The Ukrainian case during the fourth pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland

Abstract

The article presents the 4th pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Poland as a visit of a head of state – the Holy See – to Poland, with respect to the pope’s Eastern-European policy: towards the collapsing USSR, Ukraine and the Ukrainians and Polish-Ukrainian relations.

The analysis takes accout of Ukrainian threads of the pope’s visit in the context of his earlier Ukraine and the Ukrainians policy. The subject of reborn Polish state’s eastern policy was, in the pope’s point of view, a part of comprehensive Polish vision of policy in the European context. Sermons from Przemyśl, Lubaczów, Łomża and Białystok, as well as from Kraków in
August, during two parts of the pope’s 1991 visit, were a chain of statements regarding relationships of Poland and the Poles with their eastern neighbours and the role of Poland in the international arena in the context of the unification of Europe – this is how one should perceive the issue of Ukraine in John Paul II’s visit schedule.

The strongest political accent was the conflict concerning the Carmel of Przemyśl. It was not only a demonstrative refusal of obedience to the pope, shown by a group of catholics, but also an attack on his policy towards the USSR and the region of former Soviet domination.