VATICAN II AND POLAND 143The Public Relations of Primate Wyszyński
In Rome, Wyszyński resided at the Polish Institute at via Pietro Ca-
vallini 38. Meanwhile, the remaining bishops—including Wojtyła
—stayed at the Collegium Polonium on the Piazza Remuria. These
bishops were celebrities in Rome. Wyszyński may have been a
“solitary cardinal,” but his was one of the most recognizable fac-
es amidst a sea of nearly 3,000 Council fathers.54 Given his “cel-
ebrated status of primate of the strongest Church behind the ‘iron
curtain,’ ” the cardinal needed only to walk into a room to capture
the imaginations of Council fathers and journalists alike.55 As he
noted in 1962, “Everywhere I go, I must endure that Italian hissing
of ‘Wissiski,’ which is supposed to be ‘Wyszyński.’ These hisses go
hand in hand with applause and requests that I pose for a pho-
tograph. Che magro [how thin]—such comments are intended to
bring shame on those who represent the materialist [Communist]
order, for they attest to its economic inefficacy.”56
The Polish primate’s celebrity at the Council was largely in-
dependent of his extensive service on its behalf, both in Rome
during sessions and back on Polish soil during the intersessions.
Cardinal Wyszyński had been friends with Cardinal Roncalli of
Venice before the latter’s 1958 election to the papacy, so it came
as little surprise that the Pole received successive prestigious ap-
pointments: first, to the Central Preparatory Commission (1960);
then, to the Secretariat for Extraordinary Affairs (1962); and, fi-
nally, to the Council Presidium (1963), consisting of nine cardinals
responsible for steering the course of debate. Several historians
- Grootaers, Actes et acteurs à Vatican II, 326–36.
- Czaczkowska, Kardynał Wyszyński, 1st ed. (Warsaw: Świat Książki, 2009),
- Both editions are referenced throughout this chapter because, although the
second edition is considerably longer, it is also missing entire threads of analysis
that are present in the original edition. - Quoted in Raina, Kardynał Wyszyński, vol. 4, Czasy prymasowskie, 1962–1963
(Warsaw: von Borowiecky, 2005), 35.