Pojednanie między narodami warunkiem i owocem pokoju. Refleksje nad dokumentami Kościoła katolickiego Polski i Niemiec oraz Rosyjskiej Cerkwi Prawosławnej
Reconciliation among the nations as a condition and fruit of peace. Reflection upon the documents of the Catholic Church of Poland, Germany and Russian Orthodox Church

Summary/Abstract: The main intent of this article is a view of the Polish-German and Polish–Russian relations in the spirit of the Encyclic of John XXIII – Pacem in terris. A particular significance on this field posses the document of the Polish Catholic Church, the letter of the Polish bishops of November 18, 1965 addressed to their German episcopal brothers. Among those who had signed the document were: Cardinal Stephan Wyszyński and the bishop of Cracow – Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II. While preparing celebration of one thousand anniversary of baptism of Poland and the Polish State, Polish bishops, in the name of the Polish people, decided to initiate a reconciliation process with Germans. There was in the letter a famous sentence: “we forgive and we ask for forgiveness”; this referred to all kind of injustice in the past, which took place among those two nations. Polish Communist State authorities used the letter, and in the particular the just mentioned sentence, as a pretext to sharply attack the Polish bishops. The letter itself, later on called a Message, nonetheless incomplete understanding from the side of the German bishops – had initiated a radical change in the Polish-German relations. The second analyzed in the article document is a Common Message to the Nations of Poland and Russia of August 17, 2012 of the Polish Catholic Church in Poland and the Russian Orthodox Church. The intent of the Message is a dialog and reconciliation. Nonetheless the document is formulated in quite general terms, the Pope Benedict XVI in his speech to the diplomatic corps January 7, 2013 called it: “a strong signal given by believers for the improvement of relations between the Russian and the Polish peoples”.

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