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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 8, 1983
PAGE 8
what would undoubtedly be the much-traveled Pope's most extra
ordinary pilgrimage is next March, the sources said. That date
would coincide with the-SO-0th anniversary of the death of St.
Casimir, patron saint of Lithuania. Also next year are the 600th
anniversaries of a series of important dates connected with the
14th-Century federation of Poland and Lithuania and the subse
quent Christianization of Lithuania....
A papal trip to any part of the officially atheist Soviet Union
would be unprecedented.
And a visit to Lithuania--which, with
its mix of Catholicism and nationalism, may be the country's most
rebellious republic--would appear particularly risky from the
Kremlin's viewpoint. "I can't see them doing it," one Western
diplomat commented. However, he added, "it makes sense for the
Russians to string the pope along." "I think the Russians would
demand so high a (political) price for such a visit that the pope
couldn't possibly agree," another added •.•.
Last year.
, the Kremlin hosted American evangelist Billy Graham
for a visit that critics charged was a propaganda spectacle for
the Soviets. If they were to invite Pope John Paul II, the Soviet
authorities would clearly hope for even greater propaganda bene
f-its. It is believed that the Soviets would par.ticularly welcome
any Vatican p roriouncements�at might be used to advance their
campaign against the modernfzatlon of the North - Xtlantic Treaty
Organization's nuclear forces in Western Europe.
Just as
clearly, the pope is well aware al" attempts to use his prestige
in high-stakes international political contests.
His recent
Polish pilgrimage was seen by most here as a masterful job of
walking a political tightrope.
A papal trip to Lithuania would be even more delicate.
The
Soviet Union has an estimated seven million nominal Catholics,
mostly concentrated in the northwestern part of the country--the
Baltic republics and the westernmost sections of Byelorussia and
the Ukraine, which were part of Poland until after World War II.
And nowhere in the Communist world except Poland is a church so
firmly rootecr-in the national tradition as is the Catholic church
of Lithuania. ""'Xbout
801
of Lithuanians calr-themselves Catholic:
70% of marriages are in the church, and as many as 90% of babies
are baptized. About 30% of Lithuanians are practicing Catholics,
according to Western estimates. Because of the church's intimate
identification with national traditions and culture, it is seen
by rebellious Lithuanians as a bulwark against the Sovietization
of their tiny Baltic republic.
Much of what is today Soviet Lithuania, including the capital of
Vilnius, was part of Poland until the Soviets occupied it in
1939.
Lithuanians thus have a special affection for John Paul
II, the first Polish Pope. When he was elected in October, 1978,
the joyous Lithuanian population immediately claimed him as its
own. For the pope, a pilgrimage to Lithuania could be both a per
sonal and a professional high point. He has said that half his
heart is in Lithuania and he has also made""Tt�ar that one"""'cl
his obTectlves is to reintegrate thesI'avTc nationsTn�the
Catholic mainstream.
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