Pope urges Solidarity union to protect Polish workers' rights

Published: 2003-11-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II urged leaders of the Solidarity labor union to protect workers' rights against unfair practices in Poland's free-market economy. The pope met with some 4,000 of the movement's directors and members, including former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, at the Vatican Nov. 11. His compatriots gave him a rousing reception as he was wheeled on a chair into the Vatican's audience hall. In a speech that he pronounced only in part before letting an aide finish, the pope relived the historic moments of Solidarity's role that led to the demise of Polish communism in 1989. Then the pontiff turned a critical eye to the situation of workers in Poland's capitalist economy, saying that the dignity and value of human labor was in danger. "Together with the market economy, new problems are appearing that painfully affect workers," he said in his prepared text. He said unemployment, for example, has reached "dangerous dimensions" in many regions of Poland.

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .