The election of John Paul II and his first pilgrimage to Poland in the light of the archives of the Voivodeship Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in Włocławek

Abstract

The above text, attempts to recreate the reaction of the government authorities of the PRL (Polish People’s Republic), to the election in October 1978 of cardinal Karol Wojtyla for the Pope. The text will also present the manner, in which the authorities of the PRL tried to impede the arrival of the new Pope John Paul II in Poland, and when in June 1979 he arrived, what they did to give his presence as little significance as possible.

The text is based on the cables exchanged between the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party and the Provincial Committee of that party in Włocławek.

The content of these writings reveals the complete inability of both, the writers and addressees, to describe religious reality of that time. It also shows the way the communist authorities falsified the real picture of public reaction to the election and especially to the presence of the Pope in Poland, which was done for example by formulating untrue opinions that his visit was unwanted by the church hierarchy in Włocławek.

Warsaw was receiving similar false messages saying that the public was not interested in the Pope’s visit, whereas the unrevealed government opinion polls indicated, that almost 90% of Poles declared a great interest in this trip.

Other source materials used in this text show the secretive actions of the government and party authorities (which were in fact the same) taken in order to make it difficult for Poles to participate in the ceremonies with the Pope. For instance, military officials and their families were forbidden to take part in these ceremonies and so did the other social groups (students, pupils). Limiting the availability, quantity and credibility of television and radio broadcasts was also a very common procedure.