US Press: Pope to Strengthen Faith of Poles

Benedict XVI arrive in Poland to strengthen the faith of the Catholics there and commemorate John Paul II, as well as pay his respect to the millions of the victims of the Nazi concentration camps; these are the main points on the agenda of Pope Benedict’s visit to Poland that the US press focuses on.

"New York Times" stresses at the beginning of its report that unlike his predecessor, the present Pope did not kiss Polish soil upon arrival in Warsaw, and he was not greeted as enthusiastically as Karol Wojtyła always was. Still, the Pope received a warm and cordial reception, and one 75-year-old Pole was quoted by the daily as saying that looking at him she "fell in love."

At the same time the author of the report Ian Fisher emphasised that "in this part of Europe memory of the past inevitably comes into play, which in turn has influenced the course and itinerary of this four-day trip," and that is why it includes a visit to the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where "millions of Jews" lost their lives during World War II. Although the camp was visited by John Paul II during his first trip to Poland in 1979, the journey to this place of the German Pope will be "something altogether different and even more dramatic," reads the article.

- Polish-German relations are another aspect of this visit. They are so fragile at the moment that the Pope will speak in public almost exclusively in Italian rather than in his mother tongue. Ian Fisher adds at the same time that ultimately the Holy Father came to Poland as a Catholic and that by his own admission "the most important issue we need to learn is to remember that we are Catholics."

Fisher further underlines that while during this trip the Pope is fallowing in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, remembered here not only as a national hero but in equal measure as someone who contributed to the dismantling of communism in Poland after five decades of its rule, it is not merely a sentimental trip, but one meant to strengthen the faith of Polish Catholics. In this context the article mentions the Pope’s words addressed to the clergy, urging them to bear always in mind their spiritual vocation rather than issues which lie outside their "job description," such as politics.

"Los Angeles Times" began its article-commentary with the news about thousands of Poles who greeted the Holy Father at the airport in Warsaw and who lined the route of the papal motorcade. Some of them later said that because of this personal contact with the Pope they have come to love him. The newspaper mentions then that the Pontiff arrived in Poland to strengthen the local "traditional Catholicism 15 years after the collapse of communism."

As other media, a Los Angeles daily stresses the special importance of the Pope’s visit to the premises of the former Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. While the newspaper points out that the camp was visited already by John Paul II in the course of his first trip to Poland in 1979, the journey of penance to this place of the German Pope has a totally different significance. Still, in spite of the bitter past of the present Bishop of Rome, he is highly appreciated by many Jewish circles, who manifested their appreciation for the Pope during the meeting in a Cologne synagogue in August 2005. At present these communities are looking forward to an important papal message that will be delivered from Oświęcim-Auschwitz.

kg//ter