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Aleksander Smolar - A private audience with Pope John Paul II (188/201)

149 views · Published 20 December 2018 · 2:22 · Indexed 22 October 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2018 · News & Politics

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To listen to more of Aleksander Smolar’s stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFwlxPLurqAOCrabBgGrqLA7

Aleksander Smolar (b. 1940) is a Polish writer, political activist and adviser, vice-president of the Institute for Human Sciences and president of the Stefan Batory Foundation. [Listener: Vitek Tracz]

TRANSCRIPT: There was one more institution, which had a very significant role, that Krzysztof [Michalski] set up this time with Fr Tischner and that was conferences, meetings, debates in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence. They took place in the presence of the Pope [John Paul II] who didn't participate in the debates because there was a group of the most eminent intellectuals from Europe, the United States and often from other continents, too, and nor was it limited only to Catholics. There were people there… atheists, agnostics, Jews, Protestants… the criterion of a common religion was absent. The Pope didn't interfere in this at all. The names of those who took part were decided by Krzysztof Michalski and Tischner, mostly by Krzysztof Michalski. So he set the tone and there were volumes of these conferences published in different languages and to this day they are incredibly interesting and important.

The last time I saw the Pope was during a private audience. I think it was for the Institute's 25th anniversary. The Pope was already ill then. You could see the numbness in his face, that lively, smiling countenance was gone. He was no longer participating in the conferences and he granted us an audience. It was a special audience and he gave each one of us one of his silver medals. It's very lovely and I've kept it as a souvenir. I had photographs, too, although I never put them on display although it was quite the done thing especially among Poles who knew the Pope, but not only among Poles. But I never put mine up.

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