Pope Supports Polish Strikes
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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope John Paul II on Saturday expressed approval of workers’ strikes in his native Poland and called for reforms there.
“Certainly, strikes are a justified method to defend justice in the social and socioeconomic and sociopolitical fields,” the Pope said, when asked about strikes in Gdansk and Nowa Huta.
He said the “heart” of the problem in Poland is “lack of a true democracy.”
“A fundamental change is needed, even a political one (to achieve) a society which is truly a democratic society, where everybody can participate . . . where their own initiatives, even economic ones, are safeguarded,” the pontiff said.
John Paul’s remarks about Poland, made to reporters on his plane to Uruguay, were among his most forceful in recent years.
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