Polish Church Urges Liquor Cuts to Show Pope a Sober Nation
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WARSAW — Roman Catholic bishops called on the government Sunday to cut Poland’s growing liquor production so Pope John Paul II can see a sober nation when he visits his homeland next year.
The message read from more than 11,000 pulpits across the country said that the “flood” of spirits produced by state-run plants could bring disaster to the nation. It announced August as a “month of sobriety.”
“Let us do everything so that Pope John Paul II . . . can be aware of the fact that he is meeting a fully sober nation,” said the bishops. The Pope, who visited Poland in 1979 and 1983, will return to his homeland for a third time in June, 1987, for a eucharistic congress.
The bishops urged the government to “take definite measures such as cutting of liquor production, limitation of liquor sales in restaurants and decreasing the number of liquor shops.”
Officials statistics show that Poland has the densest network of liquor stores in Europe.
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