By Dorota Abdelmoula-Viet
Reconciliation is born not from forgetting the past, but from the ability to face it truthfully, with courage and trust, while opening ourselves to sincere dialogue.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, said at the Polish Embassy to the Holy See during the presentation of a publication on Polish-German reconciliation after the Second World War.
Entitled “We Forgive and Ask for Forgiveness,” the publication takes its title from the historic message addressed by the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops in 1965.
It is the fruit of an academic conference held last year at the Pontifical Gregorian University to mark the 60th anniversary of that unprecedented event.
Forgiveness is born of accepting the truth about the past
Archbishop Gallagher attended the presentation and highlighted the contemporary significance of the gesture made by the two episcopates decades ago.
“The words ‘We forgive and ask for forgiveness’, spoken in a Europe still deeply scarred by the wounds of war, retain a particular power and relevance today,” he said. “They remind us that reconciliation is born not from forgetting the past, but from the ability to face it truthfully, with courage and trust, while opening ourselves to sincere dialogue, remembering also that, for a Christian, it is above all a gift from the Lord, as Saint Paul says: ‘In Christ, God reconciled us to himself.’”
The Archbishop stressed that the publication also invites reflection on the value of this witness “for the present and the future, at a time when new divisions and conflicts abound. It reminds us how precious it is to safeguard what has been patiently built over decades.”
He also expressed gratitude to the Polish and German Embassies to the Holy See for their commitment to preserving the memory of an event that made an unprecedented contribution to reconciliation in post-war Europe.
World needs courageous gestures of reconciliation
The host of the gathering, Ambassador Adam Kwiatkowski, thanked Archbishop Gallagher for repeatedly recalling the example of the Polish Bishops’ message to their German counterparts in his addresses.
“For us, for Poland and for Germany, this is enormously significant,” he said, highlighting the significance of devoting the final event he is organizing before returning to Poland to the subject of reconciliation.
“The world needs something more. It needs more courageous gestures and decisions capable of being ahead of their time. It needs a willingness to reach out to another person. It needs expressions of respect and gratitude towards others, despite existing differences,” he said.
German Ambassador Bruno Kahl likewise spoke of the urgent need to draw inspiration from the gesture of reconciliation made years ago by the Bishops of both countries.
“Reconciliation is difficult, but it is possible. Someone, however, must take the first step,” he said. “May this publication help awaken the relevant institutions and make the right people more aware of these values and this fundamental understanding, so that similar initiatives to overcome hatred, violence and war may also emerge today.”
Memory that heals relationships
“This book brings together all our activities connected with the 60th anniversary of the Polish bishops’ letter to the German bishops,” Dr Andrzej Jerie, director of the “Remembrance and Future” Centre in Wrocław and the initiator of the anniversary commemorations, told Vatican News.
“When we read its contents carefully, we can see the concrete fruits of our joint efforts to build good Polish-German relations,” he said. “Among them are the moving words of Knut Abraham, who said during the conference that the Wrocław commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the Polish bishops’ letter to the German bishops had contributed to the Bundestag’s almost unanimous vote to fund the Polish House and the monument to Polish victims of the Second World War in Berlin. That one sentence alone made publishing this book worthwhile.”
Others attending the presentation included the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi; former Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka; Father Marek Inglot, SJ, President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences; and a group of more than a dozen ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the Holy See. – Vatican News
