John Paul II’s words and gestures. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors of the pope in various communicative situations during his first pilgrimage to Poland

The subject of this study is the verbal and nonverbal behaviors of John Paul II during his first pilgrimage to Poland, focusing on four communicative situations: secular ritual, sacred ritual, casual, and occasional. The aim of the work is to examine the communication strategies employed by the Pope in each situation. The central research question addresses whether the communicative situation influenced his choice of these strategies. The first chapter outlines the political, economic, and religious background of the pilgrimage, as well as the preparations for the papal visit by both the Church and state authorities. The second chapter presents the theoretical aspects of communication in defined situations, with particular attention to the phenomenon of multimodal communication and the issue of communicative competence. Chapters three through six provide a detailed analysis of the Pope’s verbal behaviors, including language, form, and style, as well as his nonverbal behaviors, such as attire, posture, facial expressions, eye contact, vocal aspects, and gestures within each specific situation. The analyses demonstrate that the communicative situation significantly influenced all these elements.