TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/073189/07318900.004

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 4KB | 69 lines

RELIGION, Page 44

No Longer Poles Apart

The Vatican establishes a historic toehold in the Soviet bloc


    The step would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, when
Poland's Communist bosses did not hesitate to put Roman Catholic
Primate Stefan Wyszynski under house arrest, imprison hundreds of
priests and nuns, or confiscate scores of schools and convents. But
last week all that was swept aside with a long-awaited, historic
announcement. Resuming a "noble tradition of many centuries," the
Holy See and Poland have re-established diplomatic relations,
declared the official church communique, delicately omitting
mention of less-than-noble events during the protracted
ecclesiastical cold war with the nation's leaders that began in
1945.

    The pact gives the Vatican its first diplomatic toehold within
the Soviet bloc.* The breakthrough is one result of a decision by
Pope John XXIII in the early 1960s to launch a friendlier policy
toward the Communist world. The negotiations that led to last
week's recognition of Poland's Communist regime began in 1974.
Throughout, Warsaw was far more eager for progress than the church,
especially with the election in 1978 of the Polish Pope John Paul
II. After Solidarity was outlawed in 1982, the Polish government
became desperate for Vatican ties in order to win support among its
devoutly Catholic populace and enhance international esteem. John
Paul, however, held back because the bishops in Poland feared that
their tenuous status would be undermined if the government could
deal directly with Rome.

    In the end, the Polish bishops agreed to the diplomatic ties
only because Poland's Parliament on May 17 passed laws allowing
religious freedoms that are unprecedented in the Communist world.
Dozens of new legal provisions now guarantee the rights of
Catholicism and other faiths, encompassing such matters as the
church's right to own property, build churches, publish freely and
operate charities. The Polish church will also receive compensation
for buildings the Communists seized in the 1950s, and members of
the clergy are guaranteed pensions. Most observers believed the
timing of the decision strongly signaled Pope John Paul's approval
of the events in Warsaw this past spring, during which Solidarity
was recognized as a lawful political force in Poland.

    The Polish hierarchy said last week that the improved relations
"will open new spheres of activity for the church for the benefit
of the whole society," as well as enhance Poland's international
prestige. Warsaw's progovernment daily Zycie Warszawy declared in
an editorial that the Vatican is obviously convinced that the
changes within Poland are "permanent." In addition, said the
newspaper, the diplomatic deal "is a confirmation of the range of
reforms taking place not only in Poland but elsewhere in Eastern
Europe."

    That may be. However, it is far from certain that other
Communist countries in the East bloc with sizable Catholic
populations will follow Poland's diplomatic lead. The government
of Hungary has restored some religious rights, and Rome has
responded warmly, but there are no hints that these moves will be
sufficient to forge a new diplomatic relationship with the Vatican.
Rome's prospects with the hard-line rulers of Czechoslovakia are
far dimmer. In the Soviet Union the enforced illegality of
Catholicism in the Ukraine appears to present an intractable
barrier. Still, when John Paul was elected Pope, it seemed just as
unlikely that the Holy See would ever exchange ambassadors with
Poland.


*Other Communist regimes with full Vatican ties: Cuba and non-
 aligned Yugoslavia.