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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 30, 1985
Over time, the idea of a culturally united Europe could gather
iiioiiientliiii";'" if no-t"Tnev1tability, and form the basis for fostering
greater freedoms for the people of Eastern Europe. All possible
opportunities to promote cultural contacts between East and West
Europeans should be initiated, a point that was recently made by
� � in !tis latest encyclical.
He emphasized the joint
spiritual herita :1 e of all Europeans � "one of . the most solid
reference points for the continent's reun"'Trlcation.
The reference to Pope John Paul II concerned his recent encyclical Slavorum
A e ostoli, celebrating the missionary works of the two Middle-ag� Greek
missionary brothers sent to the Slavic world, Cyril and Methodius. The
Pope had wanted to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of the death of
Methodius by traveling to Velehrad, Czechoslovakia, said to be Methodius•
place of death. Czech authorities refused to permit the trip. They also
tried everything in their means to keep the crowds away (no refreshments,
no public conveniences) but 100,000 turned up--and turned on to the occa
sion. Timothy Garton Ash reported on the event and the overall revival of
religion in Eastern Europe in the July 20 issue of the British newsmaga
zine, THE SPECTATOR:
More than 100,000 people gathered in the Moravian village of
Velehrad earlier this month, to mark the eleven hundredth anni
versary of the death of St. Methodius, the "apostle of the
Slavs.
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They cheered the Pope's envoy, Cardinal Casaroli, and
they booed Mr. Milan Klusak, the Culture Minister of the Czecho
slovak Soci�list Republic. When Mr. Klusak •.•spoke about the
politico-cultural contribution of Cyril and Methodius to the con
struction of the socialist Czechoslovakia, the vast congregation
insistently corrected him: "Saints Cyril and Methodius!" they
shouted.
When the cardinal read a message from John Paul II, saying that
he was with them in spirit and had hoped to be with them in
person•..the crowd raised a great cheer, and there were chants of
"Long live John Paul II" and "We want the P h pel
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It might almost
have been Poland.
It was rn.d to l5e t e largest religious
assembly since the communists seized power, and the largest spon
taneous gathering of any kind since the crushing of the Prague
Spring•.••
If an old communist put to sleep 30 years ago were awoken today,
the one feature of contemporary Eastern Europe which would surely
amaze him most is the growing power of Christianity--in Czecho
slovakia, despite the institutional crippling of the Churches in
the 1950s, in Poland, obviously, in East Germany, where the
Protestant Churches have a unique institutional strength, in
Lithuania, in the Ukraine, and in Yugoslavia••••
Why has this happened? One obvious answer is: the Polish Pope.
Since his election in 1978, John Paul II has constantly harped on
the theme of Euro � e's underlying spiritual unity, and the need to
heal the great sp it between the Eastern and Western Churches••••
Yet the religious revival throughout East Central Europe cannot
simply be ascribed to the impact of one man in Rome•.••