Pro Memoria, vol. IX (1962)

Author: Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński

The ninth volume of Pro memoria is the 1962 notes of Primate Stefan Wyszyński. The historical background is two events from the autumn, important for both the world and the Church. It is the resolution - with the help of Pope John XXIII - almost at the last minute of the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis. And also the inauguration of Vatican II. In Poland, meanwhile, important at the time were old and fresh phenomena in the relationship between the State and the Church. Besides, it was the first full year without religious instruction in schools and the first year of catechization in a network of catechist points, independent of the educational authorities. In the same year, Department IV was established in the Ministry of the Interior, which was tasked with extensive surveillance of the clergy. At the same time, the Great Novena was underway and the young Bishop Karol Wojtyła entered the ranks of diocesan rulers as chapter vicar.