There was already a war in the Persian Gulf. Then a sudden, unexpected, terrible attack on September 11 at the World Trade Center, the outbreak of a new murderous terrorism on a planetary scale. And immediately the United States ‘response’ against Afghanistan, culminating in real slaughter. And finally, the second war in Iraq, even more unnecessary and unjust than the first. The Holy Father certainly did not excuse terrorism. And all the more he could not condemn the terrorism he intended to kill in the name of God himself. For him it was real blasphemy. But he also tried to get to the sources of this terrible phenomenon. He believed that one of the motives of the violent reaction of the Arab world is poverty, so terrible, so widespread, as well as the negligible opportunity for education and cultural development of these societies. For him, the attack on the World Trade Center in New York was a real blow. When he found out about it, when he saw it on TV, he went to the chapel, prayed long for the victims, for the poor and innocent victims. But then, when the war in Iraq broke out, when there were thousands of other equally innocent victims, among them very many children, John Paul II expressed deep feelings not only of God’s people, but of collective consciousness and he strongly opposed this conflict, rejecting even the slightest legality. I remember him saying, worried, “How can you think this is right ?!”
With the consent of Fr. Card. Stanisław Dziwisz – “At the side of the Saint”
Publisher – St. Stanisława BM. Krakow 2013
