Pope urges Poland to protect spiritual and cultural identity in joining EU

Pope John Paul said yesterday he would give his native Poland his full support in its efforts to join the European Union (EU), but hoped the country would maintain its cultural identity. "It is right for Poland to aspire to its proper place in the political and economic environment of a united Europe," the Pope told Poland's new ambassador to the Vatican, Hanna Suchocka. But he cautioned, "It must be present as a State with its own spiritual and cultural face, its own inalienable historical traditions tied to Christianity." (Reuters)