Glemp Arrives in Paris, Says Visit Is Pastoral
PARIS — Cardinal Jozef Glemp, leader of Poland’s Roman Catholic Church, arrived Friday for a 10-day visit that he emphasized was not political.
“My visit has a pastoral character,” he told reporters at Orly airport. “Even if I have contacts with politicians, our dialogue will be on a human, interdisciplinary plane.”
Church officials said Glemp is expected to meet President Francois Mitterrand next week. Mitterrand raised a political storm in December, 1985, when he became the first Western leader to hold talks with the Polish Communist Party leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski.
Franco-Polish relations were strained after authorities suppressed the Solidarity trade union under martial law in 1981, but they have improved slightly since the controversial Jaruzelski visit.
Church officials said Glemp’s visit was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Polish Catholic mission in France.
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