Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06VATICAN84
2006-05-24 07:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vatican
Cable title:  

POPE TRAVELS TO POLAND: PART TWO

Tags:  SOCI PREL PL VT 
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VZCZCXRO5309
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHSR
DE RUEHROV #0084/01 1440720
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 240720Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0335
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0363
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 VATICAN 000084 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/WE LARREA; DRL/IRF KELLY; EUR/NCE SESSUMS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/24/2016
TAGS: SOCI PREL PL VT
SUBJECT: POPE TRAVELS TO POLAND: PART TWO

REF: VATICAN 0083

VATICAN 00000084 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: Peter Martin, Pol/Econ Chief, Vatican, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 VATICAN 000084

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/WE LARREA; DRL/IRF KELLY; EUR/NCE SESSUMS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/24/2016
TAGS: SOCI PREL PL VT
SUBJECT: POPE TRAVELS TO POLAND: PART TWO

REF: VATICAN 0083

VATICAN 00000084 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: Peter Martin, Pol/Econ Chief, Vatican, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (U) This cable is the second of two messages previewing
Pope Benedict's May 25-28 visit to Poland. Reftel details
Poland's continuing importance to the Holy See and touches on
several on-going issues in the Polish Church from the
perspective of the Vatican. This installment focuses in more
detail on some of the specifics of the upcoming visit.

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SUMMARY
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2. (C) Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Poland seems on the
surface to be a simple goodwill tour to pay tribute to the late
Pope John Paul II. In fact, there have been many issues at play
in Vatican trip planning. The visit will be one of the pope's
rare foreign visits - an indication of the importance the Holy
See is placing on the trip's objectives. The Vatican's emphasis
on the visit has been apparent in the weeks leading up to it,
with substantial attention in the media here and in the
corridors of the Apostolic Palace. The pope has two major goals
for the trip: to call attention to the legacy of Pope John Paul,
and to rally the Polish people to continued tenacity in their
Catholic identity. We expect Pope Benedict to join these two
strands, challenging the Poles to put these values and the
memory of the Polish pope into action in their daily lives. The
ramifications of these efforts could have impact beyond the
walls of Polish parishes; the pope hopes his tour will embolden
the Polish Church to withstand and combat the growing secularism
of Western Europe - at home and in the wider context of European
society and culture. The Polish-German angle of the trip
requires the pope to maintain a delicate balancing act;
Holocaust issues, wartime guilt and reconciliation, and other
questions are getting their share of attention. Pope Benedict
will promote a message of Polish-German reconciliation stemming
from a 1965 pastoral letter from the Polish bishops conference
to their counterparts in Germany in which the bishops "forgave
and asked for forgiveness" for wartime wrongs. Vatican contacts

tell us Pope Benedict's visit is likely to bolster Cardinal
Stanislaw Dziwisz's status as the de facto head of the Polish
Church. Among the subplots of the trip will be pressure to
canonize the Polish pope right away. Pope Benedict is unlikely
to do so, but may consider it if he thinks it would be useful to
his larger goal - ensuring the future of a steadfastly Catholic
Poland in the heart of Europe. End Summary.

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VATICAN FOCUSED ON VISIT
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3. (C) Pope Benedict is not a traveler; his trip to Poland is
the first foreign visit that he scheduled himself (the pope
traveled to Cologne Germany for the previously-scheduled World
Youth Day last year). This means that when he does go
somewhere, he and the Vatican bureaucracy have determined that
it is particularly important. The emphasis the Holy See is
placing on this trip has been apparent in the extensive coverage
of the lead-up to the visit in the Vatican's semi-official
daily. The pope has also referred repeatedly to the upcoming
trip in his public audiences, asking Poles present for prayers
for the occasion. Pope Benedict has reportedly been brushing up
on his Polish, which he already pronounces well, albeit with a
heavy German accent. One American Vatican official told us he
had been recruited to travel with other clerics to Radom and
Warsaw this week to speak at a series of conferences on the life
of Pope Benedict in anticipation of the visit.

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A TRIBUTE TO JOHN PAUL II - AND MORE
--------------


4. (C) In attempting to bolster the Polish Church, the pope has
two major goals: to pay tribute to Pope John Paul, and to rally
the Polish people in appreciation of their religiosity and
cultural (Catholic) identity. As has been reported extensively
in the media, Benedict's itinerary includes several stops of
particular significance to the life of Pope John Paul II,
including his birthplace, Wadowice. Media have seized on the
theme that Benedict will be "walking in the footsteps" on Pope
John Paul II. The second emphasis of the trip, "Be Strong in
the Faith," reflects the importance the Vatican continues to
place on the Polish Church in the context of Catholicism
generally, and in the context of European secularism (reftel).
"The two goals are closely connected," said Monsignor Michael
Banach, the Vatican MFA's country director for Poland, who
explained that observers would hear this link clearly in the
pontiff's speeches. We expect Pope Benedict to move from
praising Pope John Paul and the country's culture and
traditions, to challenge the Poles to put these values and the
memory of the Polish pope into action in their daily lives. The
results of these efforts could have socio-political

VATICAN 00000084 002.2 OF 003


ramifications; the pope hopes his tour will embolden the Polish
Church to withstand and combat the growing secularism of Western
Europe - at home and in the wider context of European society
and culture (reftel).

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POLISH-GERMAN ANGLE
--------------


5. (C) The Vatican has kept a careful eye on the Polish-German
angle of the trip, noted Banach. Holocaust issues, wartime
guilt and reconciliation, and other questions have received
prominent attention in Vatican-based media. The Polish and
German embassies co-sponsored a conference with former Polish FM
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and others addressing such issues, and
promoting what press releases called the "long, difficult, but
fruitful process of reconciliation" between the two countries.
Speakers underscored the common commitment of Popes John Paul
and Benedict to "building a peaceful world based on reciprocal
reconciliation" that was rooted in their very different -- but
connected -- wartime experiences. Benedict himself said
recently that only a "providential divine plan" would bring a
German to the papacy after a Pole, given the tremendous
historical burden of Germany's role in WWII.


6. (C) Looking at the Polish-German dynamic, Banach discussed
with us a noted 1965 pastoral letter from the Polish bishops
conference to their counterparts in Germany in which the bishops
"forgave and asked for forgiveness" for wartime wrongs. The
Poles asked the Germans for cooperation in helping to turn the
page on the difficult era in the history of both countries. "It
was really an extraordinary document," said Banach. The letter
was not popular with some Polish nationalists and others, but
was supported by then-Archbishop Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John
Paul II). According to Banach, it was an important step in
relations between the two Churches and peoples. He told us that
events in both countries last year commemorated the 40th
anniversary of the publication of the letter, renewing a spirit
of reconciliation between the two countries. Banach said the
pope hoped to build on this spirit during his tour and would use
the letter as a focal point for doing so.

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AUSCHWITZ
--------------


7. (C) Banach said the pope would be careful to balance
compassion for Jewish suffering with an acknowledgment of the
heavy price the Poles paid during the war during his visit to
Auschwitz. That already-delicate balancing act isn't made any
easier when you add to the mix a German pope who was briefly a
member of the Hitler Youth -- albeit against his will. "You
can't ignore the fact that [the pope] is German," Banach said,
"but at the same time, he is visiting as the head of the
Catholic Church, and not just as a German." Sensitivities
dictated that the Vatican scrap a plan to have the pope offer a
prayer for peace at Auschwitz in German; he is now slated to
speak just Polish and Italian there.

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POLISH CHURCH LEADERSHIP
--------------


8. (C) Pope Benedict's visit may provide insight into current
leadership in the Polish Catholic Church. In the lead-up to the
trip, some Vatican-based media have remarked on the lack of
leadership among Polish bishops; a few contacts here have said
the same. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the Polish Primate (leading
Churchman) has never had an imposing reputation in Vatican
circles. "Let's just say, when they stood on the balcony
[making the announcement of the election of the new pope], there
was not one person in St Peter's Square who was thinking "Glemp"
when they paused after "Josephus", quipped one Polish contact
here. When asked if the 76-year-old was simply tiring out, the
contact smiled ruefully. "He was born tired," he said.
Surveying the Polish episcopate, "you have [Archbishop Jozef]
Zycinski [of Lublin], and a few others," said another contact,
"but only Dziwisz [the longtime secretary to Pope John Paul]
stands out right now."


9. (C) With the visit's emphasis on the legacy of the Polish
pope, Cardinal Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow is
expected to be a beneficiary of the papal events. Dziwisz was
simply a rock star when he was created a cardinal at the Vatican
in March. He was mobbed wherever he went - not only by the
hordes of Poles in town for the event, but also by great numbers
of the faithful from other countries. At a Vatican event at
which Holy See personnel and the public could enter the
Apostolic Palace to greet the new cardinals, many of the new
"Princes of the Church" attracted a crowd, but Dziwisz was
besieged. The room in which he welcomed well wishers overflowed

VATICAN 00000084 003.2 OF 003


into the corridors to the extent that passers-by had trouble
making it to the exit. "It's like he's a second-class relic,"
one contact said, referring to the Catholic belief in the
sanctity of objects that touched or belonged to saints.

--------------
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
--------------


10. (C) We would not venture any predictions on potential
implications of the papal visit for Polish politics, but note
that Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was here May 18 to
meet Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials. Sources told us
that he was here to go over trip-related issues, but one contact
added that he thought Marcinkiewicz was also looking for some
good p.r. for Poland's governing coalition. Polish nationals
working at the Vatican often praise Marcinkiewicz what they
regard as his solid Catholic credentials and personal integrity.
President Lech Kaczynski often gets more mixed reviews. Polish
DCM Piotr Samerek told us his Vatican contacts hadn't reacted
much to Kaczynski's electoral victory last year, even though
Kaczynski had been touted as the more Church-friendly candidate.
Some of our contacts allow that Kaczynski will resist what they
regard as the deleterious influences of "modernization and
secularization," but have hinted that his religiosity may be
more calculated than genuine. At the time of the Polish
bishops' quinquennial "ad limina" visits to the pope and Vatican
officials late last year, we heard that the Polish episcopate
also exhibited some mixed views. Samerek and others told us it
was clear that the majority of bishops certainly preferred
Kaczynski to presidential opponent Tusk, but some implied that
they weren't convinced of Kaczynski's reliability on issues they
judged particularly important.

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COMMENT:
--------------


11. (C) Among the subplots of Pope Benedict's trip will be
inevitable pressure from the Polish faithful for him to canonize
the Polish pope right away. Pope Benedict fast-tracked
consideration of Pope John Paul's case, but has so far resisted
removing the many other obstacles that would make the process
more lengthy. Benedict is unlikely to bend to the popular will,
but might pause to reconsider if he thinks such the move would
help ensure the future of a steadfastly Catholic Poland in the
heart of Europe. It is yet another issue creeping into a visit
that is not as simple as it looks on paper.
ROONEY