Polish Catholic Bishops, Nationalism and Liberal Democracy

Abstract

The alliance of the Polish Catholic Church with the Law and Justice (PiS) government has been widely reported and resulted in significant benefits for the Church. However, beginning in mid-2016, the top church leadership, including the Episcopal Conference, has distanced itself from the government and condemned its use of National Catholicism as legitimation rhetoric for the government’s malpractices in the fields of human rights and democracy. How to account for this behavior? The article proposes two explanations. The first is that the alliance of the PiS with the nationalist wing of the Church, while legitimating its illiberal refugee policy and attacks on democratic institutions of the government, further radicalized the National Catholic faction of the Polish Church and motivated a reaction of the liberal and mainstream conservative prelates. The leaders of the Episcopate, facing an empowered and radical National Catholic faction, pushed back with a doctrinal clarification of Catholic orthodoxy. The second explanatory path considers the transnational influence of Catholicism, in particular of Pope Francis’ intervention in favor of refugee rights as prompting the mainstream bishops to reestablish the Catholic orthodoxy. The article starts by tracing the opposition of the Bishops Conference and liberal prelates to the government’s refugee and autocratizing policies. Second, it describes the dynamics of the Church’s internal polarization during the PiS government. Third, it traces and contextualizes the intervention of Pope Francis during the asylum political crisis (2015–2016). Fourth, it portrays their respective impact: while the Pope’s intervention triggered the bishops’ response, the deepening rifts between liberal and nationalist factions of Polish Catholicism are the ground cause for the reaction.

“Unholy Alliance”: Identification and prevention of ideological and religious frames between right-wing populism and christianity in Poland

“…(Tronina 2020, p. 69) A particular problem in this regard, however, is the fact that this extremist organisation is supported by some church actors, for example, the Catholic radio station "Radio Maryja" (e.g., Tronina 2020; Kałabunowska 2017; Kasprowicz 2015; Sroczyńska and Kochanowski 2014). Church authorities primarily facilitate the activities of "All-Polish Youth" by making resources such as communication networks and physical space available (Tronina 2020) and thus support the aggression of members of this organisation against minorities, for example, Muslims and leftwing elites (Tronina 2020;Meyer Resende and Hennig 2021).…”

“…This has led to the development of a "neo-authoritarianism" (Gdula 2018) which is largely characterised by the populist resentment towards the elites and the escalation of hostility (Tyrała 2020, p. 21). In this context, the key influence on the destabilisation of democracy in Poland is the actions of the authorities, including the centralisation of power, politicisation of the media, government control over the justice system, unjust decommunisation, attack on non-governmental organisations, as well as violations of parliamentary procedures (Chapman 2017;Tyrała 2020;Koba 2020;Bernhard 2021;Meyer Resende and Hennig 2021). Not without significance, it is also the negative influence of populist politics on the education system (Chrostowski 2022a; Szelewa 2021; Pilch 2020) including higher education (Kulas 2020; Kołaczkowski 2019).…”

The consequences of nationalism: A scholarly exchange

“…Much scholarship investigating the relationship between nationalism and democracy has mined the histories of particular nationalisms and traced its impact upon the possibilities of democracy. In one recent example, Meyer Resende and Hennig (2021) argue that the struggle over Poland's national identity and the country's re‐embrace of an ethnic national identity by segments of the political and religious elite has driven the ascendance of autocratising policies.…”

Sovereignty, Discipline, Governmentality, and Pastorate: The Ménage à Quatre of Contemporary Authoritarian and Right-Wing Populist Power

“…The Putin administration, however, is not alone among authoritarian and right-wing populist governments with regard to portraying themselves as messianic saviors or redeemers—and seeking proximity to religious authorities (see for a broad overview again Yilmaz et al, 2021) or to highly symbolic religious spaces, as, for instance, the conflict about the Hagia Sophia demonstrates (see Oztig & Adisonmez, 2023). Likewise, both the Polish and the Hungarian governments try to demonstrate their connection to the church and to depict their politics as lead by Christian faith (see Ádám & Bozóki, 2016; Meyer Resende & Hennig, 2021; Żuk & Żuk, 2019). Thereby, they regularly make use of antisemitic references, including both secularized antisemitic and religious anti-Judaist conspiracy narratives (see Kalmar, 2020; Michlic, 2020; Subotic, 2022).…”