Holy See – Soviet Union relations
Encyclopedia
Holy See–Soviet Union relations were marked by a long-standing persecution of the Roman Catholic Church
by the Soviet Union. After a long period of resistance to atheistic propaganda beginning with Benedict XV and reaching a peak under Pius XII, the Holy See attempted to enter in a pragmatic dialogue with Soviet leaders during the papacies of John XXIII and Paul VI. In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II's diplomatic policies were cited as one of the principal factors that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
brought about the revolutionary development, which Benedict XV had foreseen in his first encyclical. With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican
was faced with a new, so far unknown, situation. An ideology and government which rejected not only the Catholic Church but religion as a whole. “Some hope developed among the United Orthodox in Ukraine
and Armenia
, but many of the representatives there disappeared or were jailed in the following years. Several Orthodox bishops from Omsk
and Simbirsk wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XV, as the Father of all Christianity, describing the murder of priests, the destruction of their churches and other persecutions in their areas.
, Pius XI mandated Berlin
nuncio Eugenio Pacelli to work secretly on diplomatic arrangements between the Vatican and the Soviet Union. Pacelli negotiated food shipments for Russia, and met with Soviet representatives including Foreign Minister Georgi Chicherin, who rejected any kind of religious education, the ordination of priests and bishops, but offered agreements without the points vital to the Vatican. Despite Vatican pessimism and a lack of visible progress, Pacelli continued the secret negotiations, until Pius XI ordered them to be discontinued in 1927, because they generated no results and were dangerous to the Church, if made public.
The "harsh persecution short of total annihilation of the clergy, monks, and nuns and other people associated with the Church," continued well into the 1930s. In addition to executing and exiling many clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscating of Church implements "for victims of famine" and the closing of churches were common. Yet according to an official report based on the Census
of 1936, some 55 percent of Soviet citizens identified themselves openly as religious, while others possibly concealed their belief.
Conspiracy of silence
is a term used during Pius XI's pontificate to describe the lack of reaction to the persecution of Christians in the Terrible Triangle
and by National Socialism and Communism in such countries as the Soviet Union, Mexico, Germany and Spain. In, 1937 the Pope issued the encyclical Divini Redemptoris
, which was a condemnation of Communism and the Soviet regime." He did name a French Jesuit to go to the USSR and consecrate in secret Roman Catholic bishops. It was a failure, as most of them ended up in gulags or were otherwise killed by the communist regime.
Two months after his election on May 12, 1939, in Singolari Animi, a papal letter to the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church, Pius XII reported again the persecutions of the Catholic faith in the Soviet Union. Three weeks later, while honouring the memory of Saint Vladimir on the 950th anniversary of his baptism, he welcomed Ruthenian priests and bishops and members of the Russian colony in Rome, and prayed for those who suffer in their country, awaiting with their tears the hour of the coming of the Lord.
Persecution began at once, as large parts of Poland and the Baltic States were incorporated into the USSR. Almost immediately, the United Catholic Churches of Armenia, Ukraine and Ruthenia were attacked. While most Oriental Christians belong to an Orthodox Church, some like the Armenian Catholic Church
, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
and the Ruthenian Catholic Church
, are united with Rome which allowed them to keep their own Oriental liturgy and Church laws.
After the war, the Russian Orthodox Church was given some freedom by the government of Joseph Stalin
, but not the Orthodox Oriental Churches which was united with Rome. Leaders of the Orthodox Oriental Churches faced intense pressure to break with Rome and unite with Moscow. Pope Pius addressed specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church located in Ukraine. The encyclical Orientales Omnes
is a summary of the relations between the Uniated (Eastern) churches and Rome until the persecutions in 1945. Some Ruthenians, resisting Polonisation, felt deserted by the Vatican and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church
during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
and the Communist Party
in increasing control of the Polish government, the Pope and the Polish episcopate anticipated persecution and communication problems with the Polish bishops, He therefore granted Facultas Specialis, special powers to August Cardinal Hlond in his dealings with the Church and state authorities. Hlond’s pastoral priority were the "former German territories", now assigned to Poland, and called Recovered Territories
by the state, and Western Lands by the Church.
On August 15, 1945, one week after the Potsdam Conference
he created facts by establishing Polish administrators in these areas. The new government, almost as expected, began its campaign against the Church by withdrawing from the concordat and expelling the Papal Nuncio and refusing to accept the appointments by Cardinal Hlond. The Vatican was accused of refusing to accept the authority of the new communist government and for breaking the concordat in the war years by appointing temporary German administrators in Polish territory.
The Decree against Communism
is a 1949 Papal decree which excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations. The Vatican, having been silent during the war on communist excesses, displayed a harder line on communism after 1945. The ruling followed suit to an earlier 1937 encyclical entitled Divini Redemptoris which was strongly critical of communism and its Christian variants.
Acerrimo Moerore
(January 2, 1949) is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Hungarian Episcopate after the jailing and torturing of József Cardinal Mindszenty. Decenium Dum Expletur is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the bishops of Poland about the suffering of the Polish People. Sacro Vergente
is a 1952 Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia in which he consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Dum Maerenti Animo
is a June 1956 Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the faithful in Eastern Europe regarding their persecutions and the persecutions of the Church. Veritatem Facientes
(March 27, 1952) is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic faithful of Romania, protesting against their persecution and the virtual eradication of the Catholic Church in their country.
Luctuosissimi Eventus
, issued October 28, 1956, is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII urging public prayers for peace and freedom for the people of Hungary. Laetamur Admodum issued November 1, 1956, concerns renewing his request for prayers for peace for Poland, Hungary, and the Middle East. Datis Nuperrime
is a Papal encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the Soviet invasion of Hungary to suppress the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
in the hope of reducing tensions with the Soviet Union and contributing to peace in the world. The Second Vatican Council
did not condemn Communism and did not even mention it, in what some have called a secret agreement between the Holy See and the Soviet Union (see Metz Accord
). In Pacem in Terris
, John XXIII also sought to prevent nuclear war and tried to improve relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. He began a policy of dialogue with Soviet leaders in order to seek conditions in which Eastern Catholics could find relief from persecution.
because it closely resembled similar policies that were being adopted by Western European nations. He received Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
and USSR President Nikolai Podgorny
in 1966 and 1967 in the Vatican. The situation of the Church in Poland, Hungary and Romania
improved somewhat during his pontificate.
in eastern Europe
, by being the spiritual inspiration behind its downfall, and a catalyst for "a peaceful revolution" in Poland. Lech Wałęsa
, the founder of the ‘Solidarity’ movement, credited John Paul II with giving Poles the courage to rise up. "The pope started this chain of events that led to the end of communism," Wałęsa said. "Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. "He simply said, ‘Do not be afraid, change the image of this land....’"
In December 1989, John Paul II met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
at the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the other. Gorbachev
once said ‘The collapse of the Iron Curtain
would have been impossible without John Paul II.’ On John Paul's passing, Mikhail Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us."
In February 2004, Pope John Paul II was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize
honouring his life's work in opposing Communist oppression and helping to reshape the world.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
by the Soviet Union. After a long period of resistance to atheistic propaganda beginning with Benedict XV and reaching a peak under Pius XII, the Holy See attempted to enter in a pragmatic dialogue with Soviet leaders during the papacies of John XXIII and Paul VI. In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II's diplomatic policies were cited as one of the principal factors that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Benedict XV
The end of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
brought about the revolutionary development, which Benedict XV had foreseen in his first encyclical. With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
was faced with a new, so far unknown, situation. An ideology and government which rejected not only the Catholic Church but religion as a whole. “Some hope developed among the United Orthodox in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, but many of the representatives there disappeared or were jailed in the following years. Several Orthodox bishops from Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
and Simbirsk wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XV, as the Father of all Christianity, describing the murder of priests, the destruction of their churches and other persecutions in their areas.
Pius XI
Worried by the persecution of Christians in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Pius XI mandated Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
nuncio Eugenio Pacelli to work secretly on diplomatic arrangements between the Vatican and the Soviet Union. Pacelli negotiated food shipments for Russia, and met with Soviet representatives including Foreign Minister Georgi Chicherin, who rejected any kind of religious education, the ordination of priests and bishops, but offered agreements without the points vital to the Vatican. Despite Vatican pessimism and a lack of visible progress, Pacelli continued the secret negotiations, until Pius XI ordered them to be discontinued in 1927, because they generated no results and were dangerous to the Church, if made public.
The "harsh persecution short of total annihilation of the clergy, monks, and nuns and other people associated with the Church," continued well into the 1930s. In addition to executing and exiling many clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscating of Church implements "for victims of famine" and the closing of churches were common. Yet according to an official report based on the Census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 1936, some 55 percent of Soviet citizens identified themselves openly as religious, while others possibly concealed their belief.
Conspiracy of silence
Conspiracy of silence
Conspiracy of silence can refer to:* Conspiracy of silence , an expression * Conspiracy of Silence , a term used by Pope Pius XI referring to Church persecutions...
is a term used during Pius XI's pontificate to describe the lack of reaction to the persecution of Christians in the Terrible Triangle
Terrible Triangle
Terrible Triangle was a term used by Pope Pius XI for the simultaneous persecution of Christians in general and the Catholic Church in particular in three countries: the Soviet Union, Mexico, and Spain. These events are said to have influenced his position on Communism throughout his pontificate...
and by National Socialism and Communism in such countries as the Soviet Union, Mexico, Germany and Spain. In, 1937 the Pope issued the encyclical Divini Redemptoris
Divini Redemptoris
Divini Redemptoris is an anti-communist encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI. It was published on 19 March 1937. In this encyclical, the pope sets out to "expose once more in a brief synthesis the principles of atheistic Communism as they are manifested chiefly in bolshevism"...
, which was a condemnation of Communism and the Soviet regime." He did name a French Jesuit to go to the USSR and consecrate in secret Roman Catholic bishops. It was a failure, as most of them ended up in gulags or were otherwise killed by the communist regime.
Russia
The pontificate of Pius XII faced extraordinary problems. During the 1930s, the public protests and condemnations of his predecessors had not deterred the Soviet authorities to persecute all Christian Churches within the Soviet Union as hostile to Marxism-Leninism. The persecution of the Catholic Church was a part of an overall attempt to eradicate religion in the Soviet Union. In 1940, after Germany occupied the Western part of Poland, the Soviet Union annexed the Eastern part along with the Baltic Countries including predominantly Catholic Lithuania.Two months after his election on May 12, 1939, in Singolari Animi, a papal letter to the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church, Pius XII reported again the persecutions of the Catholic faith in the Soviet Union. Three weeks later, while honouring the memory of Saint Vladimir on the 950th anniversary of his baptism, he welcomed Ruthenian priests and bishops and members of the Russian colony in Rome, and prayed for those who suffer in their country, awaiting with their tears the hour of the coming of the Lord.
Persecution began at once, as large parts of Poland and the Baltic States were incorporated into the USSR. Almost immediately, the United Catholic Churches of Armenia, Ukraine and Ruthenia were attacked. While most Oriental Christians belong to an Orthodox Church, some like the Armenian Catholic Church
Armenian Catholic Church
|- |The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in union with the other Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics who accept the Bishop of Rome as spiritual leader of the Church. It is regulated by Eastern canon law...
, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
and the Ruthenian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
, are united with Rome which allowed them to keep their own Oriental liturgy and Church laws.
After the war, the Russian Orthodox Church was given some freedom by the government of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, but not the Orthodox Oriental Churches which was united with Rome. Leaders of the Orthodox Oriental Churches faced intense pressure to break with Rome and unite with Moscow. Pope Pius addressed specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church located in Ukraine. The encyclical Orientales Omnes
Orientales Omnes
Orientales omnes Ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It commemorates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Union of Brest....
is a summary of the relations between the Uniated (Eastern) churches and Rome until the persecutions in 1945. Some Ruthenians, resisting Polonisation, felt deserted by the Vatican and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
Eastern Europe
After the War, Soviet forces stationed in PolandNorthern Group of Forces
The Northern Group of Forces was the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fall of Soviet Union...
and the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in increasing control of the Polish government, the Pope and the Polish episcopate anticipated persecution and communication problems with the Polish bishops, He therefore granted Facultas Specialis, special powers to August Cardinal Hlond in his dealings with the Church and state authorities. Hlond’s pastoral priority were the "former German territories", now assigned to Poland, and called Recovered Territories
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
by the state, and Western Lands by the Church.
On August 15, 1945, one week after the Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
he created facts by establishing Polish administrators in these areas. The new government, almost as expected, began its campaign against the Church by withdrawing from the concordat and expelling the Papal Nuncio and refusing to accept the appointments by Cardinal Hlond. The Vatican was accused of refusing to accept the authority of the new communist government and for breaking the concordat in the war years by appointing temporary German administrators in Polish territory.
The Decree against Communism
Decree against Communism
The Decree against Communism is a 1949 Catholic Church document which excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations...
is a 1949 Papal decree which excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations. The Vatican, having been silent during the war on communist excesses, displayed a harder line on communism after 1945. The ruling followed suit to an earlier 1937 encyclical entitled Divini Redemptoris which was strongly critical of communism and its Christian variants.
Acerrimo Moerore
Acerrimo Moerore
Acerrimo Moerore is a letter of Pope Pius XII to the Hungarian Episcopate after the jailing and torturing of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty. Pope Pius XII asks the Catholic bishops of Hungary to pray to the Virgin Mary and to include in their prayers to her those who persecute them...
(January 2, 1949) is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Hungarian Episcopate after the jailing and torturing of József Cardinal Mindszenty. Decenium Dum Expletur is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the bishops of Poland about the suffering of the Polish People. Sacro Vergente
Sacro Vergente
Sacro Vergente anno is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia. In it Pope consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Because of the Virgin Mary, he has great faith in the future of their country but is anguished about the Soviet hostility towards...
is a 1952 Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia in which he consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Dum Maerenti Animo
Dum Maerenti Animo
Dum Maerenti Animo, an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the faithful in Eastern Europe regarding their persecutions and the persecutions of the Church. "The whole family of Christianity stands in respectful admiration before you, and what you suffer in silence for so long. She prays for...
is a June 1956 Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the faithful in Eastern Europe regarding their persecutions and the persecutions of the Church. Veritatem Facientes
Veritatem Facientes
Veritatem Facientes is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic faithful of Romania, protesting against their persecution and the virtual eradication of the Catholic Church in their country...
(March 27, 1952) is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic faithful of Romania, protesting against their persecution and the virtual eradication of the Catholic Church in their country.
Luctuosissimi Eventus
Luctuosissimi Eventus
Luctuosissimi Eventus, issued October 28, 1956, is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII urging public prayers for peace and freedom for the people of Hungary....
, issued October 28, 1956, is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII urging public prayers for peace and freedom for the people of Hungary. Laetamur Admodum issued November 1, 1956, concerns renewing his request for prayers for peace for Poland, Hungary, and the Middle East. Datis Nuperrime
Datis Nuperrime
Datis Nuperrime , is an Papal encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the Soviet invasion of Hungary to suppress the Hungarian revolution of 1956. This is a second encyclical protesting the bloody oppression of the Hungarian people...
is a Papal encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the Soviet invasion of Hungary to suppress the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
John XXIII
During the brief papacy of John XXIII, there were attempts to reconcile with the Russian Orthodox ChurchRussian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
in the hope of reducing tensions with the Soviet Union and contributing to peace in the world. The Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
did not condemn Communism and did not even mention it, in what some have called a secret agreement between the Holy See and the Soviet Union (see Metz Accord
Metz Accord
The Metz Accord was an agreement of principle made between the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church at Metz, France, on 13 August 1962, in which the Russian Orthodox Church agreed to send observers to Second Vatican Council and in return, the Vatican would specifically refrain from denouncing...
). In Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who died from cancer two months after its completion ....
, John XXIII also sought to prevent nuclear war and tried to improve relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. He began a policy of dialogue with Soviet leaders in order to seek conditions in which Eastern Catholics could find relief from persecution.
Paul VI
Pope Paul VI continued John XXIII's policy of dialogue with Soviet leaders in order to reduce persecutions against local Christians. His policy has been called OstpolitikOstpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
because it closely resembled similar policies that were being adopted by Western European nations. He received Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
and USSR President Nikolai Podgorny
Nikolai Podgorny
Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny was a Soviet Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, or leader of the Ukrainian SSR, from 1957 to 1963 and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1965 to 1977...
in 1966 and 1967 in the Vatican. The situation of the Church in Poland, Hungary and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
improved somewhat during his pontificate.
John Paul II
John Paul II has been credited with being instrumental in bringing down communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, by being the spiritual inspiration behind its downfall, and a catalyst for "a peaceful revolution" in Poland. Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, the founder of the ‘Solidarity’ movement, credited John Paul II with giving Poles the courage to rise up. "The pope started this chain of events that led to the end of communism," Wałęsa said. "Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. "He simply said, ‘Do not be afraid, change the image of this land....’"
In December 1989, John Paul II met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
at the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the other. Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
once said ‘The collapse of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
would have been impossible without John Paul II.’ On John Paul's passing, Mikhail Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us."
In February 2004, Pope John Paul II was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
honouring his life's work in opposing Communist oppression and helping to reshape the world.
See also
- Michel d'Herbigny S.J.Michel d'HerbignyMichel-Joseph Bourguignon d'Herbigny was a French Jesuit scholar and Roman Catholic bishop. He was president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and of the Pontifical Commission for Russia...
- Religion in the Soviet UnionReligion in the Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion and its replacement with atheism. To that end, the communist regime confiscated religious property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in schools...
- Persecution of Christians in the Soviet UnionPersecution of Christians in the Soviet UnionThe history of Christianity in the Soviet Union was not limited to repression and secularization. Soviet policy toward religion was based on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, which made atheism the official doctrine of the Soviet Union...
- Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countriesPersecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countriesBefore and after the October Revolution of November 7, 1917 there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule . This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States...