Warfare, or forgiveness of past sins.Warsaw -- Catholic Church leaders in Poland and Germany are calling on all citizens to build trust between the two countries and help in reconciliation efforts to ensure that the wounds arising out of World War II do not re-awaken. Following the war, Poland lost its eastern lands to the Soviet Union, while being compensated in the western part by expelling ex·pel tr.v. ex·pelled, ex·pel·ling, ex·pels 1. To force or drive out: expel an invader. 2. six million German civilians. Today, an influential German group, the Union of Expellees, is once again demanding compensation for being expelled. They also want a special centre in Berlin to commemorate com·mem·o·rate tr.v. com·mem·o·rat·ed, com·mem·o·rat·ing, com·mem·o·rates 1. To honor the memory of with a ceremony. See Synonyms at observe. 2. To serve as a memorial to. the deportation deportation, expulsion of an alien from a country by an act of its government. The term is not applied ordinarily to sending a national into exile or to committing one convicted of crime to an overseas penal colony (historically called transportation). . For its part, a Polish group retaliated by demanding that if Poland has to pay compensation, then Germany should pay for damages inflicted by six years of Nazi occupation. The Archbishop of Berlin The Roman Catholic Diocese of Berlin was erected on 13 August 1930 by Pope Pius XI and was elevated to the rank of an archdiocese on 27 June 1994 by Pope John Paul II. As of 2004 the archdiocese has 377,000 Catholics out of the population of Berlin. has declared that he finds "no will for reconciliation" in the German project and, therefore, will not allow the Expellees Centre to be built on church property. As of September 2005, the German bishops' conference also declined to support the centre. In its place, the bishops' conferences from both countries stated in a joint declaration, "Certain representatives of the political world and public life are scratching irresponsibly ir·re·spon·si·ble adj. 1. Marked by a lack of responsibility: irresponsible accusations. 2. Lacking a sense of responsibility; unreliable or untrustworthy. 3. at still-painful wounds from our nations' past. Others are openly, even cruelly, trying to use them for their own personal political aims ... Germans and Poles must never turn their spiritual and material potential against each other. Their duty is to use it for the good of all people in a uniting Europe and to strengthen that Europe's Christian identity
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