Page 26 - Michael August 2021

u the Church of Christ in Poland during the difficult years customary, to pay homage to the new pope. When Pri-
of the Communist regime. mate Wyszynski approached John Paul II and knelt to
On October 16, 1978, Cardinal Wyszynski encour- kiss the ring of the new head of the Church, the Pope
aged Cardinal Wojtyła to accept his election to the stood up, kissed him, kissed the cheek and hand of the
Chair of Peter, telling him that God had entrusted him Primate, thus underlining his filial respect for him.
with the mission of bringing the Church into the third The next day, October 23, in a message to his Pol-
1
millennium. Cardinal Wyszynski wrote that day: “Re- ish compatriots , Saint John Paul II wrote, addressing
joice, Queen of Poland, for having given to the Church Cardinal Wyszynski:
her best son, shaped in the struggle and suffering of “Venerable and beloved Cardinal Primate, allow
our nation... The victory that Cardinal Hlond had pre- me to tell you just what I think. This Polish pope,
dicted has happened: it is the victory of the Mother of who today, full of fear of God, but also of trust, is
Christ to whom our nation has remained faithful. ” beginning a new pontificate, would not be on Peter’s
chair were it not for your faith which did not retreat
before prison and suffering. Were it not for your
heroic hope, your unlimited trust in the Mother of the
Church! Were it not for Jasna Gora, and the whole
period of the history of the Church in our country,
together with your ministry as Bishop and Primate!
Departure for Heaven
Being sick at the beginning of 1981, chains of
prayer were created to obtain the healing of Cardinal
Wyszynski. Following the assassination attempt on
John Paul II on May 13, 1981, Wyszynski urged the
faithful to no longer pray for him but for the life of the
Pope. Cardinal Wyszynski offered his life to the Virgin
Cardinal Wyszynski and Pope John Paul II Mary in exchange for that of John Paul II, which was
Our Lord had said in 1938 to Saint Faustina Kow- then between life and death. CardinaI Wyszynski died
alska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, that a great light a few days later, on May 28, 1981 (Ascension Day),
would come out of Poland to enlighten the world and of the consequences of abdominal cancer, after hav-
prepare it for its second coming. ing received by telephone the blessing of John Paul
If we have had a great pope in the person of Saint II, who had therefore escaped death. Wyszynski’s fu-
John Paul II, it is because he had had a great model neral, presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Car-
and guide in the person of Cardinal Wyszynski. dinal Agostino Casaroli, was attended by several hun-
dred thousand people. Cardinal Wyszynski was buried
During his first visit to Poland in June 1979, in War- in St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw.
saw’s Cathedral, John Paul II called Cardinal Wyszyn-
ski “the keystone of the Church in Poland”, thanks to
his faith in Mary, the Mother of Christ.
John Paul II publicly emphasized that he appre-
ciated the role of Primate Wyszynski. “A primate like
Wyszynski appears once every thousand years,” he
said. At the inaugural Mass of his pontificate on Oc-
tober 22, 1978, the cardinals stepped forward, as is

Cardinal Wyszynski’s beatification process was
opened by John Paul II in 1989. On December 19,
2017, Pope Francis recognized his heroic virtues, and
a miracle has now been recognized for the beatifica-
tion of the Cardinal Primate. Because of his great faith
and his exceptional role in the Church and the Polish
nation, he truly deserves the title of “Primate of the
Millennium” v
Thérèse Tardif

1 https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/let-
ters/1978/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_19781024_polacchi.html

26 MICHAEL August/September 2021 www.michaeljournal.org