From the very beginning, from the moment Karol Wojtyla was elected, his pontificate was a time of change. After 455 years, a Pope who was not Italian was elected. The first Polish Pope. The first Pope to represent Slavic Catholicism. The tradition of the election of Italian popes was somewhat outdated and unsustainable. At the beginning of the breakthrough was the Second Vatican Council, which profoundly changed the image of the Church. The Church has undergone a profound renewal, no longer limited to the definition of being universal, while in fact it kept a purely European, Western character. He became a Church that put into practice its mission of being universal. It is worth remembering that a tradition that had survived for almost half a thousand years was broken. Some feared that this choice would cause resentment and prejudice, which could create an unfavorable atmosphere around the new pope. Cardinal Wyszyński himself was concerned about this. I know that he turned to one of the Italian journalists: “Help Wojtyla to love you …”. To which the journalist replied: “But, Eminence, at the moment of his election, John Paul II won everyone’s hearts!”
With the consent of Fr. Card. Stanisława Dziwisz – “Testimony” – TBA Publishing House, marketing communication. Warsaw 2007
