At the opening of the third session of the Vatican Council Karol Wojtyła already appointed as the Archbishop, took his place closer to the altar. This meant a transition from listening to creating that is to active participation in deliberations and more frequent vocal contribution. This related, inter alia, to the content of Gaudium et spes, the pastoral constitution, one of the largest Vatican Council novelties. It has never happened before that the Church has so strongly and clearly manifested its commitment to people’s problems, to the fate of mankind, and was not taking a priori of the world as a rival, an enemy to be fought. Especially in this regard, Archbishop Wojtyła foresaw the arrival of new times for the Church, both Polish and universal. He was a bishop who was not afraid of the world and strengthened by the evangelical message he was courageously facing it. He was able to notice the important values of modern civilization. He believed that by appropriate targeting and sanctification, it could be accepted. And not only: in his opinion, it is necessary to take from it. There was still an important issue of religious freedom. Karol Wojtyła, due to the fact that he came from a country where he constantly struggled with the totalitarian regime, contributed significantly to the development of the discussion. His commitment related to the overthrowing the negative notion of freedom, limiting it solely to tolerance and to supporting freedom of religion, since it constitutes the fullest expression of human dignity, it is a law that cannot be disregarded or even more forbidden by any authority. The main novelty that Archbishop Wojtyła brought in council deliberations was to emphasize the central place of the human person in the deeply Christian vision and to open ourselves through the Gospel into the world. To openly defend human rights, especially the right to freedom of conscience and religion. His later Pontificate will become a synthesis of his experiences from Poland and those that matured in him during the Second Vatican Council.
Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”
TBA Publisher, Warszawa 2007
