The Jasna Gora Monastery, Poland’s most revered Catholic shrine, during a sunset in Czestochowa, Poland, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. As the ruling conservative Law and Justice party seeks to win an unprecedented third straight term in the Oct. 15 parliamentary election, it has sought to bolster its image as a defender of Christian values and traditional morality.
As Law and Justice seeks an unprecedented third-straight term in the Oct. 15 parliamentary election, the conservative, nationalist ruling party is trying to bolster its image as a defender of Christian values and traditional morality. Yet many Poles are questioning their relationship with the Catholic Church, and some cite its closeness to the government as a key reason.
Law and Justice’s tenure has been marked by bitter clashes with the European Union over whether some of the party’s steps have weakened democracy. Yet some church leaders still praise the party’s policies. Tatiana Niedbal, a community activist from Czestochowa, cited the accusation against the priest as evidence of the church’s double standards.
University student Patrycja Kalecinska, 21, of Czestochowa, said the church “has had a disastrous impact on politics.” Her two friends resting on a bench in the city’s main square nodded in agreement. Since 2010, the city has had a left-wing mayor, Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk, who backs a clear separation between church and state. The secular left also dominated Czestochowa’s city council for much of the past 30 years.
Mateusz Chudzicki, 24, who lives near the city of Lodz in central Poland, cited sex abuse scandals as a major reason for leaving. Dramatic clerical abuse revelations in a 2019 documentary,by Tomasz and Marek Sekielski, rattled Poles with its shocking stories of repeat offenders and a failure to stop them.