Basic HTML Version
Cathol ic populations th roughout
Eastern Europe.
Only one year after the Pope's
stunningly successful homecomi ng
visit to Poland in the summer of
1979, Poland's ill-fated indepen–
dent Solidarity labor union move–
ment was formed.
Soviet authorities quickly reaJ–
ized that Solidarity would chal–
lenge exclusive Communist party
rulership in Poland. 1f successful,
such a development could have
spread like wi ldfire to the entire
East Bloc, and into even the west–
ern part of the U.S.S.R., especially
the Baltic and the Ukraine.
1n late 1980 and early 1981 t he
Soviets contemplated a military
move into Poland, but d rew back.
The Pope is reported to have
threatened Soviet Pres ident Lea n–
id Brezhnev in a private letter that
he would "lay down the crown of
St. Peter" and return to Poland to
lead resistance to Soviet interven–
tion.
For this or for whatever other
reason, the Soviets desisted in
their direct approach. They pre–
vailed upon Poland's own mi litary
to restore order in December
1981.
Fi rst Soviet Cardinal
Tass, the Soviet news agency,
issued sharp personal comments on
Pope John Paul
JI
in late Decem–
ber 1982. lt asserted that under his
leadership the Yatican was involved
in unwanted activities in Poland
and in "anti-Communist propagan–
da on a broad seale."
A few days later, the growing
tensions between Moscow and the
Vatican reached a new height with
the stunni ng appointment, on Janu–
ary 5, 1983, of the first Soviet car–
dinal of the Roman Catholic
Church.
Soviet officials claim they had no
advance notificat ion of the eleva–
tion of Bishop Julijans Yaivods of
Riga, Latvia, who becomes the first
WEST GERMAN President Carstens paid
state visit in October 1982 to Ita/y and
the Va tican. Dr. Carstens conferred with
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal
Casaroli, above, addressed papal offi·
cials, middle photo, and presented gift
for church's humanitarian efforts, below.
The Vatican is increasing/y preoccupied
with events in Europe.
April 1983
3