“Evil is attacking” Poland and the Catholic church, said Jarosław Kaczyński – the country’s de facto leader – in a speech delivered from the altar during a mass commemorating his late mother.
Kaczyński and the church have faced criticism for what many saw as a political speech during a religious ceremony as well as for alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions during the service. A formal complaint has been submitted to the sanitary services, but the church claims all rules were respected.
Nieprawdopodobne. Przecież to nie jest misja. Przecież to marmotrawstwo publicznych pieniędzy. 😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/sBmH5L5pOq
— Marcin Tyc (@MarcinTyc) January 16, 2021
“Today the rejection of evil is something extremely important, because evil is attacking our country, our fatherland, our nation, it is attacking the institution that is at the heart of our identity, the Catholic church,” said Kaczyński, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Kaczyński – who holds the position of deputy prime minister but, as chairman of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, is Poland’s most powerful politician – was speaking at a church in Starachowice, his mother Jadwiga’s hometown, on the eve of the eighth anniversary of her death.
Outside the building were protesters from Women’s Strike (Strajk Kobiet), the main group behind recent demonstrations against a ruling introducing a near-complete ban on abortion.
These people “serve the cause of destroying the church, destroying our nation”, said Kaczyński during his speech, echoing previous remarks he has made about the protests, which have been directed against PiS and the Catholic church, who are seen as being behind the ruling.
During the church service – which was broadcast live on state television’s news channel – Kaczyński also referred to Amber Gold, a financial scandal that occurred under the previous government led by Civic Platform (PO), which is now the main opposition party.
That episode “perfectly illustrates what the mechanism of governing Poland was based on during the decades that finally ended only in 2015,” when PiS came to power, said Kaczyński. “Let us hope that this time is now over once and for all.”
Opposition figures, as well as many commentators, immediately criticised the PiS chairman for making such a political speech during a religious service, and the church for allowing it to take place.
Jarosław Kaczyński właśnie obrzuca błotem rywali politycznych i analizuje aferę Amber Gold w kościele, w czasie mszy poświęconej swojej Mamie, a wszystko transmituje na żywo TVP, na którą rząd wziął sobie nasze 4 miliardy zł. Staram się, ale przestaję ogarniać rzeczywistość.
— Janusz Schwertner (@SchwertnerPL) January 16, 2021
“[Making] politics on the graves of loved ones. What must you be like to act like this?” tweeted PO’s current leader, Borys Budka. A former prime minister, Marek Belka, wrote that “turning a private religious ceremony into a propaganda performance” showed how PiS is following a “gloomy path”.
“The consent of the church authorities to disgusting party propaganda cultivated from the altar by the head of a political party represents the breaking of another barrier of servility towards those in power,” wrote Roman Giertych, a lawyer associated with the opposition, to Stanisław Gądecki, the head of Poland’s Catholic episcopate.
Giertych warned Gądecki that the church’s current crisis in Poland – where it has seen public trust fall by 25 percentage points over recent years, according to polls – is caused by anger at this close relationship between PiS and the Catholic hierarchy.
Meanwhile, a local NGO has submitted a complaint to sanitary authorities accusing Kaczyński and others at the event – which was attended by leading PiS figures from the region – of violating the government’s own coronavirus restrictions.
The rules require that people at religious ceremonies maintain a distance of at least 1.5 metres from one another. However, recordings of the event in Starachowice show Kaczyński sharing a pew with four other people who appear to be much close to him than the required distance.
The NGO, Forum Unia Młodych, also noted that the government’s restrictions require everyone at religious services to cover their mouth and nose, apart from those leading prayer. Kaczyński, however, spoke without a mask from alongside the altar.
Piotr Kszczot, a priest from the parish in question, told Wirtualna Polska that “all procedures were followed and the police checked everything”. He said that everyone wore masks other than the priests leading the service.
Asked about Kaczyński’s speech, Kszczot said that the church allows people to “bid farewell to the deceased and say a few words to the microphone…What can I do? Turn it off or take it away?”
Last month, similar controversy was aroused when the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, spoke at a mass organised by Catholic broadcaster Radio Maryja. Many commentators pointed to apparent breaches of coronavirus restrictions. But the sanitary authorities and police later declared that no rules had been broken.
Kaczyński has himself been embroiled in similar scandals during the pandemic. Last April, he and other officials were accused of ignoring coronavirus restrictions during commemoration of the Smolensk plane crash that killed Kaczyński’s brother, President Lech Kaczyński.
Main image credit: TVP Info/screenshot
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
