The Pope from a far away country: Victory Square and all that ...

What exactly did Pope John Paul II mean when upon his election he told the crowds he came from a far away country? That's what he tells us himself in his last book "Memory and Identity, Conversations at the Dawn of the Millennium ..".

And again what happened exactly on that day in Poland's Warsaw's Victory Square? Veronica Scarisbrick speaks to the man who organized that encounter. He's Jesuit, Cardinal Roberto Tucci and he describes to us the feel of that euphoric welcome of the huge crowds as the Polish Pontiff appeared to them. One whom they identified at the time as a messenger of hope and herald of freedom in a nation which at the time was stifling under the choke of communism.

Listen to this exclusive first hand account of that historic event. which produced a ripple effect across Poland and beyond..

Also in this programme you can hear the voices of both John Paul II and indeed Benedict XVI speaking of Solidarnosc, as well as a feature focusing on the role the Polish Pontiff attributed to himself, in the collapse of communism .

Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick :