Divine Backing?

Some religious groups, disregarding the principle of Christian neutrality, allowed the decades-long suppression of religion in Eastern Europe to push them into active political involvement. Commenting on this, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung notes that “the contribution of Christians in bringing about the changes in the East is uncontested,” adding that “their share is surely not to be underestimated.” It elaborates: “In Poland, for example, religion allied itself with the nation, and the church became a stubborn antagonist of the ruling party; in the GDR [former East Germany] the church provided free space for dissenters and allowed them the use of church buildings for organizational purposes; in Czechoslovakia, Christians and democrats met in prison, came to appreciate one another, and finally joined forces.” Even in Romania, where “the churches proved to be faithful vassals of the Ceauşescu regime,” it was the threatened arrest of clergyman Laszlo Tökes that triggered the revolution.

The Vatican was also involved. Time magazine commented in December 1989: “While Gorbachev’s hands-off policy was the immediate cause of the chain reaction of liberation that has swept through Eastern Europe in the past few months, John Paul deserves much of the longer-range credit. . . . Through the 1980s his speeches hammered home the concept of a Europe reunited from the Atlantic to the Urals and inspired by Christian faith.” Thus, typically, while visiting Czechoslovakia in April 1990, the pope expressed the hope that his visit would open new doors between East and West. He announced a planned synod of European bishops to map strategy to meet his vision of “a Europe united on the basis of its Christian roots.”

The Protestant Nikolai Church in Leipzig​—a symbol of the political upheaval in Germany