To the Polish Community in Paris (31 May 1980)

On Saturday, 31 May 1980, the Holy Father addressed the Polish Community in the Esplanade du Champ-de-Mars in Paris, recalling how important this city has been in the history of the Polish people.

My dear compatriots, Brothers and Sisters,

I am happy to meet this very large group of Poles from France, my compatriots living on the land of France, and others who have come from neighboring countries, because I know that they are also present.

God bless you for this presence at such a special time. This meeting was the need of my heart at the same time as our common duty towards our Fatherland. I greet you cordially, dear Brothers and Sisters, and through you I greet all the Sons and Daughters of our Fatherland whom fate has directed to France and united to it.

I therefore wish in this meeting to bear witness to Christ before you, I wish to bear witness to yourselves, dear Brothers and Sisters, and to all the past generations who have had to live, act, work, struggle and die here, in this land of France. And I also want to welcome this testimony of the past and your testimony of the present moment.

I said in one of my speeches that Paris is a place where you can see the whole world. I can say here that it is also a place from which one sees in a particular way Poland, its history, or at least, the great episodes of this one, very dramatic, where it is its destiny which was at stake, its "to be or not to be" on the map of the world. Dramatic moments that tore the hearts of the generations that lived through them, but at the same time moments that strengthened and, sometimes, also restored a sense of dignity. They consolidated and deepened the sense of national identity: they were an appeal to ourselves and to foreigners for the right of a people to exist within legitimate borders and within the framework of a state existence. 

The French people, who have always attached great importance to their own freedom, knew how to be attentive to others when they found themselves in difficult situations. It is also on this land, to a large extent, in this city, that our national reflection was elaborated, which was at the same time a reflection on the faith. And although these noble desires, these great designs and visions have not always been realized, it is here that, in many moments of history, our national thought was reborn and the contours of a new profile of the Fatherland and the nation were drawn. Here found asylum political refugees, patriots, thinkers, prophets, writers, artists. Here were born several of the greatest masterpieces of our culture. These facts are known, and there is no need to discuss them in detail, but how, at a time like this, not at least mention them? Is it possible not to evoke with emotion the Great Emigration and those who constituted it and who animated it? How not to talk about Mickiewicz, Norwid, Chopin? Excuse me for only mentioning a few. Is it possible not to recall at this moment that it was here, in Paris, that the Congregation of the Fathers of the Resurrection was born to provide moral support for emigration and build a Catholic Poland, according to its program? They all understood their stay in Paris as service to the Fatherland and to the Nation. This was the goal of their creative, political, religious activity and their reason for being. Here, in a climate of freedom, the Christian past of the nation, our Christian tradition have been preserved according to the needs of the moment, of a concrete situation. Here were read, so to speak, the signs of the times, and they were read in the light of the words of Christ: “The Spirit gives life. » (Jn 6, 63) And it is precisely this spirit that gives life to the man, to the nation, to the homeland that these men awakened, by maintaining, developing and creating the masterpieces of Polish culture, in the field of prose, poetry, music, art, by founding centers, libraries (the Polish Library in Paris, despite many difficulties it faces, continues these traditions and is an important cultural post in the West ), educational and religious institutions.

But it was not only in difficult times that the Poles took the road to France, to Paris. The creators of our culture, both great and less great, always came here willingly and found there the inspiration and the climate specific to their activity. Here emigration was morally reborn, deepening the awareness of its mission, in order to serve the Fatherland. It was so at the beginning, it must always be so, because the thought of emigration, its creative activity, its contribution to faith, to culture and to the development of man, of Poland…, of the world, are an invaluable and necessary complement. Without that, without this voice and this contribution, it is an essential element that would have been missing from this complex and difficult totality. And if Poland lives its own existence,

Forgive me for having mentioned only a few names, a few facts. There have been many other names, no less important. I carry them all in my heart, each and every one without exception. And not just the big ones. I am thinking of those crowds of your ancestors, simple, honest, courageous men, diligent in their work, who were obliged to seek bread abroad, that bread which their country had not given them. They found this bread there, or at least they had more of it than their own land could offer them, but it is also a difficult fate and hard work that has been their lot. They found themselves uprooted, strangers in a foreign land. By their assiduity and their honesty, they however gained there the confidence and the regard. Many of those present here carry these experiences with them. They are inscribed in your souls and on your bodies. It was first of all seasonal workers who paved the way for regular workers and who were at the origin of Polish agricultural emigration. So it was work in the fields, on farms, on plantations (the Polish Emigration Society had its posts in Paris, Soissons, Nancy). It was also the labor emigration, the miners of Polish origin, the factory workers who settled mainly in the North and there, in the mines, who courageously approached the harsh reality by thinking of the Fatherland and of the family, of the loved ones who remained there; they shouldered the burden of daily toil in the mines and factories, dreaming of a better tomorrow. Mainly in the departments of Pas-de-Calais and in the North, but also in others (Seine, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Seine-et-Oise, Aisne, etc.), there are currently many Polish groups, many of you there. And just like your fathers, you constitute there an important active potential of the economy of these countries, you participate in a considerable way in its development and its progress, in its economic and spiritual power. And this, according to the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “Take care of the prosperity of the land into which I have led you; pray for him to your God, for your prosperity depends on his prosperity. (29.7.) to its economic and spiritual power. And this, according to the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “Take care of the prosperity of the land into which I have led you; pray for him to your God, for your prosperity depends on his prosperity. (29.7.) to its economic and spiritual power. And this, according to the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “Take care of the prosperity of the land into which I have led you; pray for him to your God, for your prosperity depends on his prosperity. (29.7.)

I think of the generation which was thrown out of the Fatherland following the terrible events of the Second World War, of this generation which did not lose heart in this tragic hour of history.

I am thinking with gratitude of those Polish priests who, year after year, with sacrifice and abnegation, served and still serve emigration. They have the merit of having safeguarded the faith within the emigration. It was they who, to a large extent, ensured, despite so many difficulties and so many obstacles, the preservation of the identity, the language and the bond with the motherland, drawing inspiration and seeking support from Catholic, Christian and Polish culture. How not to mention here the Polish Seminary, rue des Irlandais, which, in its pastoral ministry, in the preparation of Polish priests and in the maintenance of the Polish spirit, plays an important role? On this occasion, I wish to express my gratitude to the Church of Ireland which, with such understanding,

I am thinking of all the organizations and associations for emigration which, in faith in God, seek and find inspiration for their activity. One of them, the Catholic Association of Polish Youth, is just celebrating its 50th anniversary. With particular love, but also with concern — because I know your difficulties — I think of you young people, of all of you, girls and boys, and I tell you what I have already said on many occasions to so many young people: you are the hope of the Church and its future, you are the hope of the world, of the country in which you live, you are the hope of emigration, of your country, you are my hope. Do not let yourself be undermined by complexes, do not cut yourself off from this strain that has allowed you to grow. Know how to read what is in you and around you. Know how to read, discern and choose. Integration is certainly an important and necessary process for everyone. Today no one can shut themselves up in their ghetto. You owe it to yourself to serve the country in which you live, to work for it, to love it and to contribute to its development by your own enrichment, that of your humanity, of what is in you, of what constitutes your substance, without disfiguring anything, without cutting the threads which bind you to the past and, through the generations, to those of your parents and the preceding ones, which bring you back to a reality in many respects poorer, more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. that of your humanity, of what is within you, of what constitutes your substance, without disfiguring anything, without cutting the threads that connect you to the past and, across the generations, to those of your parents and previous ones, which bring you back to a reality in many respects poorer, more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. that of your humanity, of what is within you, of what constitutes your substance, without disfiguring anything, without cutting the threads that connect you to the past and, across the generations, to those of your parents and previous ones, which bring you back to a reality in many respects poorer, more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. without cutting the threads that bind you to the past and, through the generations, to those of your parents and previous ones, which bring you back to a reality in many respects poorer, more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. without cutting the threads that bind you to the past and, through the generations, to those of your parents and previous ones, which bring you back to a reality in many respects poorer, more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love. more humble than the one in which you live, but how great, how precious! Don't let yourself be obsessed by too easy slogans, platitudes, superficial opinions. Read reality, learn it, love it, transform it and give it a new, contemporary dimension. The fact of knowing it and of living with it daily makes it possible to better understand oneself and others, to be closer to God through faith and love.

Man is the measure of things and facts in a created world. But it is God who is the measure of man. This is why man must return to this source, to this unique measure which is God incarnate, Jesus Christ. He must constantly refer to it if he wants to be a man and if he wants his world to be human. It is precisely to this fundamental and most important truth that I wish to bear witness by my visit to France and my meeting today with you, my dear Brothers and Sisters. Return to this truth, meditate on it and find in it yourselves, the others and all the things which constitute the whole of human life, of your concrete life and of your tasks in all domains. Christ belongs to us only insofar as we make his teaching, his saving message of love, our own. grow, fulfill yourselves in faith, in hope and in love. It is this call and this request that I address to you today with particular force.

And now, allow all of you, you and me, to turn our thoughts and our hearts to Jasna Gora, to the Mother of Christ and of every man, to our Mother and Queen of Poland, and that we ourselves entrust to her your families, your mothers and your fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, your priests and your parishes, your loved ones, the Church in your homeland and in the world, the France to which God has linked your life. With all my heart I impart my blessing to all of you here present, to your families and to all those who unite themselves to us in heart, in thought and in prayer.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana