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SPIRITUAL OFFENSIVE
(Continued from page 4)
pope scored many direct political
poinls."
Startling Long-range View
John Paul
li
is pursuing both shor t–
term and long-term goals. Regard–
ing lhe former, it is to elevate the
status of the church to lhal of co–
rulership in Poland, to full y par tici–
pate in lhe political and economic
spheres of the country to help
relieve the dispirited people's for–
tunes.
But the Pope's long-range view is
nol confined to Poland alone. His
vision of the future is much more
all-encompassing-and
startling.
"The pope," wrote
William Pfaff in the June
27
Los Angeles Times,
"has undertaken the liber–
ation of Eastern Europe.
It
is not too mucb to
describe what he has
begun with his second
visit to Poland in those
words. This a udacious
program involves serious
risks, but also displays an
inte lli gence, an under–
standing of history and a
powerful will that are all
but invisible among West–
ern statesmen."
Poland, unlike other countries of
Europe, has not losl ils roots.
lt
has
been fervently Roman Calholic for
more than 1,000 years.
John Paul's intent is to sol idify
lhe churcb in Eastern Europe, then
bring this fervor westward.
It
has
already been "leaked" to the news
media that very preliminary con–
tacts have a lready been made
between the Yatican and the Krem–
lin for the Pope to travel inside the
Soviet Union to Lithuania.
Lithuanians are nearly as fervent
in their Catholic faith as are Poles.
Sorne observers admit they cannot
see the Soviet government actually
agreeing to such an unprecedented
venture. Others believe that Moscow
final mass in Krakow, when he
prayed for "all the Christians of
East and West, that they become
united in Chr ist and expand the
Kingdom of Christ througbout the
world. "
Moscow doesn't like wbat it sees,
but is in a quandary as to how to
derail the papal "spirit ual offen–
sive" in ils satellite empire.
The Pope believes strongly that
the Soviet Union's domination of
Poland and of the rest of Eastern
Europe is provisional, a passing epi–
sode in history. How can 38 years
of Communist rule by force remain
over countries such as Poland
where the power of contrary ideas
goes back a millennium?
John Paul 11 believes
that the unity and fervor
of Poland 's Catholics can
p r ovi d e, acco rding to
journalist Pfaff, "a fi rst
step in the moral reanima–
Perhaps expecting the
worst, Soviet leader Yuri
Andropov, two days be–
fore the Pope left for
Warsaw, delivered a
clear warning to the Pol–
ish leadership--especiaJ–
Iy its more moderate
leaders who pushed for
lhe papal visit. In a
speech in Moscow, Mr.
Andropov exc l a i med,
" When the guiding hand
of a communist party
weakens, there exists the
danger of slipping down
to a ... reformist way of
development." He added
that leaders of the East
bloc must never weaken
the party's grip on
power.
His extensive travels in five years of office have
established John Paul 11 as the most charismatic leader
in the Western world-a "spiritual
Not long afterward,
a nd during the Pope's
trip to Poland, the first
spontaneous anligovernment dem–
onstration broke out in Prague,
Czechoslovakia. "Freedom for aJI
nations," shouted 300 youths.
superpower" says one American newsman.
tion of the other churches of the
East, and then of the West."
The Pope has been consistenl in
lhis theme. Only last year in Spain,
he proclaimed the following, in
what he called a " Declaration lo
Europe":
" 1, John Paul, son of the Polish
nation which has always considered
itself European by its origins, tradi–
t ions, culture and vital relation–
ships, Slavic among the Latins and
Latin among the Slavs; ... 1, Bish–
op of Rome and Shepherd of the
Universal Church, from Santiago,
utter lo you, Europe of the ages, a
cry fu ll of love: Find yourself again.
Be yourself. Discover your origins,
revive your roots."
October 1983
would look weak and fearful should
it refuse travel wishes on the part of
the Pope. Soviet aulhorities already
have a tarnished image because of
allegations of top-level conspi racy in
the altempt on the life of the Pope in
1981.
(The Pope cred its the Black
Madonna of Czestochowa, the icon
whose 600th anniversary was the
reason for the papal visit, with sav–
ing his life when he was shot two
years ago. A large number of Poles
also believe divine intervention
saved their Pontiff.)
Believes Soviet Grlp Wlll Loasen
The Pope gave fu r ther evidence of
his long-range plan again during his
Pope Fllls Mo ral Vacuum
Soviet concerns notwithstanding,
Poland, it would seem now, is the
nu r turing ground and the advance
wedge in Europe of a new-yet
old- third-force "universal na–
tionalism"- the resurrection of
the old Hol y Roman Empire,
prophesied in the Bible to occur
one last time.
It
appears now that it was abso–
lutely essential, in order for the
prophesied end-time Roman sys–
tem to reemerge, that a nation like
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