Pope calls 1956 Poznan uprising 'seed of freedom'

Published: 2006-06-29

POZNAN, Poland (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has paid tribute to a 1956 worker uprising in Poland as a "seed of freedom" that helped bring down communist rule. "Workers went into the streets of Poznan to express their heated protest against the widespread terror and lies, injustices and injuries inflicted by the Stalinist system," the pope said in a June 28 anniversary telegram. "I ask God that the still-vivid memory of the Poznan uprising heroes will inspire all Poles to build better conditions in their homeland on undiminished Christian values, on truth and authentic justice," he said. The pope said the "blood shed on the streets of Poznan not only by workers, but also by women, the elderly and children, was not in vain. It was a seed of freedom which was to bear fruit years later in the collapse of the Stalinist system and the nation's full independence." The telegram was read at an open-air Mass June 28 in the western city's Adam Mickiewicz Square.

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