Walka kardynała Wojtyły o katedralną procesję Bożego Ciała na Rynek krakowski (w świetle materiałów Służby Bezpieczeństwa)
Cardinal Wojtyla's Battle for the Corpus Christi Procession from the Wawel Hill to the Market Square (in the Light of the Security Service Documents)

Summary/Abstract: The solemn procession of Corpus Christi in Krakow took place continuously since the fourteenth century. It would set out from Wawel Cathedral and finish at the Market Square. The German Nazi occupying forces forbade its organization in 1940. The procession did not resume immediately after the war, and growing persecution against the Church prevented it almost completely. The political and social situation in Poland, changing slowly but steadily, brought hope for change in the state authorities’ attitude towards religion. Requests for permission for the celebration of the traditional main procession from the cathedral to the Market Square, directed by the Church authorities to the state authorities, even those in Warsaw, were met with systematic and uncompromising refusals. The attempts at a justification of such a state of affairs were vague, convoluted, and dishonest. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the initiator of the idea of restoring the traditional procession, began an uneven fight with the state authorities, using the methods of the Security Service. He presented logical arguments, and appealed especially to universal human rights. It did not bring the expected results, so he included an increasing number of the clergy and the faithful into the fight, moving the battle onto the verbal plane of public space. Although Wojtyła did partially succeed to force the authorities to agree to the procession, the Cardinal did not manage to achieve his goal fully during his tenure in Krakow. It was only several months after his election as Pope that the solemn procession of Corpus Christi followed its ancient route to Krakow’s Market Square.

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