John Paul II’s Pneumatology of the Nations

Abstract

How to define nations’ pneumatology in the light of John Paul II teaching? Is the action of the Holy Spirit among the nation single and select or is it a part of the Mystery of Salvation and widespread activity in the Church? The answers to these questions can be found in the John Paul’s speeches and homilies made during his first pilgrimage to Poland and his first encyclic “Redemptor hominis”. There are presented the origins of the definition of nations’ pneumatology which is the Second Vatical Council. It calls for analyzing and explaining signs of the times in the light of Gospel. It was the Council which stressed the importance of interest in the Holy Spirit activity in social development and in the course of human history. These are actually the fields where we can find the bases of nations’ pneumatology and the observation of the Holy Spirit in the history of nations. John Paul II addresses these issues from the first days of his papacy. He points out that the Church originated in the Cenacle and through the Church people and nations are allowed to Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. All the subsequent gestures and symbols presented in the baptism of individual nations are just the answer to the most important act – the Pentecost.