Word: polished
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...Pontiffs tribute to the late Primate underscored how deeply Polish Catholics have felt the loss of Wyszynski, who almost single-handed shaped the church into a social force that Poland's Communist leaders can now ignore only at great risk. His successor, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, 54, a soft-spoken expert in canon law, realizes only too well that he cannot imitate the late Primate's autocratic style. Instead, he has tried to work in closer consultation with the church's 89-member episcopate...
...Glemp has come under criticism from some Catholic intellectuals and radical parish priests who actively supported Solidarity. They claim that he has not been forceful enough in pressing the Jaruzelski government to seek a dialogue with Polish society. Says a writer who specializes in religious affairs: "The church knows from experience that the only time the authorities listen is when the government is weak. Jaruzelski is weak now, and the more militant branch of the church believes it is time to set conditions for future cooperation...
With Solidarity no longer a third force in Polish politics, the church has once again moved into its traditional role as the only recognized voice of the disaffected and disenfranchised. Says Father Bronislaw Piasecki, Glemp's private
...Warsaw's Saviour Church: "Because the government is absolutely isolated from society, it feels that the church is less dangerous than a legitimate political opposition." But if the church is strong in moral authority, it is hamstrung by the fact that it has no legal standing in Polish society and must constantly engage in a cat-and-mouse game with the state to protect its interests...
...weeks leading up to the visit, Polish clerics and government officials have been smiling through clenched teeth, but the struggle has continued in the official press. Challenging an unwritten understanding that granted the episcopate more permits to build churches, the hard-line weekly Rzeczywistosc bluntly questioned whether there were not too many churches going up at a time when the nation could ill afford them. The Warsaw daily Zycie Warszawy attacked the Roman Catholic community on a different front, claiming that it was "morally ambiguous" for the church to call for a general amnesty while giving aid to Solidarity...