Karol Wojtyła the Pope: Complications for Comrades of the Polish United Workers' Party.

This article focuses on the reactions of the communist authorities to the election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope and the prospect of a papal trip to Poland. The author begins by outlining the nature of the relationship between the State and the Church in the 1970s. Next he shows the atmosphere of shock that prevailed at the Polish Central Committee after the news of the new Pope's election came from Rome. The last part of article is devoted to the meetings between the Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek, Leonid Brezhnev and Andrei Gromyko in Moscow in March 1979, during which the situation in Poland and the forthcoming visit of John Paul II were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]