EN
One of the elements of the celebrations of the millennium of the baptism of Poland was the peregrination of the icon of the Blessed Mother of God of Częstochowa. The icon was “arrested” by the authorities and transported back to the Jasna Góra shrine with a ban on removal. Against such an insult to the Blessed Mother of God protest was voiced first by the Primate of Poland and then by other bishops who addressed pastoral letters to the faithful of their respective dioceses. A pastoral letter on the issue was also written by Archbishop Antoni Baraniak. In the opinion of the authorities his was the sharpest form of protest, and therefore he became the object of an organized defamation campaign in which party activists were mobilized to express their public outcry.