MESSAGE: POLAND AND UKRAINE, NEED FOR RECONCILIATION

VATICAN CITY, JUL 10, 2003 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to Cardinals Jozef Glemp, Marian Jaworski and Lubomyr Husar, respectively archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, archbishop of Lviv of the Latins, Ukraine and major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary on July 11 of the "tragic events of Volinia," the disputed region between Poland and Ukraine during World War II. An official ceremony of Ukrainian-Polish reconciliation is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

In the message, dated July 7 and directed also to "our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine and in Poland," the Holy Father writes: "Sixty years after these sad events, the need for a profound examination of conscience has been affirmed in the soul of the majority of Polish and Ukrainian people. The need is felt for a reconciliation that allows everyone to look toward the future with new eyes."

"As God forgave us in Christ, it is necessary that believers know how to mutually forgive offenses and to ask for forgiveness for their own failings in order to contribute to the creation of a world which has respect for life, justice, harmony and peace."

After recalling that during the Jubilee Year 2000, the Church "asked for forgiveness for the faults of its children, forgiving at the same time those who have offended them," he says: "In this way, I wanted to purify the memory of these sad events from every feeling of rancor and vengeance in order to go forward hopeful and confident in the task of building a civilization of love."

"The Church proposes this same attitude to a civil society, urging all toward sincere reconciliation. ... It is an urgent priority if the great need is considered to educate the young generations to confront the future not in conditions of a history of mistrust, prejudices and violence, but in the spirit of a reconciled memory."

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