Pope and Polish Leader Clash on Human Rights

Pope John Paul II locked horns Monday with Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski on questions of human rights and liberty as hundreds of thousands of Poles hailed his third papal pilgrimage to his homeland.

In a spirited exchange of speeches at Warsaw’s recently reconstructed Royal Castle, the pontiff pointedly told the Communist leader to remember that the rights of man “are inalienable, because they are rooted in the humanity of each person.”

John Paul spelled out in detail the obligations imposed “on all those who exercise power” by the U.N. charter of human rights, then turned to the Polish leader and said, “I place these wishes in the hands of Mr. President of the Council of State.”

‘Waves Have Subsided’

Jaruzelski declared, just as firmly, that there will be no turning back from government policies that crushed the independent trade union Solidarity. Noting that Poland has changed since the Pope’s last visit, in 1983, when the country was still under martial law, Jaruzelski said that “the turbulent waves have subsided, the fires, many of which were ignited by alien hands, have died down.”

He conceded there are divisions and some bitterness in Poland but pledged to pursue social and economic reforms. “The line of renewal, reform and agreement is irreversible,” he said, adding that national dialogue is being expanded and that the government is committed to improved living standards.

The Pope, quoting from a document of the Second Vatican Council in praise of participatory democracy “in a climate of true liberty,” told Jaruzelski to “remember also man’s rights to religious liberty, rights of association and to express his personal opinions.”

“Every violation and each lack of respect for the rights of man constitutes a threat to peace,” John Paul said, speaking in calm, measured Polish. “In the name of this dignity, it is necessary that each and all not be treated as objects of the directives of the authorities or the institutions of the state. . . .”

While the two men were verbally at odds, neither was caustic or overly challenging. This contrasted with the Pope’s 1983 visit, when he sternly lectured a visibly ill at ease Jaruzelski on his moral responsibility to live up to liberalizing measures that had been promised to the outlawed Solidarity.

Neither the pontiff nor the more relaxed Communist leader mentioned Solidarity by name. Both were courteous and relatively subdued as they met on the Pope’s arrival at a small and orderly reception at Okecie International Airport and later at the castle, a museum that symbolizes Poland’s centuries-long struggle for independence.

Along the route of John Paul’s motorcade from the airport to central Warsaw, hundreds of thousands cheered and placed flowers by the curbstones. Although several groups waved illegal Solidarity banners and a number of people chanted the movement’s name and raised “V” signs with their fingers as the pontiff’s white, glass-topped automobile passed by, most of the people appeared to be subdued but expectant, waiting for the Pope to set the tone for his visit.

Many, standing quietly behind lines of polite church marshals and tough undercover policemen, contented themselves with chanting, “Long live the Pope!” and singing the traditional Polish song “Stolat, Stolat”--”May You Live 100 Years”.

Later in the day, a volunteer marshal from the Warsaw church where the dissident priest, Father Jerzy Popieluszko, was pastor until he was killed by security officers in 1984, said he thought the feeling of many Poles was one of depression.

“There will be no going back to the Solidarity days,” he said, adding that today “the authorities” are in firm control. “There is no hope,” the church marshal said, of a return to the expectations that Solidarity aroused in the Polish people.

A youthful observer of the papal motorcade said he is not as pessimistic as the church marshal but that he nevertheless doubts that this papal visit will ignite any significant public protest.

“He is meeting not enough with the people,” the young man said. “He is meeting with the people only at Masses, and there he must speak only of religion.”

On the opening day of his 1983 visit, John Paul addressed a crowd of hundreds of thousands in an open air stadium in Warsaw from which many thousands marched in defiance of the martial-law regime.

In contrast, Monday’s crowd reflected more the spirit of a quiet holiday. Shops were closed and streets were cleared of motor traffic. People quietly walked home after the pontiff left the Royal Castle following the Jaruzelski meeting, many of them eating ice cream cones and picking up flowers from the streets as souvenirs of the day.

Polish authorities had mounted an effort to deter any form of opposition demonstrations during the Pope’s visit. Hours before the pontiff’s arrival here, four Solidarity activists were detained in the southeastern city of Lublin, where he is due to visit today. Police also intervened to prevent members of a pacifist group, Freedom and Peace, from unfurling a banner as the Pope passed by.

As the official schedule of his first day home drew to a close, the pontiff paid a brief tribute to Popieluszko, whose grave and church have become shrines to Solidarity since he was beaten to death.

During Mass at Warsaw’s largest Catholic church, All Saints, John Paul quoted Popieluszko as saying, “Thanks to the death and Resurrection of Christ, the symbol of ignominy and of humiliation has become the symbol of courage.”

The Jaruzelski government has bitterly resisted the cult that has formed around the memory of Popieluszko, and although it did not immediately protest, it could not have been happy that the Pope quoted the dead priest. The government resisted Vatican efforts to include a papal visit to the priest’s grave on the Pope’s official schedule, but finally consented to allow it as an unofficial event next Sunday.

The government also had reservations about the pontiff’s meeting in Gdansk, the birthplace of Solidarity, with the most famous of its founders, Lech Walesa. The Walesa meeting, which probably will take place Thursday night when the Pope visits Gdansk, was also permitted on condition that it remain unofficial, so that the regime can formally turn a blind eye to it.