No Longer Poles Apart

By Richard N. Ostling

The step would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, when Poland's Communist bosses did not hesitate to put Roman Catholic Primate Stefan Wyszynski under house arrest, imprison hundreds of priests and nuns, or confiscate scores of schools and convents. But last week all that was swept aside with a long-awaited, historic announcement. Resuming a "noble tradition of many centuries," the Holy See and Poland have re-established diplomatic relations, declared the official church communique, delicately omitting mention of less-than-noble events during the protracted ecclesiastical cold war with the nation's leaders that began in 1945.

The pact gives the Vatican its first diplomatic toehold within the Soviet bloc.* The breakthrough is one result of a decision by Pope John XXIII in the early 1960s to launch a friendlier policy toward the Communist world. The negotiations that led to last week's recognition of Poland's Communist regime began in 1974. Throughout, Warsaw was far more eager for progress than the church, especially with the election in 1978 of the Polish Pope John Paul II. After Solidarity was outlawed in 1982, the Polish government became desperate for Vatican ties in order to win support among its devoutly Catholic populace and enhance international esteem. John Paul, however, held back because the bishops in Poland feared that their tenuous status would be undermined if the government could deal directly with Rome.

In the end, the Polish bishops agreed to the diplomatic ties only because Poland's Parliament on May 17 passed laws allowing religious freedoms that are unprecedented in the Communist world. Dozens of new legal provisions now guarantee the rights of Catholicism and other faiths, encompassing such matters as the church's right to own property, build churches, publish freely and operate charities. The Polish church will also receive compensation for buildings the Communists seized in the 1950s, and members of the clergy are guaranteed pensions. Most observers believed the timing of the decision strongly signaled Pope John Paul's approval of the events in Warsaw this past spring, during which Solidarity was recognized as a lawful political force in Poland.

The Polish hierarchy said last week that the improved relations "will open new spheres of activity for the church for the benefit of the whole society," as well as enhance Poland's international prestige. Warsaw's progovernment daily Zycie Warszawy declared in an editorial that the Vatican is obviously convinced that the changes within Poland are "permanent." In addition, said the newspaper, the diplomatic deal "is a confirmation of the range of reforms taking place not only in Poland but elsewhere in Eastern Europe."

That may be. However, it is far from certain that other Communist countries in the East bloc with sizable Catholic populations will follow Poland's diplomatic lead. The government of Hungary has restored some religious rights, and Rome has responded warmly, but there are no hints that these moves will be sufficient to forge a new diplomatic relationship with the Vatican. Rome's prospects with the hard-line rulers of Czechoslovakia are far dimmer. In the Soviet Union the enforced illegality of Catholicism in the Ukraine appears to present an intractable barrier. Still, when John Paul was elected Pope, it seemed just as unlikely that the Holy See would ever exchange ambassadors with Poland.

FOOTNOTE: *Other Communist regimes with full Vatican ties: Cuba and nonaligned Yugoslavia.

With reporting by John Borrell/Warsaw and Roland Flamini/Rome