The statement, posted on the Kraków archdiocese website, was signed by Cardinal Mykola Bychok, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś and Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The document was dated Rome-Kyiv.
The church leaders said they were speaking out because Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation affects not only relations between the two nations but also the credibility of their shared Christian witness.
"Following Pope Leo, we are convinced that the first step toward peace is disarming language on both sides. This applies not only to words but also to gestures, signs and symbols. These too can wound, close off paths to encounter and stir fear", the cardinals wrote, invoking the pope's description of peace as "disarmed and disarming" and his call for the common good to be built through language that is "clear, but not demeaning; courageous, but not aggressive; truthful, but not closing the door to forgiveness".
The hierarchs said they were observing with pain a rise in tension and a resurgence of hostility between Poles and Ukrainians, noting with regret that the friction comes amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, following a period of strong Polish solidarity with Ukrainians, and in the year marking the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ukraine.
They cited John Paul II's 2003 appeal that Ukrainians and Poles not remain captive to painful memories of the past, but instead look at one another "with eyes of reconciliation" while building a better future, and his call for Christians to acknowledge past wrongs and open their hearts to genuine, lasting conversion — a call, the cardinals noted, addressed to personal conversion rather than to settling scores with others.
The statement also invoked Pope Francis, who told World Youth Day pilgrims in Krakow in 2016 that there are two kinds of memory — one that glorifies God's saving works, and a negative memory that obsessively fixates on evil, particularly evil committed by others.
"By imposing on others a particular vision of the past and future, we submit to today's dominant culture of violence and force. Following Pope Leo, we call on everyone to take up the effort of thinking in terms of the common good, not merely particular interests", the cardinals wrote, adding that the Gospel teaches forgiveness as the remedy for sin and mercy as the boundary God places on evil.
The statement followed an extraordinary consistory held Friday and Saturday, a gathering of cardinals convened by Pope Leo XIV that drew 178 cardinals from around the world, including Polish Cardinals Stanisław Dziwisz and Stanisław Ryłko. Closing the gathering, Pope Leo XIV said "God desires peace for every nation and every people".
(jh)
Source: PAP