A RHAPSODIAN AT THE PULPIT? JOHN PAUL II AT VICTORY SQUARE IN WARSAW AND THE PREMISES OF MIECZYSLAW KOTLARCZYK'S RHAPSODY THEATRE

This article discusses John Paul II's speech at Victory Square in Warsaw on 2 June 1979, during the Pope's first pilgrimage to Poland. The subject of the research is the question of whether the Pope, when presenting his homily, used his experience and skills gained in Mieczyslaw Kotlarczyk's Rhapsody Theatre and whether he was a rhapsodian himself. The first part of the article describes the Rhapsody Theatre's ideological assumptions, while the second presents the way the homily by Pope John Paul II was delivered, and, finally, the third part shows which parts of the papal speech coincided with Kotlarczyk's artistic programme. Finding these similarities allows us to say that John Paul II was indeed a rhapsodian, i.e. a minister of the word.