastoral challenge. He believed that Christ was never a threat to man and can become an answer to the toughest questions. In an atmosphere of respect for the speaker, John Paul II strongly defended human dignity and the right of people to freedom of religion.