THE TRUTH ABOUT HISTORY MAKES US FREE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 17, 1999 (VIS) - Participants in the international symposium on Jan Hus - priest, preacher, theologian, reformer and Bohemian national hero - were welcomed this morning by the Holy Father who, in his speech to them, highlighted Hus' "moral courage in facing adversity and death, that has made him a figure of special significance to the Czech people."

Speaking in Czech and Italian, the Pope noted that this symposium will publish its results "so that as many people as possible will have an insight into not only a remarkable man but also an important and complex period of Christian and European history. Today, on the eve of the Great Jubilee, I feel the need to express deep regret for the cruel death inflicted on Jan Hus and for the consequent wound of conflict and division which was thus imposed on the minds and hearts of the Bohemian people."

"The writing of history," continued John Paul II, "is sometimes beset by ideological, political and economic pressures, so that the truth is obscured and history itself becomes a prisoner of the powerful. Genuinely scientific study is our best defense against such pressures and the distortions they can bring. It is true that it is very difficult to attain an absolute objective account of history. ... Yet this does not mean that we cannot offer an account of history which is in a very real sense impartial and therefore true and liberating. ... The truth which sets us free from error is also the truth which sets us free for love."

Concluding, the Pope pointed out that "at a time when many are working to create a new kind of unity in Europe, studies such as yours can help to inspire people to go beyond narrow ethnic and national confines to genuine openness and solidarity. ... It is clear then that your work is an important service not only to the historical figure of Jan Hus, but also to Christians and European society more generally. This is because, in the end, it is a service to the truth about man."

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