prayers for his health. The people here credit Pope John Paul II with inspiring those who led the fight against Communism in Poland and putting the country on the world map. Celebrations of his silver anniversary at the Vatican started in Poland last weekend with masses held throughout the country, concerts and TV specials.
PAPAL BANNERS
In addition yellow Papal banners festooned churches and public buildings in the southern city of Krakow where Cardinal Karol Wojtyla served before he was elected as Pope in 1978. When asked in a recent survey whether they agreed with the statement, "Poles love the Pope," 85 percent of the people asked said yes.
However as Poland celebrated John Paul’s election, the predominantly Catholic country of 38 million also expressed concern about the Pope’s declining health. But Polish people told the English language service of Polish radio that they are impressed about his sense of mission.
I of course appreciate what he does, and I wonder how he finds the power to travel so much and I am really worried about his health," a young unidentified woman said. "I think that he is very strong inside. Maybe he looks weak outside, but he has a very beautiful mind and his thoughts keep him working," said another Polish man.
PHYSICAL AILMENTS
Cardinal Jozef Glemp, in an anniversary mass last Sunday, October 12, said a prayer for the Pope’s health, but lashed out against the media whose reporting of the pontiff’s physical ailments, in his words, "distracts attention from the significance of his Papacy."
On Thursday, October 16, the pope’s hometown of Wadowice gathered for an outdoor mass on the central square and for a prayer for the pontiff’s health.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his predecessor, Solidarity trade union founder Lech Walesa, traveled to Rome to attend the ceremonies there.
HISTORIC VISIT
Before leaving for Rome, Walesa recalled how the pontiff’s 1979 historic visit to Poland helped hasten the collapse fall of the Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe.
He added that Pope John Paul’s words such as "do not be afraid" drove the people and boosted "the adhesion to Solidarnosc" or Solidarity, Walesa’s trade union that became a movement against Soviet domination with 10 million supporters.
The former president said it was therefore a "big mistake" to award the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize to an Iranian human rights activist as well as feminist lawyer and snub his compatriot Pope John Paul.
DISAPOINTMENT
Walesa, who won the award in 1983, told reporters he had "nothing against" Iranian Shirin Ebadi, but stressed the frail pontiff certainly "deserved this distinction" while he still being alive. Polish Catholic church leaders expressed similar opinions.
But President Kwasniewski played down the disappointment saying a prize would not be enough as "the Pope’s merits are immeasurable."
Pope John Paul himself, in a pre-recorded TV message to Poland, said that, at the 25-year mark the words of St. Luke’s Gospel came to mind: "We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty."
THANKING GOD
The Pope added he wanted to "thank God for all the good he has caused to spring from the hearts of individuals, the church and the world" throughout the 25 years of his ministry.
Church leaders and commentators have said that whatever happened to the Pope, his legacy will live forever in Poland, where 9 out of 10 people claim to be Catholics, according to surveys.
There are already symbols of the Pope’s influence across the country. In Wadowice, where he grew up, the marketplace in front of a church was still called Red Army Square when the College of Cardinals elected him as Pope a quarter of a century ago.
Now, the teardrop-shaped plaza is the Square of John Paul I. And communism is gone.
