免费日韩片_欧美成人精品一区二区男人小说_国产乱码一区二区三区四区_国产精品国产三级国产aⅴ入口_成人看的污污超级黄网站免费_欧美一级在线免费观看_成人午夜免费无码福利片_国产乱人伦偷精品视频色欲_aaa少妇高潮大片免费看_国产精品1234_亚洲精品国产suv一区88_中文字字幕在线中文无码_精品亚洲区_午夜九九九_国产av国片精品jk制服丝袜_色综合亚洲_亚洲成av人片无码bt种子下载_欧美色就色_精品少妇的一区二区三区四区_男人用嘴添女人下身免费视频

Poles hope new Pope will help Polish-German ties
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-20 20:45

Polish church and political leaders appealed on Wednesday to their countrymen to embrace the new Pope and see the choice of Germany's Joseph Ratzinger as a chance for further Polish-German reconciliation.

Commentators and ordinary Poles welcomed the election of Pope Benedict XVI, one of late Pope John Paul's closest aides, as a guarantee that the Catholic Church will stay the course set by their great countryman.

They also see the election of a German Pope as a chance for the two neighbours to overcome historic wounds.

"The election of a German Pope is a tremendous challenge for Poles. Just as it was initially hard for the Germans to warm up to a Polish Pope, now Poles will have to embrace a German Pope," Archbishop Stanislaw Gradecki told PAP news agency.

He said he was convinced Poles would embrace the new Pope with the same love they had for their countryman John Paul and several church leaders said Ratzinger was a friend of Poland.

"The Pope is the head of universal church, but in this case he is also a German and this should make us realise that, despite all the historic burden, we are neighbours and in today's world we should be good neighbours," Parliament Speaker and former foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said.

The two nations have come a long way since the 1960s when Catholic bishops in then West Germany and communist Poland made a first historic step and issued a joint letter calling for reconciliation between the two nations.

Berlin was the main champion of Poland's European Union ambitions and mutual political and economic ties have strengthened since the fall of communism in 1989.

But a recent spat over German claims over property seized in World War Two has exposed undercurrent distrust and sensitivities on both sides.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski also stressed the new Pope's role in fostering Polish-German ties.

"We express today joy that the mission of building a world of peace, solidarity and love, which was the guiding principle of John Paul II's Pontificate, including the reconciliation between the Polish and German nations, found in Pope Benedict XVI a worthy successor," Kwasniewski wrote in a congratulatory letter to his German counterpart Horst Koehler.

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
KMT leader to visit mainland April 26-May 3         Two Americans get jail for DVD piracy         FM: Annan's advice taken on board         China congratulates Ratzinger as new pope         Tokyo court rejects appeal of war victims         Bush, US Senate jerk up pressure on yuan	German cardinal becomes Pope Benedict XVI       Iran warns EU to heed proposal or face collapse       Canada unveils foreign policy overhaul       Rice urges Russia to improve democracy record       Insurgents kill at least 12 in Iraq       US senate panel delays vote on Bolton to U.N.