- Anniversary. John Paul II, 'a true saint?'
- Losses: Pope John Paul II dies
For decades, long before he became the first Polish pope in history, Karol Józef Wojtya (Wadowice, May 18, 1920) was closely followed by his country's secret services . It didn't take long for the Soviet authorities to put under his radar that overwhelming personality priest who enjoyed excursions into the bush, sang Polish folklore like a nightingale, and had signed a foray into the performing arts.
The documentary Wojtyla: The Investigation , released online this week, provides a detailed look at the close espionage suffered by who, from 1978, would be John Paul II, who died in 2005 and canonized nine years later. "The Polish secret services gave him a perfect x-ray of his abilities," José María Zavala, director of the feature film that sheds light on the surveillance and wiretapping system to which the Pontiff was subjected , acknowledges LOC . "It is the first time that the archives of the Communist secret services in Poland have been accessed . Let us exhume documents and photographs that have never been seen before," stresses the writer and journalist, director of the films The Mystery of Padre Pio and Reborn. Padre Pio changed their lives.
The consultation of the archive reveals the zeal of the regime for the intimate details of the religious. Under the nickname of Pedagog - at that time he was a professor at the Catholic University of Lublin - the secret services drew up a tight profile of what would later become the Holy Father. "Under that name, he was investigated and defined as an intelligent person, with a great organizational capacity to lead teams and, specifically, young people. It was the objective that the communist authorities really had at that time, who feared that Wojtya was interfering with his indoctrination plans. He was extremely concerned about the new generations and lavished getaways to the bush with young people or kayaking, "says Zavala.
His documentary records the follow-up - including the control of his correspondence - based on the testimony of Stanislaw Dziwisz, personal secretary to John Paul II for nearly four decades, or Marek Lasota, a Polish historian and journalist who has shed light on surveillance. Wojtya suffered. "They began to follow him practically since the communist power settled in Poland. The Polish secret services depended directly on the Soviets," says Lasota in the documentary.
The genesis of that tackling - Zavala indicates - started from the suspicions that "Wojtya had documents that could identify the Soviets as the true authors of the Katyn forest massacre [the shooting of more than more than 21,000 people in the spring of 1940], attributed to the Nazis. " "He attracted the interest of the communist espionage network for another simple reason: he was a priest. The Polish clergy was considered an enemy of the people," adds Lasota.
The dossier of John Paul II, kept in the Krakow National Memory Institute, occupies a hundred folders. In its typed pages, there is evidence of the Pope's most unknown life . "They had perfectly recorded their schedules, customs and fans. They analyzed it to the point of wanting to know the brand of underwear they used, who bought it and who washed it. They installed microphones in all their private residences and subjected them to a continuous monitoring system for years, "says Zavala.
The scrutiny of his daily life did not cease during his pontificate either. In 1979, already elected successor to San Pedro, the agents took up to 4,600 snapshots of him during his first pilgrimage to his native country. The files underline his "analytical and synthetic mind" and treasure all luxuries of details: from the type of razor he used to whether he smoked; how often underwear was changed; or what cosmetics he used as well as his fondness for skiing or sledding. "There were priests involved in the monitoring, some of whom were not such and were infiltrators posing as members of the clergy to monitor each of Wojtya's movements," confirms Zavala.
Wojtya's obsession grew in parallel with his brilliant rise in the Catholic hierarchy, from auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Krakow to cardinal. Polish espionage came to invent an affair . "He had a friend who was a widowed mother with problems with her son. Wojtya was helping them. They made this woman's fake diary and simulated a house search where the document had to be found in order to attribute the romance to her. That did not prosper and was completely dismantled" replies the director of the tape.
The feature film, distributed by European Dreams Factory, also details the gastronomic tastes of "uncle" - as he was affectionately nicknamed by his youthful friends - and his more joking side. Wojtyla: The Investigation recalls the attack he suffered on May 13, 1981 in St. Peter's Square at the hands of the Turkish Ali Aca and reveals an operation to poison him. "Cardinal Achille Silvestrini confessed to me that, days before the 1981 attack, the British secret services warned of the danger of a plan to poison John Paul II, whom they intended to prick with the tip of an umbrella to inoculate the poison," reveals Lasota. "I was not so interested in the Pope but in the flesh and blood character. The most photographed, filmed and broadcast man of the 20th century," concludes Zavala, satisfied with his daguerreotype of the Polish Pope.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Stay at home
RedesBlas Cantó leaves Twitter after the harassment received from some Eurovision fans: "It is to be very mean"
MusicResistiré 2020, La cumbia del coronavirus, Agapimú ... This is the soundtrack of the pandemic
Television Survivors 2020: Fani expelled (Barranco, Avilés, Yiya and Nyno, new nominees)