144 PIOTR H. KOSICKI
have rated Wyszyński as having been one of the most influential
Council fathers.57
The primate’s international celebrity carried consequences
also on Polish soil. In its conciliar coverage, the Polish weekly
Tygodnik Powszechny regularly highlighted Wyszyński’s comings
and goings in Rome. At the close of the First Session, the jour-
nal chronicled in great detail the bishops’ homecoming, with the
primate at their head: “Following the Holy Mass, the Cardinal in
a speech lasting more than an hour summarized the course of
the First Session of the Council, and he described the role played
by the Polish Council fathers. Following his speech, the Cardi-
nal granted absolution on behalf of the Holy Father to everyone
present, conveying also His apostolic benediction. Crowds of the
faithful, unable to enter the overflowing cathedral, participated
in the ceremony thanks to the audio simulcast in the nearby Je-
suit Church.”58 Back in Poland, in the three months that followed
the First Session, Wyszyński delivered over 130 lectures and ser-
mons in Poland on the topic of the Council, criss-crossing the
country dozens of times along the way.59
The primate’s lectures and sermons were not ad hoc initia-
tives, but rather part of a concerted public-relations effort under-
taken by the Polish episcopate already in advance of the Council’s
opening to shape the Polish reception of Vatican II. This campaign
involved a two-pronged strategy: personal contact with represen-
tatives of the Polish laity who spent time in conciliar Rome, either
as public figures or as journalists covering the Council, and pub-
lic events such as press conferences and lectures. In the end, this
strategy was unsuccessful—though not for lack of effort on the
bishops’ part.
- For example, Grootaers, Actes et acteurs à Vatican II; Luca Rolandi, Testimoni del
Concilio: Il racconto del Vaticano II nell’esperienza dei protagonisti (Turin: Effatà, 2006). - “Powrót Księdza Prymasa i biskupów polskich do kraju,” Tygodnik Powszech-
ny, December 23, 1962. - Czaczkowska, Kardynał Wyszyński, 2nd ed., 528.