“Across the Shallow River of History”: John Paul II and the Threads of the Enlightenment

Abstract

This article consists of four sections devoted to the various circumstances in which John Paul II revealed his interest in the literature and culture of the 18th century. In the first part, a fragment of the Pope’s speech to the Polish parliament on June 11th, 1999 was analysed. John Paul II then recalled the Constitution of May 3rd and, citing the slogans related to its adoption and General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski’s return to Poland, updated the message, one which is so important for the Polish consciousness. The second part analyses those fragments of the book Memory and Identity in which John Paul II talks about the role of the Enlightenment in modern European history and the ambiguous heritage of the Enlightenment in the 20th century. The third part recalls some of the Pope’s comments on the evaluation of literary works in Memory and Identity. John Paul II seemed to particularly value such qualities as artistic perfection, a literary work as a testimony of life, and finally, the deep, uncompromising commitment of an author to their faith. The fourth part indicates those works, created in the eighteenth century, which were, or with a high degree of probability could be, the subject of interest and acceptance by John Paul II, based on his preferences, choices and literary interests.