PRESS NARRATIVE OF AN UNUSUAL TIME. PRESS COVERAGE OF THE FAREWELL TO JOHN PAUL II. THE CASE OF 'GAZETA WYBORCZA'

The article deals with the press commentary of the last days of Pope John Paul's II life as well as all other events which followed his death. It is based on articles and information published between March 24 and April 14, 2005 in 'Gazeta Wyborcza', the biggest daily newspaper in Poland. It has branches in the capitals of all provinces of the country and represents the democratic-liberal option. Main characters of the narrative are: 'the Polish Pope' and the society referred to as people, nation, the Poles, crowd, the believers but also particular social or professional groups. The main narrator is the daily paper itself. According to Roland Barthes contemporary discourse includes 'grand-narratives', i.e. literature, novels (also popular), etc. as well as 'small information' in the daily press. The authoress of this text is also a narrator. The publications in the newspaper can be defined as a set of auto-narratives. Their authors are both the journalists and the active participants of successive stages of the national mystery. Three narrative threads have been presented in the article: (1) The last days of John Paul's II life; (2) From the moment of his death on Saturday April 2 to the funeral ceremony on Friday, April 8; (3) From the funeral to the end of the first week of the mourning period. The auto-narratives presented in the article make very valuable source for the studies in ethnology/anthropology as well as in sociology and social psychology. They are a very important contribution to the knowledge of the value system of contemporary Polish society. According to the texts from the newspaper under consideration, following qualities can be attributed to the mentioned society: kindness, generosity, solidarity, resourcefulness, conciliatory spirit and mysticism. Poles are said to be splendid and worthy of admiration. It's indisputable that this is just a statement of desired values attributed to Poles, but not put into practice by the majority. Nevertheless, in the meaningful, traumatic days, the days of the Pope's dying, his death and mourning, they came to the fore. 'Wyborcza' emphasized the human dimension of the Pope's sufferings and his struggle for life. At the same time those events were invested with divine Christ-like dimension since the drama of the Pope's life and death took place in very special time - Holy Week and Easter. Against all the hopes of the faithful the Holy Father 'lost' the battle for his life. He didn't manage to overcome his illness, but he has changed the world, he has started its moral revival and bonded and improved Polish society. The daily 'Wyborcza' was painstaking about mentioning examples of such improvement.