During a visit to the Vatican earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron offered Pope Francis a copy of Immanuel Kant’s book “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” dating back from the late 18th century as a gift.
The present drew the attention of the Polish public, as it turned out that it might be a document which was stolen from by the Germans during WWII.
A picture of the cover page of the valuable work appeared on the social media account of the French correspondent of the La Croix newspaper in the Vatican.
Some astute observers noted a characteristic stamp of the Polish Academic Library of Lviv (then Lwów). The Galician city used to be one of the most important cities in the occupied Second Polish Republic.
https://twitter.com/EJagiellonians/status/1584597859621478400?s=20&t=74gKyYFEosM_bnzgE82gng
On Tuesday, 25 October, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Łukasz Jasina, addressed the matter.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is investigating the issue of the gift that French President Emmanuel Macron presented to Pope Francis during the Monday audience, but the ministry has not yet issued a statement on this matter – he told the media.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1584744880005578753?s=20&t=gXLq2qvoBfOMeDo8gS8AdA
In the meantime, the incident sparked outrage on social media. Some people believe such a move was more than a coincidence and could be interpreted as a form of threat from the French leader. The case leaves room for various interpretations.
Image: Twitter (@EJagiellonians)
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
