Afterword

 

 

 

 

 

As a young man, Karol Wojtyla expressed an interest in drama, philosophy, and literature. All three of these endeavors have a common basis in language. The skills of the young man who was to become Pope John Paul II were finely honed when he learned the discipline of Polish letters at the Jagiellonian University in Kraców in 1938. In his autobiography Gift and Mystery (New York: Doubleday, 1996), he writes:

 

As for my studies, I would like to point out that my choice of Polish language and letters was determined by a clear inclination toward literature. Right from the beginning of the first year, however, I found myself attracted to the study of the language itself. We study the descriptive grammar of modern Polish as well as the historical evolution of the language, with a special interest in its ancient Slavic roots. This opened up completely new horizons for me; it introduced me to the mystery of language itself [p.7].

 

The Pope’s language skills were apparent from the very inception of his pontificate, when he addressed the crowd in St. Peter’s Square moments after his election. He spoke with an unanticipated fluency. On the morning of his inaugural Mass, 22 October 1978, he greeted the world in a multiplicity of languages. His interest in language is very apparent in the style of his Encyclicals, Apostolic letters, and other exhortations; most noteworthy was the Encyclical Dives in Misericordia (30 November 1980). It was filled with footnotes, some of which contained scholarly references to the biblical use of Hebrew and Greek words.

This commitment to language likewise is apparent in the many discourses which he delivered on his eighty-five apostolic journeys. These trips provided him with a large audience and many varying occasions to use his language skills. Very often he relied on Polish, French, German, Spanish, English, and of course Italian for a primary text. But he also made use of his familiarity with Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Portuguese. His charisma, however, rests not in the number of languages he knows or how well he knows them. Instead there is a special power contained in his use of chosen words which convey a theme.

In the texts which we have examined from every one of his travels outside of Italy, four themes predominate. “Solidarity” is the first that comes to mind, because of its identity with the Polish labor movement and the disappearance of the Marxist empire in Eastern Europe which it anticipated. Solidarity, however, has a deeper connotation. It refers to a sense of communion, of human community, that is, an existential bonding between persons that grows out of a fundamental need and a concrete expression of fidelity from the deepest level. Another concept, heard most often in the African speeches, is “inculturation,” the adaptation of the Gospel from a parent culture, which conveys the Good News to a society which receives and translates vividly the content of the Word. In 1983, the Pontiff coined a phrase during his visit to Haiti which originally applied to the Americas and specifically Latin America. This was the term “new evangelization,” a reinvigorated creativity and commitment to expressing the invitation of the Holy Spirit in Christ. In particular the phrase cut through the glamour of materialism and calls out those who witness the deeper dimension of life. Finally the Pontiff spoke of a new Christian humanism which embodies references to culture as the conveyor of human identity and to dignity which is the privilege and indeed the right of every human being. His references to history, to personalities, and to creative expressions of the self all underscore his profound commitment to supporting, sustaining, and expressing the significance of each human life.

The Pope is no longer the young man who went from Wadowice to #10 Tyniecka Street in Kraców to study philosophy and Polish belle lettres. His wartime experiences, the death of his father, and the “rhapsodic theater” events of those years gave way to a priestly vocation in which he encountered the person of Jesus Christ.

This led him to the field of theology, which is also the study of words and the profound concepts which they convey. Ultimately he became a professor of that subject. In one of his more profound discourses, he reveals the significance of his background, his talent, and his personal inclination against the background of his vocation. In 1991 he addressed philosophers and theologians in a large seminar organized by the Catholic University of Lublin. He was again back home among colleagues, and he spoke eloquently of certain words and their significance in human history. He speaks of Boho-slowie, the Slavic word for theology, and of Martyrion, the Greek word for witness. He then weaves the logic of his presentation of Jesus, the “Faithful Witness,” as the ultimate witness to the mystery of God. But witness is likewise a very profound word. A witness does not merely tell the event, a witness is also a part of the event and is therefore credible. By his use of words, the Pope’s talks are essentially an invitation to all his listeners, and to his readers, to likewise become witnesses of Christ, who is the ultimate event.

 

JEROME M. VEREB, C.P.