The Catholic Church in Poland, Her Faithful, and the Restrictions on Freedom to Practise Religion during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Date
2022-12-19
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MDPI
Abstract
W odpowiedzi na szybkie rozprzestrzenianie się epidemii koronawirusa władze państwowe w Polsce, podobnie jak w innych krajach w innych krajach zdecydowały się na wprowadzenie różnych ograniczeń praw i wolności, w tym wolności praktyk religijnych. Celem niniejszego opracowania jest analiza i ocena stanowiska, jakie zajęli duszpasterzy Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce i jego wiernych wobec tych ograniczeń podczas pierwszej fali pandemii. Analiza materiałów źródłowych, w tym dokumentów publikowanych przez przedstawicieli Konferencji Episkopatu Polski oraz biskupów diecezjalnych (lub zastępców kurialnych), prowadzi do wniosku, że w swoich oficjalnych komunikatach biskupi praktycznie jednogłośnie popierali ograniczenia nałożone przez państwo, często przyznając im sankcję prawa kanonicznego lub wprowadzając jeszcze bardziej restrykcyjne rozwiązania we własnych diecezjach. Co więcej, analiza przekazu medialnego dotyczącego pierwszej fali pandemii, a także socjologiczne badania opinii publicznej, koncentrujące się na polskich wiernych w Polsce, wynika, że zarówno wierni, jak i szeregowi duchowni wykazywali się spolaryzowaną oceną postawy biskupów wobec ograniczeń. Analiza ta pozwala jednak na obalenie wyrażanego w literaturze, a podzielanego przez część wiernych, twierdzenia o nadmiernej uległości biskupów wobec władz państwowych. Nasze badania dowodzą, że twierdzenie to nieco zniekształca rzeczywistość. Postawę hierarchów Kościoła należy raczej widzieć jako wyraz ich odpowiedzialności za dobro wspólne. Na krytykę bardziej zasługuje natomiast z drugiej strony, nadmierne skupienie się przekazu kościelnego tego okresu na ograniczaniu wolności praktykowania religii, podczas gdy prawo wiernych do dóbr duchowych Kościoła zostało relegowane na dalszy plan (kan. 213 CIC-1983). Przyjmując ramy badawcze opracowane m.in. przez Josepha Cardijna ("widzieć - ocenić - działać"), nasza analiza kończy się zaleceniem, aby w razie podobnego kryzysu w przyszłości, instytucja Kościoła powinna raczej skupić swoje przesłanie do wiernych na zabezpieczeniu wspomnianego prawa wiernych w kontekście narzuconych przez państwo ograniczeń, przyjmując postawę typową dla adresata norm prawnych, zgodnie z wnioskami wyciągniętymi z własnej autonomii i niezależności jako podstaw zasad leżących u podstaw relacji państwo-Kościół zarówno w nauce Kościoła, jak i prawie polskim.
first_page settings Order Article Reprints Open AccessArticle The Catholic Church in Poland, Her Faithful, and the Restrictions on Freedom to Practise Religion during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Piotr Stanisz 1,* [ORCID] , Dariusz Wadowski 2 [ORCID] , Justyna Szulich-Kałuża 2 [ORCID] , Małgorzata Nowak 3 [ORCID] and Mirosław Chmielewski 4 [ORCID] 1 Institute of Legal Sciences, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 2 Institute of Journalism and Management, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 3 Institute of Linguistics, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 4 Institute of Theology, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Religions 2022, 13(12), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121228 Received: 20 November 2022 / Revised: 9 December 2022 / Accepted: 13 December 2022 / Published: 19 December 2022 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Catholic Education) Download Versions Notes Abstract In response to the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the state authorities in Poland—as in other countries—decided to introduce various restrictions on rights and freedoms, including the freedom to practise religion. The purpose of this study is to analyse and evaluate the position taken by the ministers of the Catholic Church in Poland and her faithful towards these restrictions during the first wave of the pandemic. An analysis of source material, including documents published by representatives of the Conference of Polish Bishops and diocesan bishops (or curial deputy officials), leads to the conclusion that, in their official messages, the bishops virtually unanimously supported the restrictions imposed by the state, often granting them the sanction of canon law, or introducing even more restrictive solutions in their own dioceses. Moreover, an analysis of the media coverage of the first wave of the pandemic, as well as sociological opinion research focusing on Poland’s Catholic faithful, concludes that both the faithful and ‘rank-and-file’ clergy exhibited a polarised assessment of the stance adopted by the bishops towards the restrictions. However, this analysis allows for the refutation of the claim expressed in the literature, and shared by some of the faithful, about the bishops’ excessive submissiveness to the state authorities. Our research proves that this claim somewhat distorts the reality. Rather, the attitude of the hierarchs of the Church needs to be seen as an expression of their responsibility for the common good. More deserving of criticism, on the other hand, is the excessive focus of the ecclesiastical message of this period on the restrictions on the freedom to practise religion, while the right of the faithful to the spiritual goods of the Church was relegated to the background (Can. 213 CIC-1983). In adopting the research framework developed by Joseph Cardijn (‘see–judge–act’), our analysis concludes with the recommendation that, should a similar crisis arise in the future, the institution of the Church should rather focus its message to the faithful on securing the said right in the context of the state-imposed restrictions, by adopting the attitude typical of that of an addressee of legal norms, in line with the conclusions drawn from its own autonomy and independence as underlying principles of the State-Church relationship in both Church teachings and Polish law.
first_page settings Order Article Reprints Open AccessArticle The Catholic Church in Poland, Her Faithful, and the Restrictions on Freedom to Practise Religion during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Piotr Stanisz 1,* [ORCID] , Dariusz Wadowski 2 [ORCID] , Justyna Szulich-Kałuża 2 [ORCID] , Małgorzata Nowak 3 [ORCID] and Mirosław Chmielewski 4 [ORCID] 1 Institute of Legal Sciences, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 2 Institute of Journalism and Management, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 3 Institute of Linguistics, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland 4 Institute of Theology, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Religions 2022, 13(12), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121228 Received: 20 November 2022 / Revised: 9 December 2022 / Accepted: 13 December 2022 / Published: 19 December 2022 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Catholic Education) Download Versions Notes Abstract In response to the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the state authorities in Poland—as in other countries—decided to introduce various restrictions on rights and freedoms, including the freedom to practise religion. The purpose of this study is to analyse and evaluate the position taken by the ministers of the Catholic Church in Poland and her faithful towards these restrictions during the first wave of the pandemic. An analysis of source material, including documents published by representatives of the Conference of Polish Bishops and diocesan bishops (or curial deputy officials), leads to the conclusion that, in their official messages, the bishops virtually unanimously supported the restrictions imposed by the state, often granting them the sanction of canon law, or introducing even more restrictive solutions in their own dioceses. Moreover, an analysis of the media coverage of the first wave of the pandemic, as well as sociological opinion research focusing on Poland’s Catholic faithful, concludes that both the faithful and ‘rank-and-file’ clergy exhibited a polarised assessment of the stance adopted by the bishops towards the restrictions. However, this analysis allows for the refutation of the claim expressed in the literature, and shared by some of the faithful, about the bishops’ excessive submissiveness to the state authorities. Our research proves that this claim somewhat distorts the reality. Rather, the attitude of the hierarchs of the Church needs to be seen as an expression of their responsibility for the common good. More deserving of criticism, on the other hand, is the excessive focus of the ecclesiastical message of this period on the restrictions on the freedom to practise religion, while the right of the faithful to the spiritual goods of the Church was relegated to the background (Can. 213 CIC-1983). In adopting the research framework developed by Joseph Cardijn (‘see–judge–act’), our analysis concludes with the recommendation that, should a similar crisis arise in the future, the institution of the Church should rather focus its message to the faithful on securing the said right in the context of the state-imposed restrictions, by adopting the attitude typical of that of an addressee of legal norms, in line with the conclusions drawn from its own autonomy and independence as underlying principles of the State-Church relationship in both Church teachings and Polish law.
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Keywords
wolność wyznania, COVID-19, Kościół katolicki, komunikacja, prawo kanoniczne, liturgia, media, pragmalingwistyka, freedom of religion, media, faithful, Catholic Church, communication, faithful, canon law, liturgy, pandemic, pragmalinguistic
Citation
Religions 13: 1228.