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Issue Date:  June 2, 2006

Benedict travels Europe to revitalize Christian roots

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Warsaw, Poland

Pope Benedict XVI launched what might be dubbed his “Take Back Europe” 2006 summer tour May 25, opening a four-day swing through a traditional Catholic stronghold that he hopes will build momentum for reawakening the Christian roots of the Old Continent.

The motto of the visit to Poland is a pointed reminder of the message: “Stand firm in your faith!”

“I have come to Poland, the beloved homeland of my great predecessor Pope John Paul II, in order to inhale, as he used to do, this atmosphere of faith in which you live,” Benedict said in a meeting with Polish clergy in the Warsaw cathedral.

More Trip Coverage
John Allen's preview of the papal trip: Benedict's concerns for Poland trip:.
May 25, The trip is launched: Benedict sets about reawakening Europe's Christian roots.
May 26, A social survey of Poland: Poles are staunchly Catholic but also independent.
May 26, The Pope's message in Victory Square and at Czestochowa: Faith is a gift but also a task.
May 26, Subtext to the pope's visit: Some interesting nuggets.
May 27, A great trip for pilgrims: Benedict offers spiritual and pastoral basics.
May 27, Exploring John Paul's roots: Benedict's visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary.
May 27, A look at the issues: Examining the trip thus far.
May 28, The pope's take on death camps: Attempting to slay God was Auschwitz's greatest evil.
May 28, The Poles' speical vocation: Pope tells Poles 'share the treasure of your faith'.
May 28, U.S.-Polish ties: Knights of Columbus opening Polish councils.

Recalling Poland’s tragic history, Benedict urged Poles to “remember with appreciation and gratitude those who did not let themselves be overwhelmed by the forces of darkness, and let us learn from them the courage to be consistent and constant in our adherence to the Gospel of Christ.”

After Poland, which last fall elected a church-friendly, center-right government led by the Law and Order Party, Benedict will head in July to Spain, where the Socialist government led by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has challenged the church on almost every conceivable issue, from abortion to gay rights to money for Catholic schools.

Symbolically, Poland represents Benedict’s hope for a European future rooted in Christian values; Spain illustrates instead a runaway version of the “dictatorship of relativism.”

Local media noted that the “European vocation” of Poland is almost literally written in Polish DNA. American scientist Spencer Wells, head of the International Geographic Project, a project to map the genetic heritage of Europeans, said that Poles are a remarkable genetic mix of both East and West. Lech Walesa, for example, the founder of the Solidarity movement, has ancestors from Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia, but also Portugal and Great Britain.

Benedict’s vision, like that of John Paul, is that the Christian nations of the East will bring that heritage into the construction of the new Europe.

While there is undeniably a sentimental dimension to Benedict’s Polish visit as a final tribute to Pope John Paul II, the stakes for political and cultural debate throughout Europe are also high.

To grasp the depth of the challenge facing him, all Benedict had to do was read Corriere della Sera, Italy’s main daily, the morning he flew to Warsaw. The paper noted that three ministers of the country’s new center-left government have indicated “openness” on civil registration of de facto couples, as well as RU-486, the so-called “morning after” abortion pill, both social experiments bitterly opposed by John Paul II and now Benedict XVI as assaults on a “culture of life.”

One disgruntled member of the new government was quoted by Corriere della Sera as saying, “All we’re missing now is a declaration of war on the Vatican.”

If Benedict is to enjoy any European momentum heading into his July 8-9 trip to Spain, many observers believe it needs to happen here and now.

At the same time, however, Benedict along with the Polish bishops is concerned that the Polish church not be seen as a lobby on behalf of the country’s new government.

“The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction or politics,” the pope said to the Polish clergy. “He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life.”

On the plane to Warsaw, Benedict also looked ahead to his Sunday visit to Auschwitz.

“I am above all Catholic, and I would say that this point is important,” he said. “We must always learn that we are Catholic, and thus that one’s nationality is inserted, relativized, and also carefully located in the great unity of the Catholic communion.”

Benedict said he anticipated the visit “thinking of so many dead, also learning how man can really fall from his dignity, trampling upon others. From here, we hope, will be born a new sense of humanism and of humanity, and also a vision of man as the image of God, so as to prevent similar things in the future.”

John L. Allen Jr. is NCR Rome correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org.

National Catholic Reporter, June 2, 2006

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