VATICAN II AND POLAND 147Wyszyński was so incensed that he complained personally both
to the French primate and to Pope Paul VI. As a result, a range
of French Catholic journals—including the high-circulation daily
La Croix—raged against Informations Catholiques Internation-
ales.66 Paul VI did likewise—much to the shock, among others, of
Yves Congar.67 In the world of French Catholicism, this became
known as the Affaire PAX.68
When they felt it appropriate, then, the Polish bishops had
substantial international resources at their disposal. In a sense,
the suspension of regular press briefings during the Third Session
made it even easier for the Polish Council fathers to craft a mes-
sage about Vatican II. When they felt the need, they could count
on a sympathetic ear on the airwaves of Vatican Radio as well
as a wide audience through the pages of Osservatore Romano.69
The Affaire PAX, though largely the result of a misunderstanding,
was also the high watermark of Wyszyński’s international visibil-
ity. Yet the bishops’ increasing self-reliance in matters of public
relations adversely impacted their dealings not only with PAX,
but also with Polish Catholic journalists from across the politi-
cal spectrum. Maria Winowska, in particular, rubbed those jour-
nalists the wrong way, and Wyszyński’s reliance on her alienated
them, with deleterious consequences for all parties.70
the association’s activities; “Le cardinal Wyszynski, Pax et les ‘I.C.I.,’ ” Informations
Catholiques Internationales, June 15, 1964.
- Wenger, “Remous au sujet de Pax,” La Croix, June 24, 1964; “Mise en garde
au sujet de ‘Pax,’ ” Documentation Catholique (1964), col. 851. - As the peritus noted on October 20, 1963, “when he received Fr General in
the month of August, Paul VI spoke very critically of ICI, which he accused of being
a secret and hidden enemy of the Church. On account of an article on Poland. Very
odd”; Congar, My Journal of the Council, 386. - Jean-Marie Mayeur, “ ‘L’affaire Pax’ en France,” in Le cardinal de fer: Stefan
Wyszyński, ed. Jean Offredo (Malakoff: Éditions Cana, 2003), 127–36. - Rutkowski, Polscy biskupi jako ojcowie Soboru Watykańskiego II, 285.
- For example, Zawieyski, Dzienniki, 2:199.