After the breakdown of the Polish People’s Party and the liquidation of all major structures of the independence conspiracy, the Catholic Church became the only significant social organization completely independent of the influence of the Polish United Workers’ Party. Meanwhile, the party leadership was not satisfied with the achievements so far in the fight against the Church. On July 19, 1949, at a meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party, Hilary Minc presented “a developed plan of anti-clerical action.” The “method of separate attacks” used so far against the Church did not work – according to Minc – and it had to be replaced by a “massive attack” strategy.
A great propaganda campaign
It was to include two phases: 1. preparatory phase, during which an “initiative group” would be created from the pro-government part of the clergy, and 2. general attack, which would include, among others, submitting a special declaration of loyalty to all priests for signing. As a consequence, permanent divisions would arise within the clergy, facilitating the disintegration of the Church and possible schism. Minc’s proposals were supported by Bierut and Berman, who discussed the details of the “large propaganda campaign” against the Church, and on July 23, they were approved by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party. On August 1, Bierut, who was staying in Moscow, received the following directive from Stalin regarding religious policy:
With the clergy: you will do nothing until you split into two separate and opposing groups, mass propaganda is necessary, but propaganda alone will not do what is needed… you are not setting yourself up for a split… without a split among the clergy nothing will work out… criminal laws are necessary, but they are not decisive. (…) Our action plan for the future did not raise any objections.
In mid-1948, the Episcopate put forward a proposal to create a state-church communication body whose task would be to reach a compromise. The authorities initially ignored the church’s initiative, but in July 1949, i.e. during the preparation of the plans described above, the government changed its mind and agreed to establish a Mixed Commission of representatives of the state and the Episcopate. The views within the Episcopate regarding the sense of negotiating an agreement with the authorities in a situation of growing pressure on the Church were divided, but the prevailing position was that of Primate Stefan Wyszyński, who believed that the strategy of confrontation with the communists, which Cardinal Mindszenty had decided on in Hungary, would cause even greater losses. .
‘Utopia on the Vistula. History of Peerel’ press materials
“Ideology” of patriotic priests
Long and arduous negotiations at the forum of the Mixed Commission, in which the leader of the “Dziś i Jutro” group (later PAX Association) Bolesław Piasecki played the intermediary role, were accompanied by further propaganda and administrative attacks against the Church. In accordance with Stalin’s recommendation and the plan presented by Minc, in In September 1949, the movement of the so-called patriotic priests began its activity. Over the next few years, using various methods (including bribery, blackmail and intimidation), it was possible to gather over a thousand clergy in and around the Commissions of Priests at ZBoWiD, i.e. almost 10% of the total number. The “ideology” of patriotic priests was relatively simple and came down to declaring full acceptance of the state’s religious policy, condemning the allegedly anti-Polish policy of the Vatican and its supporters in the Episcopate, and suggesting the need to “democratize” relations within the Church, which was to be expressed primarily by promoting patriotic priests to responsible positions. positions in the hierarchy. The Episcopate reacted to the creation of a pro-government movement of priests quite restrainedly, not wanting to give the authorities an excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of the Church under the guise of defending “progressive” priests.
Only in October 1950, Primate Wyszyński, and other bishops following him, banned the reading of “Głos Kapłana” – an organ of patriotic priests – in their dioceses. In December this year, the Commission of Priests received the so-called a pastoral warning calling – under the threat of excommunication – to abandon activities that destroy the unity of the Church. However, this did not weaken the movement of patriotic priests, controlled by the security organs, which was just entering the period of its greatest activity.
These were not lip service
Negotiations at the Joint Commission forum dragged on. Representatives of the church opposed, among others, including in the agreement acceptance of the village cooperative process, unenforceable obligations regarding church administration in the Western Territories and formulations questioning the authority of the Pope over the Polish Church.
Władysław Wolski, Minister of Administration, who participated in the negotiations, made it clear that refusal to sign the agreement would result in further administrative repression. These were not lip service, as the Caritas case proved. The National Caritas Headquarters, established by the Episcopate in June 1945, was intended to coordinate the charitable activities of the Church throughout the country. Caritas’ use not only of subsidies from the Episcopal and dioceses, but also from various bequests, collections and donations (including foreign ones), as well as state and local government subsidies, gave the authorities an excellent field for attack. On January 23, 1950, after an inspection of the activities of this institution, during which alleged abuses were detected, the authorities appointed a temporary compulsory board composed of patriotic priests and members of the “Dziś i Jutro” group (since 1952 – PAX).
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
