The purpose of this article is to present the role of Pope John Paul II in the overthrow of the Communist system in Central Europe based primarily on the scientific literature on the subject and the published documents. The author’s attention is focused, for obvious reasons, on Poland, as well as on neighbouring countries with a significant number of Catholics within their borders: Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Republic of Lithuania within the Soviet Union. John Paul II’s visit to the People’s Republic of Poland on 2–10 June 1979 went down in history as “nine days that changed the world”. The pilgrimage was the catalyst for changes in social awareness in Poland, leading to the creation of Solidarity in 1980. In the following years, the pope sustained the spirit of resistance in Polish society during the harsh period of martial law and beyond. Under his inspiration, the church played a mediating role in the 1989 Round Table talks between the authorities and the opposition. The election of Karol Wojtyła, a cardinal from a neighbouring country, and the subsequent activities of the new pope had a profound impact on the revival of the religious life of Catholics in Czechoslovakia and Lithuania. Breaking the barrier of fear resulted in more substantial involvement of Catholics in opposition activities. The revival of the Church in Hungary was less successful, but the personality and teaching of John Paul II encouraged Catholics in that country, too, in opposition activities against the Communist regime.

[1] George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (Harper Perennial, 2004), 281.

[2] Václav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless,” in Havel et al., The Power of the Powerless. Citizens against the State in Central-Eastern Europe (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1990), 25–31.

[3] Andrzej Friszke, Czas KOR-u. Jacek Kuroń a geneza Solidarności [Time of KOR. Jacek Kuroń and the genesis of Solidarity] (Kraków: Znak 2011), 333.

[4] Wanda Półtawska, Beskidzkie rekolekcje. Dzieje przyjaźni księdza Karola Wojtyły z rodziną Półtawskich [Beskidzkie Retreat. The story of Father Karol Wojtyla's friendship with the Półtawski family] (Częstochowa: Edycja Świętego Pawła, 2008), 348.

[5] National Archive in Prague (hereafter NAP), fund: ÚV KSČ - Gustáv Husák, karton 1457: Informace ke zvolení polského kardinála Wojtyly papežem, 19 X 1978 [Information on the election of Polish Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope, 19 X 1978]; Další informace o ohlasu na volbu kardinála Wojtyly papežem, 20 X 1978 [Further information on the response to the election of Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope, 20 X 1978].

[6] George Weigel, The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 175.

[7] Łukasz Kamiński, Petr Blažek and Grzegorz Majewski, Ponad granicami. Historia Solidarności Polsko-Czechosłowackiej [Beyond Borders. A History of Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity] (Wrocław: Ośrodek “Pamięć i Przyszłość”, 2019), 145.

[8] Paweł Wołowski and Katarzyna Korzeniewska, Jak służąc Panu Bogu przechytrzyć KGB. Rozmowy z twórcami “Kroniki Kościoła Katolickiego na Litwie” [How serving the Lord God outsmarts the KGB. Interviews with the authors of the “Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania”] (Warszawa: Rhetos, 2006), 71.

[9] Arūnas Streikus, Sovietų valdžios antibažnytinė politik Lietuvoje (1944–1990) [Anti-church policies of the Soviet government in Lithuania (1944-1990)] (Vilnius, 2002), 288–92.

[10] Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB (New York: Basic Books. 1999), 269.

[11] Ibid., 509.

[12] Felix Corley, “Soviet Reaction to the Election of Pope John Paul II”, Religion, State and Society 22, no. 1 (1991): 41.

[13] Hungarian National Archives in Budapest (hereafter HNAB), Ministry of Foreign Afairs (XIX) fund, box 24, file XIX-A-21-c-1 (22 October, 1979).

[14] NAP, fund: ÚV KSČ - Gustáv Husák, karton 1457: Vatikán, Katolická církev má nového papeže, nedatované [Vatican City, Catholic Church has a new pope, undated].

[15] NAP, Ibid., Informace ke zvolení polského kardinála Wojtyly papežem, 19 X 1978 [Information on the election of Polish Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope, 19 X 1978]; Další informace o ohlasu na volbu kardinála Wojtyly papežem, 20 X 1978 [Further information on the response to the election of Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope, 20 X 1978].

[16] For more on this topic, see Mirosław Szumiło, “Tajne święcenie słowackich i czeskich księży w Polsce (1958–1989)” [Secret ordination of Slovak and Czech priests in Poland (1958-1989)], Saeceulu Christianum 1, no. 28 (2021): 208–220.

[17] Arūnas Streikus, “Between the Vatican and Moscow: The Lithuanian Imprint on the Death Throes of the Soviet Union (1979–1989),” Church History 91, no. 1 (March 2022): 104.

[18] Bernard Lecomte, La Vérité l’emportera toujours sur le mensonge. Comment le pape a vaincu le communism (Paris: J. C. Lattés, 1991), 95.

[19] Corley, “Soviet Reaction to the Election of Pope John Paul II,” 49.

[20] Nadezhda Beliakova and Viktor Bilotas, “The Election of John Paul II: the Reaction from Soviet Union”, Russian Journal of Church History 1, no. 4 (2020): 12.

[21] Corley, “Soviet Reaction to the Election of Pope John Paul II,” 46.

[22] Zygmunt Zieliński, Kościół w Polsce 1944–2007 [The Church in Poland 1944-2007] (Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 2009), 202.

[23] Notatka z rozmowy Edwarda Gierka z Leonidem Breżniewem w Moskwie 13 marca 1979 r [Note from a conversation between Edward Gierek and Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow on 13 March 1979], in Andrzej Friszke and Marcin Zaremba, eds., Wizyta Jana Pawła II w Polsce 1979. Dokumenty KC PZPR i MSW [The Visit of John Paul II to Poland 1979. Documents of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party and the Ministry of the Interior, eds. Andrzej Friszke and Marcin Zaremba] (Warszawa: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, 2005), 138–39.

[24] Bogdan Szajkowski, Next to God... Poland: Politics and Religion in Contemporary Poland (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), 22.

[25] Zygmunt Zieliński, Kościół w Polsce 1944–2007, 203–207.

[26] Grzegorz Bakuniak and Krzysztof Nowak, “Proces kształtowania się świadomości zbiorowej w latach 1976–1980” [The process of forming a collective consciousness between 1976 and 1980], in Stefan Nowak, ed., Społeczeństwo polskie czasu kryzysu [Polish society in times of crisis] (Warszawa: Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2004), 272–75.

[27] Adam Michnik, Letters from Prison and Other Essays (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 160–64.

[28] Wstępna ocena przebiegu wizyty Jana Pawła II, zachowań społecznych i treści przemówień papieża, opracowana w Wydziale Pracy Ideowo-Wychowawczej KC PZPR w czerwcu 1979 r. [Preliminary assessment of the course of John Paul II's visit, public behaviour and the content of the Pope's speeches, prepared at the Department of Ideological and Educational Work of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party in June 1979], in Andrzej Friszke and Marcin Zaremba, Wizyta Jana Pawła II w Polsce 1979, 263.

[29] Sprawozdanie z działań Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych związanych z pobytem w Polsce Jana Pawła II [Report on the activities of the Ministry of the Interior in connection with the stay in Poland of Pope John Paul II], in Andrzej Friszke and Marcin Zaremba, Wizyta Jana Pawła II w Polsce 1979, 284–85.

[30] Paweł Skibiński, Odnowa tej ziemi. I Pielgrzymka Jana Pawła II do Polski, czerwiec 1979 [Renewal of this land. First Pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, June 1979], (Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 2020), 361–62.

[31] Wstępna ocena przebiegu wizyty Jana Pawła II, zachowań społecznych i treści przemówień papieża, opracowana w Wydziale Pracy Ideowo-Wychowawczej KC PZPR w czerwcu 1979 r. [Preliminary assessment of the course of John Paul II's visit, public behaviour and the content of the Pope's speeches, prepared at the Department of Ideological and Educational Work of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party in June 1979], in Andrzej Friszke and Marcin Zaremba, Wizyta Jana Pawła II w Polsce 1979, 264.

[32] Michał Skwara and Andrzej Grajewski, Agca non era solo. Sul coinvolgimento dei servizi segreti comunisti nell’attentato a Giovanni Paolo II (Katowice-Warszawa: Institute of National Remembrance, 2020), 415.

[33] Paul Henze, Spisek na życie Papieża [Conspiracy on the life of the Pope] (Warszawa: FAKT, 1991), 152.

[34] Massimiliano Signifredi, Giovanni Paolo II e la fine del comunismo. La transizione in Polonia (1978–1989) (Milano: Guerini e Associati, 2013), 54–55.

[35] Andrzej Paczkowski, “Rozwiewać iluzje klerykałów. Sowieccy analitycy o Polsce i Papieżu,” [Dispelling the illusions of the clerics. Soviet analysts on Poland and the Pope] Więź no. 7 (2002): 107–109; Felix Corley, “Soviet Reaction to the Election of Pope John Paul II,” 50.

[36] Doniesienie kandydata do werbunku K. S. W., przyjęte przez kpt. Vidmantasa Butę, dotyczące III pielgrzymki Jana Pawła II do Polski, 23 VII 1987 [Report of a candidate for recruitment K. S. W., accepted by Capt. Vidmantas Buta, concerning the III pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, 23 VII 1987], in Irena Mikłaszewicz and Andrzej Grajewski, ed., Pontyfikat wielu zagrożeń. Jan Paweł II w świetle dokumentów sprawy ‘Kapella’ 1979–1990 [A pontificate of many threats. John Paul II in the light of the documents of the 'Kapella' case 1979-1990] (Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2021), 100.

[37] Timothy Garton Ash, The Polish Revolution: Solidarity (Seven Oaks, UK: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985), 15.

[38] “Opracowanie: Pozycja i działalność Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego w PRL”, 7 I 1981 [Study: The position and activities of the Roman Catholic Church in the People's Republic of Poland], in Mirosław Szumiło, ed., ‘Polski kryzys’ 1980–1981 w dokumentach dyplomacji czechosłowackiej [The 'Polish Crisis' 1980-1981 in Czechoslovak diplomatic documents] (Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2021), 148–151.

[39] Maryjane Osa, “Solidarity and Contention: Networks of Polish Opposition,” Social Movements, Protest, and Contention, vol. 18 (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2003): 146.

[40] George Weigel, Witness to Hope, 401–408.

[41] Daniel C. Scotto, “Pope John Paul II, the Assassination Attempt and the Soviet Union,” The Gettysburg Historical Journal 6 (2007): 63-71.

[42] Michał Skwara and Andrzej Grajewski, Agca non era solo, passim.

[43] Ibid., 100–108.

[44] Rafał Łatka, “The Catholic Church in Poland During the Structural Transformation Period,” in Beáta Katrebová Blehová, ed., ‘Annus Mirabilis’ 1989 and Slovakia: from a Totalitarian Regime to Democracy (Bratislava: Nation’s Memory Institute, 2021), 304.

[45] Doniesienie kandydata do werbunku K. S. W., przyjęte przez kpt. Vidmantasa Butę, dotyczące III pielgrzymki Jana Pawła II do Polski, 23 VII 1987 [Report of a candidate for recruitment K. S. W., accepted by Capt. Vidmantas Buta, concerning the III pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, 23 VII 1987], in Irena Mikłaszewicz and Andrzej Grajewski, Pontyfikat wielu zagrożeń,100.

[46] Ibid., 101–104.

[47] Mieczysław Rakowski, Dzienniki polityczne 1987–1990 [Political diaries 1987-1990] (Warszawa: Iskry, 2005), 90.

[48] Mirosław Szumiło, “Reform or Revolution? The 1988–1990 System Transformation in Poland,” in Beáta Katrebová Blehová, ‘Annus Mirabilis’ 1989 and Slovakia, 274–75.

[49] Rafał Łatka, “The Catholic Church in Poland,” 312–35.

[50] Jaroslav Cuhra, Československo-vatikánská jednání 1968–1989 [Czechoslovak-Vatican negotiations 1968-1989] (Prague: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 2001), 104–107.

[51] Bohumil Svoboda, Po stronie narodu. Kardynał František Tomašek w boju z reżimem komunistycznym (1965–1989) [On the side of the nation. Cardinal František Tomašek in battle against the communist regime (1965-1989)] (Kraków: Wydawnictwo WAM, 2013), 125–26.

[52] George Weigel, The Final Revolution, 174.

[53] Paweł Skibiński, Kościół wobec totalitaryzmów 91917–1989). Światowy katolicyzm i doświadczenie Polaków, [The Church in the Face of Totalitarianisms 91917-1989). World Catholicism and the Polish experience] (Warszawa: Instytut Pileckiego, 2022), 534.

[54] Jan Hartmann, Bohumil Svoboda and Václav Vaško, Kardinál Tomášek [Cardinal Tomášek] (Prague: Zvon, 1994), 83–84.

[55] David Doellinger, Turning Prayers into Protests: Religious-Based Activism and its Challenge to State Power ins Socialist Slovakia and East Germany (Budapest: Central University Press, 2013), 102.

[56] Beáta Katrebová Blehová, “The Opposition Movement in Slovakia in the Period of Normalisation,” Remembrance and Solidarity Studies 3 (2014): 147–48.

[57] Mirosław Szumiło, “The Secret Support of the Polish Church for Male Religious Orders in Czechoslovakia (1956–1965). An Overview,” Slavonic Review 1 (2022): 114–15.

[58] Beáta Blehová, Der Fall des Kommunismus in der Tschechoslovakei (Wien: LIT-Verlag 2006), 116.

[59] Jozef Haľko, “‘Nemohol som k vám príst’…’. O pokusoch pozvat’ pápeža Jána Pavla II.do komunistického Československa” ['I couldn't come to you...'. On the attempts to invite Pope John Paul II to communist Czechoslovakia] Pamäť národa no. 3 (2011): 48–50.

[60] Robert Letz, “The Role of Christian Dissent in the Fall of the Communist Regime in 1989,” in Beáta Katrebová Blehová, ‘Annus Mirabilis’ 1989 and Slovakia, 515.

[61] Emilia Hrabovec, Slovensko a Svätá stolica v kontexte vatikánskej východnej politiky 1962–1989 [Slovakia and the Holy See in the Context of the Vatican's Eastern Policy 1962-1989] (Bratislava: LÚČ, 2017), 324–27.

[62] David Doellinger, Turning Prayers into Protests, 105.

[63] Bohumil Svoboda, Po stronie narodu (1965–1989), 185.

[64] Robert Letz, “The Role of Christian Dissent,” 541.

[65] George Weigel, The Final Revolution, 179.

[66] Beáta Katrebová Blehová, “The Opposition Movement in Slovakia in the Period of Normalisation,” 152.

[67] George Weigel, The Final Revolution, 180.

[68] Robert Letz, “The Role of Christian Dissent in the Fall of the Communist Regime in 1989”, 545–47.

[69] Bohumil Svoboda, Po stronie narodu, 241–43.

[70] Arūnas Streikus, Sovietų valdžios antibažnytinė politik Lietuvoje (1944–1990) [Anti-church policies of the Soviet government in Lithuania (1944-1990)] (Vilnius 2002), 288–92.

[71] Arūnas Streikus, “Christianity in Lithuania: The 20th century,” in Darius Baronas et al., eds.,  Christianity in Lithuania (Vilnius: Aidai, 2002), 155.

[72] “Wizyta Ojca św. w Polsce” [Visit of the Holy Father to Poland], Kronika Kościoła katolickiego na Litwie [Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania], no. 39 (July 22, 1979): 4.

[73] Paweł Wołowski and Katarzyna Korzeniewska, Jak służąc Panu Bogu, 47.

[74] Bernard Lecomte, La Vérité l’emportera toujours sur le mensonge, 344.

[75] Paweł Kowal, Testament Prometeusza [Testament of Prometheus] (Wrocław: Kolegium Europy Wschodniej, 2019), 349–50.

[76] Irena Mikłaszewicz, “L’Influenza del pontificato di Giovanni Paolo II sulla Chiesa Cattolica in Lituania all luce dei documenti dell’archivio del KGB della Republica Socialista Sovietica Lituana,” in Jan Mikrut, ed., Giovanni Paolo II e la Chiesa Cattolica in Unione Sovietica e nei paesi sorti dalla sua dissoluzione (San Pietro in Cariano Verona: Gabrielli Editori, 2021), 580–81; Bernard Lecomte, La Vérité l’emportera toujours sur le mensonge, 340, 347–48.

[77] Arūnas Streikus, “Between the Vatican and Moscow,” 115.

[78] Csaba Gy. Kiss, Harminc év után: 1987. Személyes történelem [After thirty years: 1987. Personal history] (Budapest: Nap Kiadó, 2019), 17–18.

[79] Miklos Mitrovits, Zakazane kontakty. Współpraca opozycji polskiej i węgierskiej 1976–1989 [Forbidden Contacts. Cooperation of the Polish and Hungarian Opposition 1976-1989] (Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2022), 54, 62.

[80] Új Ember [New Man] (December 31,1978).

[81] Krisztián Ungváry, “The Kádár Regime and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy,” in Martina Fiamová and Pavol Jakubčin, eds., Persecution of Churches in the Communist Countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Bratislava: Nation’s Memory Institute, 2010), 300.

[82] Péter Erdö, “Lo sviluppo della vita della Chiesa in Ungheria durante i primi 25 anni di pontificato di Giovanni Paolo II,” in Ignacy Dec, ed., Nowe Tchnienie Ducha. Kościół w krajach Europy Środkowowschodniej w okresie pontyfikatu Ojca Świętego Jana Pawła II [New Breath of the Spirit. The Church in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe during the Pontificate of the Holy Father John Paul II] (Wrocław: Papieski Wydział Teologiczny, 2003), 242.

[83] Krisztián Ungváry, “The Kádár Regime and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy,” 303.

[84] Ibid., 304; George Weigel, Witness to Hope, 372.

[85] Andrzej Grajewski, Kompleks Judasza: Kościół zraniony. Chrześcijanie w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej między oporem a kolaboracją [Judas complex: The Wounded Church. Christians in Central and Eastern Europe between resistance and collaboration] (Poznań: Wydawnictwo ‘W drodze’, 1999), 99–103.

[86] László Németh, “Le visite di Giovanni Paolo II in Ungheria nel 1991 e nel 1996,” in Jan Mikrut, ed., Sangue del vostro sangue, ossa delle vostre ossa (San Pietro in Cariano Verona: Gabrielli Editori, 2020), vol. II, 1392.

[87] Michał Skwara and Andrzej Grajewski, Agca non era solo, 435.

[88] Juan Linz, Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 260.