KMT 2023 nr 1 Download PDF

Tribute of the Highlanders as a manifestation of their communication with John Paul II

Cite: , Hołd Górali jako przejaw porozumiewania się z Janem Pawłem II, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2023( 53) nr 1, s. 132-148.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.53.7

The homage of Polish Highlanders was a manifestation of communication between the inhabitants of Podhale and the Pope Highlander. Undoubtedly, the tribute was an expression of honor and respect for a specific person, being an element of communication. Then the communication system becomes a sequence of different events taking place one after the other. It was such a great and momentous event that the Holy See’s spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, noted at the time that it has never happened in history that a civilian spoke to the Pope during the Eucharist. And it happened near Wielka Krokiew. Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, on the other hand, emphasized more than once that the papal visit to Zakopane would not have happened had it not been for the exceptional efforts of Mayor Adam Bachleda-Curuś. The world of Podhale chose this form of communication to emphasize honesty towards the Holy Father and make the world aware that if a person does not open himself to the reality of love and beauty, he will remain alone and close in himself. For this reason, the highlander tribute showed the compatriots the necessity of a circulation in which care for one another enables the promotion of the culture of meeting, and the Christian faith once again becomes a look at temporality through the prism of eternity.

About authors

Robert Nęcek

Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawła II w Krakowie

ORCID: 0000-0001-8576-9908