Dear Brothers and Sisters, my Compatriots!
Our meetings around the Papal House in Rome and around matters related to it already have their own tradition.
In September 1981, I met with a group of people from the Homeland and the Polish diaspora, who gathered here to reflect together on developing an appropriate profile and on directing the work and tasks of the newly established of Polish Christian Culture Center in Rome.
Then, in November of the same year, I had the opportunity to meet – in the presence of the Main Commission of the Episcopate of Poland and Rectors of Polish Catholic Missions abroad – with numerous representatives of Polonia from around the world, who gave me a great, historical gift funded by compatriots living in exile, in the form of a wonderful House at via Cassia, in which they have their own brick – it should be recalled – also foreign friends of Poland and our compatriots from the Homeland.
I accepted this gift with great gratitude and the next day I went to the House offered to me to consecrate it, that is, to give it to God, so that it could serve people, so that it would serve the cause of the presence of Poles in the capital of Christianity.
I am pleased to be able to meet you today; you, who are taking a special part in the implementation of this important initiative. You have come at the cost of great sacrifices to participate in the solemn unveiling of the commemorative plaque on which your names and the names of other founders have been engraved: individuals, parishes, distinguished organizations and Polish diaspora communities around the world, which you represent here. You come from the United States – the largest group, from Canada, England, Brazil, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain, France and Italy. There are representatives of the so-called old and post-war emigration. There are veterans of the Polish Armed Forces abroad, as well as people who during the last war suffered a hell of persecution for their patriotic attitude, fidelity and attachment to the country from which their pedigree originated. Polish priests and lay activists are present here. It is a very eloquent and hopeful image.
(Speech to Friends of the John Paul II Foundation, Vatican, June 27, 1985)
Do not cease in this good work. Papal Speeches to the John Paul II Foundation
John Paul II Foundation & Center for Documentation and Study of the Pontificate of John Paul II, Rome 2012
