Belarusian Catholics Told What Pope John Paul Once Told Their Polish Co-Religionists – ‘Be Not Afraid’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 23 – When Karol Vojtyla visited his homeland of Poland in 1979 after being elected Pope John Paul II, he electrified that country by repeatedly declaring “do not be afraid,” words he had been advised not to use because lest they prompt a Soviet intervention but which, when he did so, helped to trigger the rise of Solidarity and the end of the communism.

            The words, of course, as all Christians know and as Pope John Paul II stressed in his first homily as the Holy Father are those of the angels announcing to the world the birth of the Christ child; but as he and many others also believe, they are also a call “not to be afraid” of those who seek to suppress the Savior’s message and those who accept it.

            That makes the decision of any senior Roman Catholic cleric to make these words the centerpiece of his message especially at Christmastime noteworthy and potentially fateful for those who hear it. That is especially true of churchmen in countries where the political leadership continues on a repressive course.

            Such parallels justify calling attention to the words of Archbishop Joseph Stanevsky, the leader of Belarusian Catholics, who in his pastoral message for Christmas this year put the angels’ message not to be afraid at the center of his remarks (catholic.by/3/news/belarus/18744-pastyrskae-paslanne-artsybiskupa-stane-skaga-na-naradzhenne-pana-2025-goda).

            Of course, Belarus is not Poland, and the Catholic church in the former is not in the dominant position that it is in the latter. But the archbishop’s choice to call attention to these words will have an impact on Catholics there and consequently make a potentially serious contribution to those who would like to see Belarus free rather than under Lukashenka’s thumb.