Taking the Long View

By John Kohan

The Pope continues his efforts to ease tensions in his homeland

Pope John Paul II returned to work in the Vatican immediately after his triumphant eight-day visit to Poland without even taking his customary rest at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. But if Roman Catholic Church officials hoped that the Pope would shift his attention to other areas, he made it clear that he still had urgent Polish business to attend to. Though the Pontiff had seen Polish church leaders in Cracow barely a week earlier, he invited a delegation of them, led by Primate Jozef Cardinal Glemp, to Rome. The unusual conference of Polish bishops added to speculation that the Pope's two unexpectedly long meetings with Poland's military ruler, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, had laid the groundwork for a new church-state accord that might, among other things, diminish the influence of former Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa.

Upon his arrival in Rome, Glemp confirmed that the church and Polish authorities had reached an agreement in one critical area. After more than a year of discussion, the government approved in principle a church-sponsored plan to set up a foundation to channel some $2 billion in aid, most of it from Western churches and foundations, to help the nation's 4 million private farmers.

Glemp, however, dismissed reports that the church hoped to organize new, state-sanctioned unions loosely modeled on the banned Solidarity movement. He also denied widespread allegations that the church wanted Walesa to retire from public life. Said Archbishop Henryk Gulbinowicz of Wroclaw, who accompanied Glemp to Rome: "Walesa is still important but not in the same way as before. Perhaps he will return in another way."

Encouraged by the Pope's trip, President Reagan hinted last week that the U.S. would consider lifting trade sanctions against Poland if the Jaruzelski government recognized free trade unions. But Reagan was careful to avoid mentioning Solidarity. Said he: "The Pope has urged the government of Poland to allow a free trade union that is not subject to government control. If they did that, I think that we would review what we are doing and turn back from some of those things."

The first signs that Jaruzelski is committed to gradual liberalization may come as soon as July 22, Poland's National Day. Polish officials have suggested that the government might choose that day to announce the end of martial law and perhaps even proclaim an amnesty for some of the 200 people who the authorities claim are still in detention for martial-law violations. Last week Jaruzelski set off for Moscow to attend the Warsaw Pact summit and explain the papal visit to Poland's worried allies. No doubt the Polish leader's strategy was to accentuate the positive aspects of the Pope's visit. John Paul's public show of support for Solidarity caused the regime considerable embarrassment, but the Pontiffs decision to meet with Jaruzelski in the final hours of his trip certainly helped to shore up the government. According to Vatican officials, the Pope and Jaruzelski even found certain broad areas of agreement and discussed the importance of the lifting of Western trade sanctions. The Communist authorities were also heartened by the controversy raging over what John Paul had said and done during a later meeting with Walesa, whom Polish officials now refer to as a "private citizen."

The day after the Pope returned to Rome, a commentary published in the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano bluntly noted that Walesa had "lost his battle" and would "pass from the scene." John Paul was said to be so angered by the editorial that he demanded the immediate resignation of its author, Father Virgilio Levi, the newspaper's deputy editor. Some Vatican insiders tried to blame the gaffe on a faction in the church's powerful bureaucracy that disapproved of the Pope's direct involvement in Polish politics. But by then the damage had been done. In a rush to judgment, New York Times Columnist William Safire admonished John Paul for "backing away from moral heroism."

The Vatican has refused to comment on the Pope's private audience with Walesa, as has Walesa himself. But TIME has learned from a senior Polish prelate that the meeting between the Pope and Walesa was kept almost entirely on a spiritual level. The Pope praised the former Solidarity leader for his prudence and urged him to continue to exercise it. John Paul encouraged Walesa to accept every future challenge with the spirit and faith of a Christian. Vatican officials insist that the Pope did not ask Walesa to step aside, but John Paul also did not promise that the church would support the banned trade union's underground activities.

Since his meeting with the Pope, Walesa has told family friends that his role would have to diminish in the future. That may have been inevitable. As the most visible embodiment of the high hopes of the Solidarity era, Walesa will not vanish from Polish life overnight. But it also seems unlikely that the banned union he represents will ever have the power to mount a serious challenge to the military regime. Says a Western diplomat in Bonn: "Solidarity today is an emotional force, not a negotiating body."

That thought has a logic that the church can hardly ignore as it tries to find a way out of Poland's impasse. Polish religious leaders have learned to mix political pragmatism with a healthy measure of hope. John Paul is no exception. As he traveled across his native land, the Pope was not afraid to use politically explosive words like "solidarity." But he sought to recast them in ways that would be remembered, and useful, long after the present crisis has passed. Whatever immediate gain the state hoped to reap from the papal visit, John Paul and his church have set their sights on the long term. --By John Kohan. Reported by Barry Kalb/Rome and John Moody/Warsaw

With reporting by Barry Kalb/Rome, John Moody/Warsaw This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.