Abstract / DOI
Catholicity and Nation: The Drama of Crossing Borders. The flare-up of various nationalisms urges a reflection on the connection between catholicity and nation. Unfortunately, the topic of the nation was not dealt with in the post-conciliar debate on contextual ecclesiology. The Polish Theology of the Nation is an exception to this trend. This theology not only inspired Pope John Paul II to his engagement in the global church across all borders but also the Polish bishops to gestures of reconciliation with «enemies of the nation». The letter they addressed to their «German co-brothers» at the Second Vatican Council and the words «We forgive and ask for forgiveness» have anticipated the reconciliation between Poles and Germans. Something similar occurred in the relationship with Ukraine. The transcending of borders that occurs in the ecclesial attitude of forgiveness among enemy nations provides an experience of catholicity in its most sublime form.