The first three encyclicals have highlighted the vision of the Church-community, a Church deeply rooted in human history. A church whose primary mission is to proclaim God’s love, His mercy and forgiveness. This vision, although clearly embedded in the Council, existed in his mind for a long time. Whoever will follow the theological and pastoral journey of Karol Wojtyła, priest and then bishop, finds that such a project of the Church has always been in his thoughts, assumptions, and intentions. The Council provided an inspiration which he was fulfilling gradually, based on the different situations in the Church in which he was himself. He did so throughout the pontificate, always moving forward, without hesitation.
Indeed, it is surprising how skillfully, soon after the election John Paul II was able to restore the correct proportions of post-council contrasts between conservatives and advocates of progress. He showed that no crisis situation in the Church is irreversible. He helped overcome mistrust, giving up, or, as he once described it, the “eclipse of hope” that was felt in the late 1970s.
The Holy Father involved the Catholic community in the great work of renewal, which entailed a deepening of spirituality, testimony, participation, presence in the world. Above all, the renewal movement has reached a mature shape in the great project of evangelization, which was not limited to missionary sites, but also turned to the West, increasingly tainted by spiritual emptiness.
With the consent of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”.
TBA marketing communication Publishing House. Warsaw 2007
