Poland loses beloved cardinal

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 8

Poland loses beloved cardinal

NZPA-Reuter Warsaw The Catholic Primate of Poland (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski) died yesterday aged 79, after two months of serious stomach illness.

The Cardinal’s private secretary, called by Reuters for a routine inquiry about the Primate’s health, said: “The Cardinal has died. An official communique will appear shortly.” Polish Catholics heard the Voice of their Cardinal for the last time on May 14 in a message recorded from his sick bed for a special Mass for the Pope. j ,

The Mass was broadcast live on State television, but the Cardinal’s familiar rich, resonant voice was clearly weakened. ; V.

Cardinal Wyszynski was the rqck upon which the Catholic Church survived Communist rule in Poland, consolidated its power and finally emerged triumphant. He became Primate, spiritual leader of nearly 30 million Polish Catholics, in 1948 as the Communists completed their take-over of the country with a Moscowbacked policy of atheism; He led his Church through the dark years of Stalinist' persecution and lived to see it bask in the glory of a Polish Pope and the emergence of the pro-Catholic Solidarity free trade union movement. The election of Karol Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, to the Papal throne in October, 1978, his hugely popular homecoming as Pope

John Paul pine months later and the religiously-oriented worker rebellion in the (northern) summer pf last year all attested to the refusal of a people to part with its Christian past.

For millions of Poles at home and abroad. Cardinal Wyszynski was the embodiment of this refusal. He was a tall, handsome figure and masterful orator.

He was detained in 1953 by the Communist authorities for three years for protesting against the harassment of clerics, but he ended his long reign wielding an extraordinary power and influence.

A consistently tough campaigner for Church and human rights, he used his power wisely, aware of the constraints of Poland’s postwar incorporation into the Soviet bloc.

The,heir to a 1000-year-old Christian tradition — Poland celebrated the millenium of Catholicism, under Cardinal Wyszynski, in 1966 — the Primate never wavered in his belief that the Church was the ultimate guardian of the nation.

This led him on occasions to hold Out a helping hand to Poland’s Communist rulers, preaching moderation and

restraint at times of crisis, notably at the height of the strike ‘ movement in August last year.

The Polish Church won new rights directly because of the Gdansk-led strikes, including religious broadcasts, and quickly became a moderating force on the nascent independent labour movement.

The Cardinal had shown his backing for the workers well before the' emergence of Solidarity. In a 1976 sermon after strikes against higher food prices, he said: “It is the clergy's duty to defend the workers’ interests against hasty and ill-considered Government measures. “There is no other force but the Church which can unite the whole nation in tragic circumstances.” During the Gdansk strikes last year he told a congregation: “Man sometimes, when he has no other means, has the right to make his stand also by refraining from work.”

The Church rose to unparalleled power in a Communist State along with Solidarity, Cardinal Wyszynski, his bishops and lay activists working beside the new union and intervening in disputes with the authorities.

The Cardinal received Solidarity’s leader, Lech Walesa, frequently; and, by all accounts, exerted great influence over the intensely religious Catholic union chief. Mr Walesa told an interviewer that the Cardinal was the only man in authority who had ever really impressed him and that included, with some courteous reservation, Pope John Paul whom he met in Rome.