I won’t say the whole Catholic world is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (it lasted from October 11, 1962 to December 8, 1965) because numerous speeches, scientific conferences, ceremonial services and Papal addresses do not imply an interest “of the whole Catholic world”. For the latter has other problems, different depending on the continent although – it’s true – some of those problems can be traced back to the events from 60 years ago. It is a remarkable anniversary indeed but not necessarily for the same reasons for all involved.

The price of delusion

Because let's just consider our slice of the world – tormented today by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, the lack of an unequivocal stance on that aggression, the failure of Christian civilization to protect life (vide euthanasia and the extent of abortion policy), the weakness of the European Union on these issues. And – what’s perhaps most difficult for Catholics – the Pope’s attitude toward Russia and its aggression, as well as the Vatican’s vague diplomacy in world forums.

SIGN UP TO OUR PAGE Here, a search for the “roots” of this attitude in documents and memoirs from the time of Vaticanum Secundum brings surprisingly pessimistic findings. And this is what Australian Cardinal George Pell talks about – even if it’s succinct and obscure especially for younger readers unfamiliar with the subject matter.

Well, card. Pell, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council, in the British National Catholic Register starts from the conciliar pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes (GS) – let us note that one of the four conciliar constitutions, i.e. the most important documents, the influence of which still remains it is present in the life of the Church. Cardinal Pell, quoting KAI, emphasizes its novelty as a kind of commentary, and at the same time a call to read the signs of the times. He also notices some shortcomings, for example silence about the threats of communism, which fought religion by force.

Cardinal Pell writes: A long section on atheism contains the only mention of communism in the Council documents, although the Soviet Union is not named; instead, the document laments that some atheists “violently attack religion” and indoctrinate the youth in their schools when they achieve political control (GS, 20). The common view is that the conciliar silence on communism, the absence of condemnation, was the agreed price for the presence of bishops from communist Europe and for the presence of observers from the Russian Orthodox Church.

How good that we have Card. George Pell who is able to call a spade a spade! The comparison to the current situation in Ukraine is obvious, comparing not only Ukrainian Catholics’ expectations of a clear and decisive attitude of the Vatican and the Pope himself towards the aggressor. Paraphrasing the words of Card. Pell, it can probably be argued that the increasingly common view is that the papal silence about aggressive imperial Russia and its attack on Ukraine comes at a price in hopes for the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of the universal Church.

It is impossible not to refer here to the document that Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki submitted to Pope Francis at the Vatican during a special meeting in March this year. In an interview for TVO Weekly Archbp. Gądecki was saying: “during my meeting with Pope Francis, I took the liberty of presenting the Holy Father with a comprehensive study on the unfortunate effects of the Vatican’s Ost-Politik on the Churches in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. I believe that the opinion of Bl. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in this matter was right, therefore, after the election of St. John Paul II, the direction of Vatican diplomacy in this matter has changed dramatically. Probably the liking of the Vatican diplomacy for Russia is a derivative of a similar state of mind that prevails in Italy and France, which did not experience the rule of the communist dictatorship firsthand”.

The Primate’s Ostpolitik”

And it is impossible not to recall here the actions and writings of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, who was ready to risk his own career within the hierarchy – while he was prince of the Church and the Primate of Poland – than to yiel to communist authorities. His biographer Ewa K. Czaczkowska wrote recently that “apart from specialist literature, it is rarely mentioned because the primate himself did not speak about it publicly. But yes, he did write a lot. Both in his journals “Pro memoria” and in the correspondence sent to the Vatican curia. And what is important – he proposed an alternative eastern policy to Ostpolitik. This, of course, could not please the Vatican officials. The Primate, on the other hand, was even ready to resign if the Holy See wanted to force Poland to deal with the governments of other countries behind the Iron Curtain ”(Rzeczpospolita”, April 2022).

Let us, however, return - together with Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński - to the documents of the Council, also to the one about which Cardinal George Pell. He writes in the “National Catholic Register” that “the silence on communism which was actively persecuting Christians throughout Eastern Europe, Russia and China skewed the Council’s perspectives. The struggle between good and evil, which is at the heart of the Gospel, exemplified in the killing of our Redeemer, the constant menace and intrigues of the Evil One, the struggle between the Light and darkness (John 1:4-5) and the hatred of the world for Christ and his followers (further spelled out in John’s Gospel, 15:18-19) — this dimension is somewhat lacking, especially in this document” (cit. per KAI).

Ewa K. Czaczkowska in the abovementioned article writes that “initially also Primate Wyszyński was against the council’s publication of a document assessing communism for fear that it might intensify the persecution of Catholics in these countries, but he changed his mind, like many other hierarchs, after in 1964 the encyclical “Ecclesiam Suam” was issued. Paul VI wrote in it about the necessity of entering into a dialogue with atheistic communism. As a result, the German bishops suggested that in the council’s document on the Church there should be a chapter on the dialogue between the Church and atheism. In this situation, 450 participants of the council from 86 countries of the world called on to present the Church’s position towards atheistic communism. The relevant amendment to the draft of the pastoral constitution on the Church was blocked by the secretary of the commission responsible for drafting the document, Fr. Achille Glorieux, a Frenchman, which was shown by a subsequent investigation. Finally, after the intervention of Paul VI, the document was supplemented with ... a footnote with a brief information about the Church's teaching on communism, very mild and quite meaningless”. Cardinal Wyszyński saw that there was no understanding, let alone support.

Karol Wojtyła, the other important Polish cardinal, known as one of the most zealous, hardworking and persistent council fathers, active co-creator – even co-author – of the “Gaudium et Spes” pastoral constitution must have been in such a difficult situation! Undoubtedly, constantly consulting his primate, he made various attempts to “smuggle” the Polish stance, but – as one can see – in vain.

In the volume “Vatican Council. Constitutions – decrees – declarations” (Pallotinum, Poznań 2002) – published 20 years after the collapse of communism, at least in Poland – we can find competent articles by Polish bishops and other priests introducing to the essence of each of the conciliar documents. But even then, in 2002, the authors use euphemistic phrases: “the Metropolitan of Kraków (...) submitted written comments, he also acted on behalf of the entire Polish Episcopate. He spoke about atheism; after all, he comes from a country that has experienced what atheism is as an imposed ideology, how atheism affects culture, science, education and politics”.

Godless communism

In 2002, it could be put outright that it had been not about atheism, but about godless communism, to use words from another document, from Pius XI’s 1938 encyclical “Divini Redemptoris”. “Such, Venerable Brethren – wrote that Pope – is the new gospel which bolshevistic and atheistic Communism offers the world as the glad tidings of deliverance and salvation! It is a system full of errors and sophisms. It is in opposition both to reason and to Divine Revelation. It subverts the social order, because it means the destruction of its foundations; because it ignores the true origin and purpose of the State; because it denies the rights, dignity and liberty of human personality”.

In this encyclical Pius XI wrote directly about the crimes of communism in Russia and Mexico, about the next wave in Spain, about the expansion in many countries, about the murder of priests and nuns, about the destruction of the family and the basics of education. We have learnt it the hard way, fortunately not in the Spanish or Albanian edition, but also a cruel one – after all, October 19 was established in our country – not without reason – as the National Day of Remembrance for Steadfast Priests. You don’t have to rewrite everything from the encyclical, because everyone can find and read it on the Internet today. One has to ask, however, how it happened that a quarter of a century later, after the terrible World War II and the even more terrible expansion of communism, bishops and cardinals believed that since communism rules half the world, it is necessary to deal with it and look for ways to change it.

Meanwhile, Primate Wyszyński – emphasizes Ewa K. Czaczkowska – believed unambiguously that “the Vatican, supported by a group of Western hierarchs in this matter, focused on dialogue with atheistic communism, paying a high price for it. It was the abandonment of the moral evaluation of the system whose anti-religious edge touched tens of millions of Catholics in countries behind the Iron Curtain, harassed and persecuted for their faith”.

Stefan Wyszyński was able to point out to the Vatican diplomat Agostin Casaroli where his place in the Ostpolitik affairs was. “Nothing about us without us” – one can summarize the radical attitude of the Primate, who repeatedly asked in the Vatican to defend priests and Catholics from behind the “Iron Curtain”, gave examples of faithful from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia betrayed by the Vatican, he proposed alternative diplomatic solutions. At the same time, he made many efforts for persecuted or even forbidden churches in neighboring countries, which we have written about many times in our pages.

A history that is not commendable

Nearly half a century has passed since then, and we still have – confirmed by many Vatican statements – this impression that in papal diplomacy things are the same as then. The twenty years of John Paul II’s pontificate who put all his authority, faith and prayer (and became a victim of an attempt on his life) on the line of the fight against communism, did not permanently change the Eastern policy of the Vatican.

Card. Pell, who experienced false accusations and imprisonment for his attempts to finally explore the financial depths of the Church, suffered harm and injustice, understands the importance of truth in relations between peoples and nations, probably also institutions. Maybe that is why he took up one of the most difficult topics, writing that “the post-conciliar story has not been one of glorious success”, if even “largely for reasons outside Church control”.

And yet inside, to a large extent. Is it possible to nourish hope that his bald and resolute to voice will finally open the doors or be it even a crack to an honest and substantive discussion on this topic?

– Barbara Sułek-Kowalska
– translated by Dominik Szczęsny-Kostanecki

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists