The Problems of the Polish Catholic Mission in France in the First Years After the II World War

Abstract

After the II World War there were about 600000 Poles in France. The article shows the problems which the Polish pastoral care had to deal with in this country. The author was at that time its organizer and head. He presents here the following subjects: the arrival to Paris from a concentration camp in Dachau of 111 Polish priests and seminarists, organized in 1945 in Paris by the Theological Seminary which still exists; aid given by the French Episcopate for solving the emerging problems; cooperation with the papal nuncio Abp Giuseppe Roncalli, the later John XXIII. The author presents also certain conflicts which arose between the Polish Catholic Mission in Paris and some French bishops. Those conflicts were connected with the Poles' pastoral care and the statute law of Polish priests based on an agreement between the Polish and French Episcopates in 1924. The author reveals the efforts made in the Secretaryship of State in Vatican intended to sort out those conflicts. These efforts were successfully concluded. The article presents also (in general) the charitable activity of the Mission during the II World War and immediately afterwards and the aid offered to the Polish pastoral care by the French Catholic organization "Oeuvre d'Orient".