Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa commented on TVN’s report via an interview with the Onet portal, criticizing how the coverage portrayed John Paul II. Wałęsa argues that the ruling party PiS is not defending him in the same way it now defends the Polish pope.
Wałęsa asked why PiS did not stand up for him, suggesting that the files collected on secret police informants, including Kiszczak, were used for political gain. He claimed the same method is being applied to the Pope, calling it a troubling manipulation. He emphasized that these documents had been known beforehand and could be explained, noting that with elections approaching there was nothing tangible to litigate, so the focus shifted to the Pope.
Quoting Wałęsa directly, he urged the opposition to stay quiet about John Paul II. He advised a calmer approach, suggesting restraint and quietness at moments when controversy flares.
According to Wałęsa, there is currently no direct attack on the Pope, but he stressed that the accusations against John Paul II must be explained properly. The goal, in his view, is to explain clearly and convincingly, though he also raised the question of whether such explanations are necessary for everyone to understand. His counsel was for restraint from all sides when discussing this topic.
In another piece, journalist Wojciech Czuchnowski of Gazeta Wyborcza follows a similar thread, arguing that the downfall of Lech Wałęsa did not hinder PiS, but the issue surrounding John Paul II does. Czuchnowski wrote that he tries to avoid commenting on the publication about Wojtyła’s guilt and noted that the starting point for many is secret service files. He has long warned about the risks of overinterpreting their contents, and he argued that labeling them as national memory harms both memory and the nation. He pointed out that in Wałęsa’s case there are claims of forged materials about his cooperation with the secret police, while over the years accusations level against John Paul II appeared much later and with a different context. Wałęsa himself, Czuchnowski suggested, spoke in a distorted way, as if counting multiple lottery wins rather than facing a serious issue.
It would be helpful for Wałęsa to clarify that TVN’s coverage was not orchestrated by PiS, making it hard to accuse the party of manipulation when it currently stands in defense of the Pope. Wałęsa did not take the opportunity to defend the Holy Father directly during the discussion.
Additional items in the coverage included a note about the Sejm Marshal offering reflections on John Paul II as a core part of national identity, as well as public reactions praising the Martian of the Sejm and their words about the late pope. Some readers responded with appreciation for what was described as sincere and powerful remarks about John Paul II.
Source materials connected to these debates appeared on platforms such as wPolityce and Gazeta Wyborcza, with various international readers following the conversation about Poland’s memory of its past leaders and the ongoing debate surrounding their legacies.
Note: The content above is presented in a broader discussion format, summarizing viewpoints from multiple Polish media outlets about the interplay between political coverage, national memory, and the legacy of Pope John Paul II. It reflects differing interpretations of how archives and public memory influence contemporary politics and public opinion.