A declaration issued jointly by Polish and German bishops to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II is to be announced today.
The document, to be released during a press conference after a meeting of the permanent council of the episcopate is the outcome of a collaboration of the two countries’ episcopatesis and will be signed by the chairmen of the two episcopates – Archbishops Józef Michalik and Robert Zollitsch.
According to the spokesman of the Polish episcopate, Father Józef Kloch, the document takes into account the present-day context of bilateral relations between Poland and Germany but is also directed towards the future.
Father Kloch reminded that is it not the first joint initiative of the two episcopates. In 1965, Polish bishops addressed a letter West German bishops in which they asked them to forgive and accept forgiveness. Strongly criticized by the communist regime at the time, it marked the beginning of the process of reconciliation between the two nations. (di)