French Press: Successor of John Paul II Receives Enthusiastic Welcome in Poland

The French press is unanimous in stressing the enthusiastic reception of Pope Benedict XVI in Poland. "La Croix" reports that not only the churches and public buildings but also windows and balconies of private apartments were decorated with flags and portraits of the Pope, and there were flowers everywhere he went.

"Le Figaro" notes at the same time that "the crowds greeting the Pope along the routes taken by his motorcade were far thinner than those welcoming his immediate predecessor." French journalists remind their readership that this is in effect the first "genuine" visit of Benedict XVI abroad and as such is especially closely scrutinised by the world’s media.

According to "La Croix" one of the major aspects of Benedict XVI’s address do the clergy in the Warsaw Cathedral was the call to opening up to the missionary vocation and rejection of the "arrogant claim of setting ourselves up to judge earlier generations." This fragment of the papal speech is likewise stressed by the commentators of "Le Figaro" and "Le Monde." In the opinion of Henri Tincq, a leading expert on religious issues for the "le Monde" daily, the speech in the Cathedral "with exceptional sensitivity indicated all the problem areas and difficulties of Polish clergy," and the sentences related to the obligation of the priests to be experts on spiritual life rather than on economy, construction, or politics" can be as of these words regarded as one of the most significant sentences of this pilgrimage. The daily quotes at length the papal speech to the clergy and repeatedly stresses the clarity and unequivocal precision of the language used by Benedict XVI.

The French media are unanimous in the perception of the "integrism" and close ties with politics of Radio Maryja and the ambiguous approach to this radio station on the part of many Polish bishops as a threat for the Polish Church. They do, however, as "Le Figaro", try and understand the "uniqueness of the historical context " within which this radio station works.

French newspapers mention the visit to the former Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, scheduled to take place on Sunday, and its symbolic and spiritual importance. French newspapers stress also the historic dimension of the pilgrimage, which is not merely a sentimental return to the country of Karol Wojtyła’s youth," as testified by the Pope’s driving next to the monuments of the Insurgents of the Warsaw Ghetto, of all those murdered in the East, and of the Warsaw Rising.

Referring to the ecumenical prayer in the Evangelical Holy Trinity Church, "La Croix" observes the special importance of the words of Benedict XVI on interdenominational marriages, which in their family life may be "practical laboratories of unity."

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