Poland’s Election Year Set to Turn into a Crusade as Politicised Religion Resurfaces

The monument to John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital, Rome, Italy, 05 July 2021. EPA-EFE/MASSIMO PERCOSSI A legend beyond criticism?

Much of the late John Paul II's biography has achieved quasi-hagiographical status, in particular since his canonisation in 2014. However, the historical myth surrounding him grew organically since he emerged on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican as the first non-Italian pontiff in over four centuries back in 1978.

Travelling the globe as no pope had done before, it was his June 1979 visit to Communist Poland and the mass popular veneration that accompanied it which, according to some historians, contributed to the rise of the Solidarity movement and the demise of Communism in Poland and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe. His support for the anti-Communist opposition and democratic forces in Poland gained him the respect of many liberal and even left-wing politicians despite the traditionalist and conservative views propagated by the Church.

Ultimately, his papacy, the second longest in history, intersected with historic events some of which reverberated globally. During his tenure, the Catholic Church came under scrutiny for its stance on women's rights, its position during the AIDS pandemic and, increasingly, for the problem of child abuse and sexual predation by Catholic priests.

Yet while the latter issue has gained some attention in recent years even in Poland, until last week the stature of John Paul II remained largely undiminished. More so, even in light of the recent allegations, there are plenty of public figures like the former dissident and now editor-in-chief of Poland's largest liberal newspaper, Adam Michnik, willing to speak up in defence of the late pope.