VATICAN II AND POLAND 181en-scène for the faithful back in Poland. Turowicz, in particular,
graced his reporting with amusing anecdotes: on the one hand,
these helped his readership to understand the gravity of the pro-
ceedings; on the other, they offered much-appreciated moments
of levity. For example, in an article entitled “Daily Life at the
Council,” Turowicz wrote, “As is generally known, the debate takes
place in Latin, which is the only working language of the Council’s
plenary sessions. There are, however, exceptions to this otherwise
ironclad rule. Technical or administrative announcements, as well
as information directed to Council fathers, are often read not only
in Latin (by the general secretary), but also in five modern lan-
guages (by the undersecretary, namely: French, English, German,
Spanish, and Arabic).”173
The linguistic norms of the Council gave rise to a range of
amusing situations. Janusz Zabłocki captured one of these bril-
liantly as he chronicled the statements of plenary session chair-
man Archbishop Pericle Felici. The Polish journalist had a great
knack for finding humor in the Italian prelate’s difficulties with
“modern” Latin: “he has certain difficulties in informing Council
fathers in the language of Cicero of what hours the cafeteria is
open or where they can obtain commemorative Vatican postage
stamps. Today he had particular difficulty in exhorting the fa-
thers, in light of President Sukarno’s audience with Paul VI, not
to park their cars after a certain hour in the Piazza San Pietro.”174
In the end, the laity’s coverage of the Council, as well as the
networking pursued in its course, paved the way for ever greater
Polish participation in the global transformation of the Catholic
Church. Fourteen years before the election of John Paul II, ZNAK
activists joined almost 20,000 other participants at the 38th Inter-
national Eucharistic Congress in Bombay, where Pope Paul VI pre-
- Turowicz, “Dzień powszedni Soboru,” Tygodnik Powszechny, November 18,
- Zabłocki, Dzienniki, 1:561.