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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 8, 1983
PAGE 10
While the pope's influence has undoubtedly been strongest among
the Catholics in the Soviet bloc it has had much broader ramifi
cations. � emphasizing Europe
1
s""cominon"""'chrTstTan roots, he has
consistently stressed its spiritual unity--East and West--and has
gone beyond that to argue for the opening not only of borders,
but also of (political) "systems."
In a highly significant
gesture, the pope has declared the Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who
were instrumental in the spread of Christianity among the
ancestors of many present-day Catholic and Orthodox Slavs, co
patron saints of Europe along with St. Benedict, thus symbolical
il
overcoming the centuries-old East-West division of Europe.
[See page 11 of the December 27, 1982 PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT.]
It should come as no surprise then that the Kremlin's attitudes
toward the pope some four years after his election and close to
two years after the attempt on his life continue to be unremit
tingly hostile and increasingly confrontational.
For Moscow,
John Paul II was and continues to be much more than a narrow
Pilishproblem-.- The pope on hispart realizesclearly what a
serious challenge he presents for the Kremlin. As early as 1979
during his visit to Poland he told an audience: "I'm sure there
are people out there who are already having a hard time taking
this Slavic pope." Hard enough, it seems, to prompt an exasper
ated Kremlin to cry out, as Henry II once did regarding the Arch
bishop of Canterbury:
"Will !l2 � rid me of this turbulent
priest?"
Only two months from now, in June, the Pope pays a return visit to his
Polish homeland. Will we hear yet more dramatic calls for the "spiritual
union" of Eastern and Western Europe?
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau