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Later in the day, John Paul used the emotionally charged word solidarity for the first time. He was not referring directly to the banned trade union. Instead, he thanked his compatriots for their "solidarity" in aiding those "interned, imprisoned, dismissed from work." But the meaning was clear enough to the 750,000 young people who had gathered for a special Mass. They applauded loudly and waved red and white handkerchiefs. Speaking from a floodlit altar atop the huge stone ramparts of the monastery, the Pope told his youthful listeners to remember that the Virgin Mary understood "your sense of injustice and humiliation and the lack of prospects for the future." Then he issued a gentle but firm challenge to the state. "Man," he said, "cannot remain without a way out."
If the outspoken Pontiff put the Jaruzelski government through some anxious hours during his first days in Poland, more trouble lies ahead this week. On Monday the Pope visits Poznan and Katowice, an industrial city where steelworkers and coal miners put up stiff resistance to martial law. Then John Paul moves on to Wroclaw, scene of some of the most violent clashes between Solidarity demonstrators and riot police. His trip will end with a sentimental return to his home town of Cracow.
Western governments are reluctant to link a religious pilgrimage to East-West diplomacy, but the papal visit will doubtless prove a pivotal event in shaping the alliance's attitudes toward Poland. Support for the economic sanctions that were imposed after the military crackdown has been eroding slowly but inexorably. The West German government argues that trade restrictions have not influenced Jaruzelski's policies and that, if anything, they could further diminish what little leverage the West had. In Italy, business with Poland goes on as usual. Even U.S. diplomats feel uneasy about the continuing deadlock and have quietly dropped their demand that Solidarity be restored. Said U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz earlier this month: "Everyone is watching the Pope's visit to see if it will have any sense of change that has a lasting component in it."
As Jaruzelski reminded John Paul at Belvedere Palace, the Polish government has been waiting for the right moment to end martial law, which was only suspended last December. Before the Pope's arrival, officials in Warsaw were hinting privately that July 22, Poland's National Day, could be a propitious time for such a gesture. They also held out the hope that on that day the government might declare a general amnesty and release some of the 200 people that it claims are still in detention for martial law violations. Ironically, last week's upsurge of support for the banned union may make it more difficult for Jaruzelski to ease the pressure on his countrymen.
The Soviet news agency TASS reported John Paul's pilgrimage without mentioning the Solidarity demonstrations, saying only that the visit was of a "religious character." But Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko stressed in a speech to the Supreme Soviet