Viewing cable 06VATICAN83, POPE TRAVELS TO POLAND: PART ONE
| Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06VATICAN83 | 2006-05-23 11:11 | 2010-12-10 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Vatican |
VZCZCXRO1190 PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHSR DE RUEHROV #0083/01 1431153 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 231153Z MAY 06 ZDK FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0331 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0359
Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 11:53 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 VATICAN 000083 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/WE LARREA, EUR/NCE EO 12958 DECL: 5/23/2031 TAGS PL, SOCI, PREL, VT SUBJECT: POPE TRAVELS TO POLAND: PART ONE REF: A) 05 VATICAN 475 ET AL.; WARSAW 799 ET AL.; MARTIN - CURTIN,
VAN CLEVE TELCONS VATICAN 00000083 001.4 OF 004 CLASSIFIED BY: Peter Martin, Pol/Econ Chief, Vatican, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 1. (U) This cable is the first of two
messages previewing Pope Benedict’s May 25-28 visit to Poland.
The first details Poland’s continuing importance to the Holy
See and touches on several on-going issues in the Polish Church
from the perspective of the Vatican. The second focuses in more
detail on the specifics of the upcoming visit. ----------- Summary ----------- ¶2. (C) Even without Pope John Paul II at the helm of the
Catholic Church, the Holy See’s attention to Poland and the
influence of Poles here remains an important dynamic in the
workings of the Vatican. Recent months have offered much
evidence of this, and numerous opportunities to assess the
Poland - Holy See relationship. Most high-ranking and
mid-level Poles have stayed on in their positions in the
Vatican bureaucracy since the death of John Paul,
maintaining the Vatican’s Polish flavor. Pope Benedict
has consistently made gestures to acknowledge the importance
of the Polish Catholic Church in the context of European
and world Catholicism - an importance embodied most
immediately by the crowds of Polish pilgrims that still
flock to Rome. Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials
maintain Pope John Paul’s hope that Poland will serve as a
counter-weight to Western European secularism, but are wary
of nationalistic or divisive forces with a Catholic label,
such as media outlets under the control of Polish station
Radio Maryja. With Pope Benedict XVI’s May 25-28 visit to
Poland looming, many in and around the Vatican are addressing
these subjects. End Summary. ------------------------ Poland: Still a Presence ------------------------ ¶3. (C) The papacy of John Paul II is slowly fading into
history, but Poland remains an important part of the
conversation at the Vatican. Recent months have offered
much evidence of this, and numerous opportunities to
assess Holy See - Poland relations. Late last year, several
groups of Polish bishops came to Rome for their quinquennial
“ad limina” visit to the pope and Vatican officials. In December,
then-President Aleksander Kwasniewski made his swan song visit
to the Vatican and met with Benedict XVI. In January, his
successor, President Lech Kaczynski, made his first trip
abroad as president and met Pope Benedict XVI. The first
anniversary of the death of the Polish pope in April saw waves
of Polish pilgrims visiting Rome, but the sound of Polish on
the streets of Rome hardly abated for the Easter celebrations
two weeks later. Add periodic events commemorating various
dates in the life of John Paul II or initiatives that he began,
and there remains an inevitable Polish flavor to life at the Vatican. ¶4. (C) In the aftermath of the death of the Polish pope,
Pole-weary Italian journalists heralded the impending exodus
of Poles from Rome and the Vatican Curia (bureaucracy) (ref a).
Their hope was that an Italian would regain the papacy and
add to the already imposing number of Italians in the Curia.
Many predicted that the papacy would inevitably turn its
attention from the homeland of the deceased pontiff. In the
end, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope, and the
Poles, by and large, stayed. And although it was inevitable
that the death of John Paul would signal a change in the
relationship between Poland and the Holy See, the bond remains
strong. The Vatican has continued to play close attention to
Poland and Poles continue to wield great influence in Vatican City. ----------------------------------- Polish Personnel, Influence Remain ----------------------------------- ¶5. (C) Benedict moved his own German secretary, Monsignor
Georg Ganswein, into the Apostolic Palace, but he kept on
Pope John Paul’s Polish aide, Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki (an ethnic
Pole from Ukraine) in a very visible position in the papal
household. Other prominent Poles at the Vatican, such as
Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski (Congregation for Education),
Monsignor Antoni Stankiewicz (Roman Rota - the Vatican’s
high court), Archbishop Edward Nowak (Congregation for the
Causes of Saints), Monsignor Krzysztof Nitkiewicz
(Congregation for Oriental Churches), Archbishop
Stanislaw Rylko (Council for Laity), and others are
continuing in high-profile positions. [Note: Rylko
was passed over for an expected elevation to the College
of Cardinals at the most recent consistory, but still heads
an important Vatican department.] ¶6. (C) Benedict also named London-born Polish priest Wojciech
Giertych as theologian of the Papal Household, another
prestigious position. Giertych is the son of well-known Polish VATICAN 00000083 002.2 OF 004 nationalist Jedrzej Giertych (1903-92), and brother of Maciej
Giertych of the League of Polish Families party in Poland.
Maciej’s son, Roman, is the newly-named Education Minister
(as reported by Embassy Warsaw) and a member of the Catholic
organization, Opus Dei . Though Fr. Giertych was selected
for his erudition and preaching rather than his nationality
(we also doubt his family connections played a role in the
appointment), his presence presents another opportunity for Polish
visibility and influence. A host of lower-level Polish functionaries
continue as well, doing a lot of the heavy lifting in and around
the Vatican. The only major name to leave Rome in the wake
of the death of John Paul was Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz,
John Paul’s longtime secretary, whom Benedict sent to follow
in his mentor’s footsteps as Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow. ¶7. (C) “Even after the death of the Holy Father, we have a
strong presence here,” Grzegorz Kaszak, rector of the Polish
College (residential seminary) in Rome and a former Vatican
bureaucrat, told us. Kaszak pointed out that Poles had been
making inroads at the Vatican for over twenty years. Their
influence was unlikely to diminish overnight. Even when Benedict
XVI makes the major changes in the Curia that Vatican-watchers
have been predicting for some time, most Poles here do not predict
that Polish influence in the Vatican will drop precipitously.
“We are now part of the culture here,” and a crucial element of
the Church in Europe and in the world, Kaszak insisted. ------------------------------------------ Vatican Publicizes Stats on Polish Church ------------------------------------------ ¶8. (C) The statistics bear Kaszak out. We defer to Embassy
Warsaw on the strength of the Polish Catholic Church domestically,
but the Vatican was touting its numbers in advance of the
pope’s trip. The Holy See released statistics noting the
country’s 36.6 million Catholics at some 10,114 parishes
and 800 pastoral centers. There are some 28 thousand priests
and almost 25 thousand other religious personnel (nuns and
other male religious) with 6,400 students studying to become
priests. Vatican-based sources have remarked to us that
Poland’s Catholic muscle is felt far beyond the country’s
borders. In parishes in Italy, other European countries,
the U.S., and elsewhere, it is not uncommon to come upon
Polish clergy, either on loan, or having taken up residence
in a foreign diocese. What’s most important to the Holy See
is the “formation of the youth,” according to Dariusz Giers,
a Polish priest working at the Vatican’s Health Ministry.
“The Vatican knows we have excellent programs to educate
young people [in religious matters]” he said, emphasizing
the importance of this factor for the continuing strength
of the religion. What’s more, many at the Vatican consider
Polish Catholicism to be dependably orthodox, compared to
more liberal strains of the faith found in some parts of Western
Europe. “The Poles are grounded in the faith,” one contact opined.
“You wouldn’t have to worry about the Da Vinci Code confusing
people in Poland.” --------------------- Ubiquitous Presence --------------------- ¶9. (C) As if to emphasize the ubiquitous presence of Poles in
and around the Vatican, Kaszak exchanged several greetings in
Polish with passing nuns as he spoke to us not far from St.
Peter’s Square. In fact, whether one’s in the Vatican grocery
store or post office, St. Peter’s Basilica, or walking any of
the streets around Vatican City, it’s hard to go twenty
minutes without hearing some Polish. And this is not just from
the Vatican functionaries from Poland and the many Polish nuns
who staff several Vatican offices and residences. The flow
of Polish pilgrims to Rome has waned little even a year
after the death of Pope John Paul. Of course, massive crowds
of Poles came to Rome to observe the first anniversary of
the pope’s death on April 2. A mass said by Pope Benedict
and other events packed an overflowing St. Peter’s Square.
But it seemed to onlookers that the Polish influx was just
as great - or greater - for the Easter celebrations not long
afterwards. As is typical for the outdoor audiences and public
masses, banners from Polish parishes and towns highlighted
Polish participation. “I think there were even more Poles
here for Easter,” Vatican bureaucrat Giers told us. “This
has been nearly constant since the death of the Holy Father.
I don’t see signs of it slowing down.” ---------------------------- Pope Reaches Out to Poles ---------------------------- ¶10. (C) The Holy See clearly recognizes who its audience is.
At his weekly public gathering (a mixture of prayer and pep rally),
Pope Benedict speaks every week to the crowd in Polish, VATICAN 00000083 003.6 OF 004 in addition to Italian, French, English, Spanish, and German.
Polish is typically one of the languages used for prayers
at Vatican masses. The pope often makes special emphasis on
the Polish contingent at the audiences and other events,
as on May 3, when he noted the anniversary of the 1791
ratification of the Polish Constitution and heralded the
anniversary a noteworthy event in Polish Catholic history.
Benedict XVI has also devoted some of his rare private
audiences to Polish or Polish-affiliated groups such an
April visit with representatives of the Krakow-based
publishing house, Znak, publisher of Pope John Paul’s
last book and other Church-related works. That Pope Benedict,
who travels much less than his predecessor, chose Poland as
his second trip abroad (his first was a visit to World Youth
Day in Germany that had been scheduled before his election)
is perhaps the strongest sign of this recognition (septel). --------------------------------------- A Counter-Weight to Secular Europe? --------------------------------------- ¶11. (C) The Holy See’s attention to Poland is not simply
customer service or “taking care of the troops”. As was
clear under Pope John Paul II, the Vatican has high hopes
that Poland will serve as a counter-weight to Western
European secularism as the nation makes itself more at
home in an integrated Europe. Pope Benedict’s preoccupation
with what he sees as Europe’s increasing psychological
distance from its Christian roots is clear (ref a). He has
continued to focus on Poland’s potential in combating this
trend. This was one of the themes of the visit of several
groups of Polish bishops to the Vatican at the end of last
year. “It’s a topic that always comes up,” explained Monsignor
Michael Banach, the Holy See MFA’s country director for Poland.
He told us that the two sides recognized that the Polish
bishops needed to exert leadership in the face of Western
European secularism. Certainly the Holy See hopes that
Poland will hold the line at the EU on “life and family”
issues that arise. But the necessity of maintaining and
fortifying the faith internally in Polish society is perhaps
an equally important - if not unrelated - focus. Several
sources have told us that both sides are keenly aware of the
danger that European secularism will dilute Polish faith
and identity. ------------- Trojan Horse ------------- ¶12. (C) Looking at Poland’s position in Europe and the EU,
several Polish interlocutors told us that Western European
suspicion of Poland as a “Trojan horse” for the U.S. in the
EU was not just a phenomenon among the laity - it had also
infected the Vatican. “We definitely get that feeling” from
a few of the French, German and other Western European prelates
at the Vatican, said Giers. The war in Iraq, unpopular among
many Vatican officials, has certainly played a role here.
Traditional Polish affection for the U.S., on the other hand,
seems as strong as ever among the Polish clergy stationed or
studying in Rome. In conversations at a dinner not long ago
at the Polish College, several seminarians and priests made
a point of praising the U.S. and lauding USG foreign policy. ---------------- Radio Maryja ---------------- ¶13. (C) Although the Vatican is on guard against encroaching
secularism, it shares with many Polish bishops a wariness of
Radio Maryja, the Catholic radio station accused of xenophobia
and anti-Semitism. Banach and Piotr Samerek, DCM at the Polish
Embassy to the Holy See, told us that during their ad limina
visits, several of the bishops appealed to Vatican Foreign
Minister Giovanni Lajolo and others to clamp down on excesses
of Radio Maryja and its sister media outlets. The complaints
included Radio Maryja’s meddling in Polish politics. According
to Banach, Lajolo was sympathetic, and expressed his reservations
about the network. But Lajolo took a typical Vatican line in
judging the matter to be an Polish internal affair. Banach
told us that Lajolo told more than one group of bishops that
they had to deal with Radio Maryja themselves as part of their
“pastoral responsibilities”. Though media attributed some
comments critical of Radio Maryja to Pope Benedict, the Holy
See clearly did not want to get involved. ¶14. (C) When Papal Nuncio Jozef Kowalczyk made an April statement
chastising Radio Maryja, many assumed that the Vatican had
finally decided to clamp down on the network. Our contacts tell
us that wasn’t the case, saying that while the Holy See agreed
with the spirit of Kowalczyk’s intervention, the nuncio had
spoken out on his own. Some following the issue at the Vatican
have told us that Kowalczyk went too far, given the Vatican’s
view of the matter as an internal Polish question. In VATICAN 00000083 004.4 OF 004 any case, as Banach told us, things seem to be improving, as
the proposed programming board set up to monitor the content
of the station’s broadcasts looks like a step in the right direction. ---------------- Other Influences ---------------- ¶15. (C) As the Holy See examines the many aspects of its
relationship with Poland, it seeks to maintain its focus on
the pastoral rather than political. But religious subjects
routinely morph into political ones. Banach wouldn’t bite
when asked for his view of the entry of radical elements
such as Andrzej Lepper or ultra-Catholics like Roman Giertych
into Poland’s governing coalition and ministerial ranks (ref c).
He did say that the Vatican understood the dangers that
right-wing nationalists posed to Poland’s future, and
allowed that some saw a danger of Catholic fringe groups
discrediting the mainstream Church. As far as the reputation
for anti-Semitism that stuck to some nationalists, Banach
commented that “no one” wanted to see the progress that had
been made on such issues lost. ---------- Comment ---------- ¶16. (C) It is only a little more than a year after the death
of Pope John Paul II, and it is inevitable that with the
passage of time Poland will eventually become less central
to the world of the Vatican. John-Paul era Vatican bureaucrats
will eventually move on. Poland may become more secular.
The memory of the Polish pope will certainly recede further
into the past. The growth of the Catholic Church in certain
parts of the developing world could also play a role here,
pushing the Poles, Italians and others to less prominent
roles with the Holy See and capturing even more attention
in Curial offices. For the near future, however, Poland is
assured an important place at the Vatican table.
ROONEY
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