Piotr skarga w nauczaniu Jana Pawła II w jego podróżach do ojczyzny /

Abstract

Summary This article is continuation of the writer’s research into the role of Piotr Skarga in the thought and teaching of Pope John Paul II. The results of the initial investigations focused on the creation of the character of Skarga in Karol Wojtyła’s juvenile drama Jeremiah (1940) were presented in a paper read at a conference on Piotr Skarga at the Ignatianum Academy in Cracow in May 2012. Now, having assumed that Karol Wojtyła read Skarga’s Sermons already in his schooldays, the writer of this article combs all of John Paul II’s statements for references to the famous 16th-century Jesuit preacher. Then the references are traced to the original and subjected to a systematic review aimed at establishing their structure and role in articulating John Paul II’s message for his audiences, and in a broader sense, for Poland. The article also considers other, analogous occasions when the Pope chose not to reach out to the Skarga armory, although he could well have done so.