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.
The author reconstructs the historical events and circumstances that had eventually led to the establishment of the Polish concordat of 1925. The article presents the outline of the situation of the Polish Catholic Church after Poland’s reappearance among the independent European nations against the backdrop of the most pressing political and social issues, such as the controversy surrounding the projected land reform. One can also find the analysis of the major political, ecclesiastical and scholarly figures involved in drafting and enacting into law of the concordat, as well as its fate until its abolishment by the communist government in 1945.
In 1988 Polish Catholic bishops tried to convince leaders of the Polish United Workers’ Party to ban The Last Temptation of Christ, a film by Martin Scorsese in Poland. In November 1989, during the first months of the new government, led by the non-communist Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Diocesan Curia of Olsztyn forced a local cinema to ban a screening of Scorsese’s film by referring to decisions allegedly made by the former communist government. These events, a kind of exchange of favours between the party and the church, are presented in context of Polish People’s Republic foreign policy, its approach to the Catholic Church and the dissemination of Western auter cinema in late 1980s Poland.
Nazism in Pius XI's Encyclical Mit brennender Sorge The article presents Nazism in Pius XI’s encyclical Mit brennender Sorge. The genesis and context of this papal document, which was written in the German language and directed to the German nation, are presented, as well as reactions from the German state it evoked. This encyclical constitutes a synthesis of numerous statements by the Church in its struggle against the anti-Christian ideology and practice. In it we find references to the breaches in the concordat between Germany and the Holy See, and falsifications of Church teachings and language undermining the moral order, hope and love, as well as natural law. It is addressed to young people, the clergy and the laity. In it we find attempts to uncover the Nazi bestiality in the time when Hitler was admired and praised by many contemporary politicians. It does express hope that the German nation will return to the true faith and mission prepared for it by God
This article explores the political and cultural context of the riots provoked by changes in the Trisagion (512). Along with the advancing integration of the Byzantine Empire with Christianity, the state’s interest in theological problems increased; these problems were also reflected in the liturgy. Worship was used as a tool of imperial policy. This mutual interaction between politics and liturgy can be observed particularly clearly in the history of the Trisagion. This hymn, in its primitive form appearing in the book of Isaiah (as the familiar Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus), had two interpretations from the first centuries. According to the first one, the hymn referred to God, or – with the development of theology – to the whole Holy Trinity. According to the second interpretation (probably originating from Antioch), it referred to Christ. Already in the 4th century, the Trisagion entered the liturgy. In the middle of the 5th century, we encounter a new version of the Trisagion (known as SanctusDeus, Sanctus Fortis), which was an elaboration of the above-mentioned hymn. It also found use in the liturgy and originally had a Trinitarian sense. The Monophysites, in order to give the hymn an anti-Chalcedonian sense, added to it the expression who was crucified for us; this makes the hymn unambiguously Christological, but it may also suggest theopaschism (all of the Trinity was crucified). In Antioch, where the Trisagion first appeared in that form (and where the hymn had always been interpreted as referring to Christ), this addition did not provoke protests from the Chalcedonians. However, when the Monophysite emperor Anastasius decided to introduce this version to the liturgy in Constantinople, the inhabitants of the capital – accustomed to understanding the Trisagion in the Trinitarian sense – interpreted the change as an offence against the Trinity. This caused the outbreak of the Trisagion riots (512). Not long afterwards, restoring the anthem in the version without the addition became one of the postulates of military commander Vitalian’s rebellion against Anastasius. Thus, in the case under analysis, we see theology and liturgy blending with current politics; one and the same hymn could be understood as heretical in one city and as completely orthodox in another.
The development of the Ponti cal University of John Paul II in Krakow requires a change in law that regulates the church university. The Apostolic See approved a new statute of the school in question in 2015. The new law is based on the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia christiana and puts an emphasis on the following ideas: church and evangelizing characteristics of the school. The law also underlines autonomy of the University towards Polish state and, at the same time, it declares the openness of the school for multidimensional cooperation with the state.
PL
Rozwój Uniwersytetu Papieskiego Jana Pawła II w Krakowie wymaga zmian w akcie prawnym, który dotyczy tego kościelnego uniwersytetu. Stolica Apostolska zaaprobowała nowy statut tej uczelni w 2015 roku. Nowe prawo oparto na konstytucji apostolskiej Sapientia christiana. Kładzie ono nacisk na kościelny i ewangelizacyjny charakter uczelni. Nowy statut podkreśla także autonomię uniwersytetu względem państwa polskiego, a jednocześnie deklaruje otwartość uczelni na wielowymiarową współpracę z państwem.
Between the aspirations to create a religious state and the attitudes of combating all manifestations of religiosity in social life, there is sometimes a proposition of neutrality in worldview issues, including moral norms. Can the state and its institutions really maintain such neutrality? What is the Church's attitude to such proposals? The article is an attempt to answer these questions. It is based on the analysis of the phenomenon of neutrality itself, its forms and the true intentions of its supporters. These analyzes prove that neutrality is an ambivalent phenomenon and its acceptance by the Church depends on many conditions.
PL
Między dążeniami do stworzenia państwa wyznaniowego a postawami walki z wszelkimi przejawami religijności w życiu społecznym pojawia się niekiedy propozycja neutralności w kwestiach światopoglądowych, w tym w odniesieniu do zasad i norm moralnych, jakimi kierują się obywatele. Czy państwo i jego instytucje mogą rzeczywiście taką neutralność zachować? Jaki jest stosunek Kościoła do takich propozycji? Artykuł stanowi próbę odpowiedzi na te pytania na podstawie analizy samego fenomenu neutralności, jej form oraz prawdziwych intencji zwolenników. Analizy te dowodzą, że neutralność jest postawą ambiwalentną i jej akceptacja przez Kościół jest uzależniona od wielu warunków.
Vatican Radio (RW) is tasked with providing information about the activities of the Pope and the Holy See, as well as the situations of Churches worldwide. The Polish Section of the Vatican Radio (SPRW) implemented these tasks, and among the many topics and information presented on the RW waves it also commented on issues related to State-Church relations in Poland. The aim of the article is to look in more detail, among others, on whether and how the SPRW presented the PRL state-Church relations during the period of 1957–1979. While presenting this topic, in the 60s, the SPRW usually drew from the opinions of the western press and foreign press agencies, and in the 70s primarily from the communications of the Polish Episcopacy Conferences. The SPRW informed its listeners about the most important issues affecting State-Church relations - among others, about the lack of religious freedom in PRL, persecution of the clergy, lack of permission for sacral buildings, efforts made by the Church for allowing it freedom in its actions and respecting human rights and the rights of Polish citizens by the PRL government. The SPRW defended the Polish clergy. Additionally, for the Polish people, the SPRW was the main source of uncensored information about the situation of the Church; not only worldwide, but primarily in Poland. The SPRW aired a series of educational programmes to counteract the attempts of secularisation of the society by the Communist government. The election of Karol Wojtyła as Pope contributed to the growth of the role of the Church in Poland, and made the SPRW face new challenges. It had its unparalleled contribution in accompanying the Pope during his pilgrimages and providing Polish listeners with the latest information not presented in the state media.
After the Second World War, Communist Poland and the Holy See did not maintain official diplomatic relations for over a quarter of the century (1945–1974). Despite that complicated situation, there were several personal meetings between the Pope and the representatives of Communist Poland during the pontificated of Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI. These meetings seemingly confirm the definite rule of the Vatican’s diplomacy which does not refuse to talk with anyone and to conduct dialogue in any situation. The analysis of the circumstances and the courses of meetings between Communist politicians from Poland and the Pope allows us to draw the line that divides the period in question into two parts. Until 1965, the Pope held audiences with Catholic activists engaged in public Communist Poland, while after that date, there were also meetings with Communist politicians, including two foreign ministers and a First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party. Throughout nearly the entire period, the primary goal of the relations between Poland and the Vatican, including meetings with the Pope, was to win the Holy See’s favour, particularly in opposition to the Primate, and create the propaganda image of religious freedom and good relations between the state and the Church in Poland. It is difficult to assess how the Holy See benefited from those meetings. The dialogue started in 1965, and it took an institutional form in 1974, but that did not affect the model of religious policy in Poland, and the strong position of the Church did not result from the dialogue between the Communists and the Vatican, but the unrelenting and principled policy of the Episcopate lead by the Primate. I have based the present article primarily on materials prepared by the Communist diplomatic service and stored in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and documents prepared by the Party and administration of the Communist Poland, particularly the Office for Religious, and stored at the Polish Central Archives of Modern Records. Diaries and memoirs also proved to be important – particularly those by Jerzy Zawieyski and Janusz Zabłocki.
The article presents selected issues concerning Polish Primates cardinal August Hlond and cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and other bishops’ engagement in the case of emergence and stabilisation of the Polish church administration on the Western and Northern Lands after World War II. It covers the most important stages in the chronology of events related to this topic (1945 – 1951 – 1956 – 1972). The most significant decisions were made in August 1945, when five apostolic administrations were created for the dioceses of Warmia and Gdańsk, Gorzów, Opole Silesia and Lower Silesia. In June 1972, after the Bundestag’s ratification of the border agreement between the Polish People's Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, the temporary nature of the Polish ecclesiastical structures on the so-called Recovered Territories came to an end. In his bull Episcoporum Poloniae coetus, Pope Paul VI liquidated apostolic administrations and created four new dioceses (Gorzów, Koszalin-Kołobrzeg, Szczecin-Kamieńsk and Opole). In the twenty-seven-year long process of stabilisation of the Polish ecclesiastical structures, the position of successive Popes and the Holy See was decisive. They were taking into account the views of the German and Polish episcopates and the state of Polish-German relations in the matter of the boundary line approval. The most active among the Polish hierarchy was Bishop Bolesław Kominek (apostolic administrator in Opole, archbishop of Wrocław, and cardinal). The basis of the article’s synthetic narrative is the selection of the latest Polish publications on state-church relations in Poland after the Second World War, and source editions. The personal notes of Primate Wyszyński – Pro memoria, pastoral letters of the Polish Episcopate, announcements of the Episcopal Conference of Poland, and official statements of bishops, among others, were used.
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W artykule przedstawiono wyselekcjonowane kwestie dotyczące zaangażowania prymasów Polski kardynała Augusta Hlonda i kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego oraz innych biskupów w sprawę powstania i stabilizacji polskiej administracji kościelnej na Ziemiach Zachodnich i Północnych po II wojnie światowej. Uwzględniono najważniejsze etapy w chronologii wydarzeń związanych z tą problematyką (1945 – 1951 – 1956 – 1972). Najistotniejsze okazały się decyzje podjęte w sierpniu 1945 r., kiedy utworzono pięć administratur apostolskich dla diecezji warmińskiej z siedzibą w Olsztynie, gdańskiej oraz w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim, Opolu dla Śląska Opolskiego i Wrocławiu dla Dolnego Śląska. W czerwcu 1972 r., po ratyfikacji przez Bundestag układu granicznego zawartego między Polską Rzeczpospolitą Ludową a Republiką Federalną Niemiec, zakończył się okres tymczasowości polskich struktur kościelnych na tzw. Ziemiach Odzyskanych. Papież Paweł VI w bulli Episcoporum Poloniae coetus zlikwidował administratury apostolskie i utworzył cztery nowe diecezje (gorzowską, koszalińsko-kołobrzeską, szczecińsko-kamieńską i opolską). W procesie stabilizacji polskich struktur kościelnych, który trwał dwadzieścia siedem lat, decydujące było stanowisko kolejnych papieży i Stolicy Apostolskiej. Uwzględniali oni poglądy niemieckiego i polskiego episkopatu oraz stan relacji polsko-niemieckich w kwestii aprobaty linii granicznej. Wśród polskich hierarchów najaktywniejszy okazał się biskup Bolesław Kominek (administrator apostolski w Opolu, arcybiskup wrocławski i kardynał). W artykule podstawę syntetycznej narracji stanowi wybór polskojęzycznych, najnowszych publikacji na temat relacji państwowokościelnych w Polsce po II wojnie światowej oraz edycje źródłowe. Wykorzystano między innymi osobiste notatki prymasa Wyszyńskiego Pro memoria, listy pasterskie Episkopatu Polski, komunikaty Konferencji Episkopatu Polski oraz oficjalne wypowiedzi biskupów.
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