Cardinal Wojtyła openly opposed attempts to erase God from the depths of the human soul. This was the protest in 1976, when the authorities once again limited the route of the Corpus Christi procession in Krakow. “They were pointing out – he said – that I was raising these issues. How could I remain silent? How could I not write about them? How could I not intervene? As a Bishop, I have a duty to be the first to serve this matter. The great cause of man.”
Inevitably, he became a “black sheep” for the regime. And, the regime did its best not only to hinder pastoral activity, but also to mentally torment him. They were following him. He was under constant observation. He was given a sense of the ubiquity of the system, its emphasis, all its “power”. The Archbishop’s palace, including the Cardinal’s bedroom, his office, dining room and reception room, was filled with microphones in phones and furniture. We were very aware of their presence. One day, uninvited, workers appeared, declaring that the phone or electrical system had broken down, and then they used the situation to mount a wiretap. Sometimes, the Cardinal spoke with a loud voice so they could hear his opinion. When he had important conversations, he was leaving the residence and going to a nearby forest. When bishops came from abroad, he even took them to the mountains. Wojtyła was under constant control. Every sermon, sentence by sentence, was recorded and analyzed. Wherever he went, even far away, he was tracked by the secret services, who were always watching on the other side of the Franciszkanska Street.
With the consent of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”.
TBA marketing communication Publishing House. Warsaw 2007
