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Former Polish President Pays Tribute to Fellow Leading Fighter Against Communism Rome, April 29, 2014 (Zenit.org) Lech Walesa | 488 hits

Former Polish President Lech Walesa who, together with St. John Paul II, led the fight against Soviet Communism, spoke at a Rome dinner April 25th held in honor of Sts. John Paul II and John XXIII. The dinner was hosted by Newsmax Media.

Here below we publish the transcribed text of his speech:

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"When I was involved in my opposition and fight against communism, we all fought against more than 200,000 Soviet troops permanently based on Polish territory and over a million Soviet troops in the surrounding satellite countries, plus nuclear silos as well

At the same time, it was whispered into our ears that we stood no chance whatsoever of changing that status quo. The communist regime never allowed us to integrate or get together. Whenever there was any attempt by dissidents and those opposed to the regime to get together, we would always be split and fragmented.

You may still remember the reality back then that no one really believed there was any chance whatsoever to overcome that situation in the world. I personally had the opportunity to consult all the big leaders of the world at that time: presidents, prime ministers and even some kings. And none of them not even a single one claimed there was the least of chance of changing the status quo other than through a nuclear war.

Why are we looking back at that situation now? Simply because when we raise the issue of globalization or of European integration, we also hear voices of objection against those projects. When we were involved in the struggle against communism, as the end of the second millennium of Christianity was approaching, the world was totally helpless in the face of this reality.

We felt so helpless, even with the gift of a Polish Pope who actually broke down barriers in people. But a year after his election to the papacy, he came to Poland and I wonder whether you still recall the images of those events. We had almost all the Polish people flock, coming from all over the country, to meet him almost all of them. And the world was amazed to see a supposedly communist country praying so fervently to the extent that even the secret police and the communists learned how to cross themselves. They never learned the proper words [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen], so they would be saying one, two, three, four, five.

But we were totally amazed seeing them do these things and we had to come to realize that they couldnt be true communists, and we were no longer scared of them. We had a Holy Father calling us to pray, of course, but on that occasion we didnt realize we were so many [who prayed]. Previously, we had heard there were few opponents to the regime and suddenly we realized there really were very few communists. Had it not been the Holy Father we would never have integrated, we would never have been able to realize we were so many. And once we suddenly saw how many we were, that really gave us confidence. Also the dissident movement already in existence in Poland, although not very big, was able to lead those crowds towards victory.

More here:
Lech Walesa: St. John Paul II is Torch to Light Our Future