The symposium entitled “How Do We Transmit the Legacy of the Pontificate? The John Paul II Foundation Is Facing New Challenges” was part of the several-day celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of this Vatican and Polish institution. It was held at the Pontifical University “Urbaniana” on 23 September 2022. Not only reminiscing or recalling history, but above all reflecting on the present condition of the Foundation, its identity and future activities to undertake was the aim of the symposium. Members of the Foundation’s Circles of Friends, representatives of sixteen Vatican foundations and journalists were invited to attend. The following is a report on the inaugural part of the symposium. The next two articles will discuss the scientific session and the panel discussion.
Those who came were welcomed by Monsignor Paweł Ptasznik, Chairman of the Foundation’s Administrative Council. He pointed out that the symposium might not give ready recipes on what to do to fruitfully pass on the legacy of John Paul II to future generations, but it will indicate the directions that will lead to this goal.
At the beginning, the floor was taken by Adam Kwiatkowski, Ambassador of Poland to the Holy See, who read out an occasional letter from President Andrzej Duda. The head of the Polish state emphasised the Foundation’s role in maintaining the identity of European nations subjugated to the Soviet empire in the 1980s, the first decade of its activities. In a way, this work is still continued today, albeit in a different way, in the scholarship programme for students from the former Soviet Union. The President also drew attention to the need for ‘self-identification’, which John Paul II wrote about in his book “Memory and Identity. Personal Reflections”. Currently, this issue is crucial for the modern world, encompassing questions not only of identification with a particular cultural circle or moral code, but also anthropological questions, the identity of man and woman, or the understanding of family and marriage. The President wished the Foundation’s community to contribute by its actions to the realisation of this social vision, which John Paul II described as a ‘civilisation of love’.
In his speech, Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski also referred to the book “Memory and Identity”, which was published in the last weeks of John Paul II’s life. He drew attention to the issue raised in the publication concerning the Church’s maternal memory, of which Mary is an essential source. This memory concerns Christ, that is, the history of salvation and the revealed truths of faith. It concerns the truths contained and expressed in the Creed and the Apostolic Tradition. It also refers to man, his origins, his vocation, his elevation and his fall. This memory shapes the identity of the Church and determines her particular mission in the world. The speaker emphasised that these three features – christological, anthropological and mariological – constitute the theological and ecclesial foundation for the study of the thought and work of John Paul II and, at the same time, the Foundation should build its activities on this foundation. The Archbishop stated that its main task is to “inscribe the memory of the Holy Patron in the great history of the memory of the Church”. This should be done by bringing out the christological and anthropological significance of Pope Wojtyła’s magisterium in relation to the ideological issues of the contemporary world debated in numerous areopaghi, and also in relation to such issues as truth, conscience, freedom, justice and human love. The speaker stressed that this is a “great task” and “extremely important”. Further, based on this theological and ecclesial foundation, the “personal, historical, political, literary and other themes that make up the life and achievements” of John Paul II should be addressed. This foundation is not without significance also for the educational activities of the Foundation and the scholarship programme for young people from Eastern Europe. Archbishop Jędraszewski recalled John Paul II’s intention that Christian culture, including Polish culture in its authentic form, should become a bond binding communities and nations living east of Poland. In this perspective, the task of the Foundation is to build a ‘bridge’ connecting these nations. One can conclude from this statement that building bridges will be done mainly by continuing the education programme of young people run by the Foundation, although this is probably not the only way to connect the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Studying the pontificate of the Slavic Pope opens up various perspectives for building bridges between nations and bringing people and cultures closer together. It is worth emphasising that Archbishop Jędraszewski’s speech showed the primacy of ideas before practice, which should determine the priorities of action. A voice all the more noteworthy because the Archbishop of Krakow is the head of the John Paul II Foundation.
Federico Lombardi SJ stressed that during his long years of working at Vatican Radio and then creating Vatican television, he learned a lot from John Paul II. He recalled one event in 2003, when a broadcast was conducted from Rome linking the Pope to various places in the world. The Holy Father was impressed by the technological possibilities of television in connecting people. The speaker stressed that John Paul II appreciated the pastoral possibilities that television offered, although he was also familiar with the dangers. However, his prophetism was expressed by a long-term vision in which the elements of good outweighed the negative aspects associated with the development of new media technologies. The speaker then presented the structure and activities of the Vatican Foundation of Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI, established in 2010. Its objectives are mainly scientific and cultural. They consist in promoting theological research through the annual awarding of a prize, through the conferences organised or the publications prepared, as well as through the awarding of doctoral scholarships. They are not only concerned with research on the legacy of Pope Ratzinger, but aim to develop theology and its relationship with other fields of study and with contemporary culture. Lombardi gave the example of two prizes, awarded for several years by the Foundation together with the universities of Madrid (the ‘Ragione aperta’ Prize) and Toruń (the ‘Ratio et spes’ Prize). In turn, the speaker focused his attention on the possibilities of cooperation between the foundations of John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, pointing to areas of joint initiatives. These could include, first and foremost, showing continuity and coherence between the popes in their fulfilment of the Petrine office in the Church, as well as revisiting the teachings of the Second Vatican Council as a heritage from which they drew in their ministry, as Pope Francis also does. The above-mentioned areas do not exhaust the possibilities for collaboration and initiatives that are worth undertaking together in the future.
(Further report on the symposium in subsequent articles).
Rev. Andrzej Dobrzyński