Stolica Apostolska a naród pozbawiony państwowości

Abstract

The present article tries to show the position taken by the Apostolic See towards the Polish cause, both on the political and ecclesiastical plane, in the period of national captivity, when the Polish nation, having lost - after the three partitions (1772, 1793, 1795) - the status of an in dependent state, remained under the rule of the three invading powers. The presented conclusions are results of an analysis of printed and archival source materials — especially the Vatican ones — as well as of Polish and foreign literature. Point One treats about Rome’s attitude towards the partitions of Poland and towards Poles’ struggle for independence in the Napoleonic era. It discusses, among others, the successive popes’ attitude towards the Dąbrowski’s Legions and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. In Point Two the author presents Rome’s position towards the Congress Kingdom of Poland formed as result of the agreements reached at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and towards the national uprisings. Reasons for the Vatican’s negative, as a rule, attitude towards the Polish armed uprisings: the November Uprising (1830-1831), the Galician Uprising (1846), the Wielkopolskie one (1848) and the January one (1863-1864) were pointed to. The next point presents the Holy See’s ecclesiastical and national policy on the Polish territories in the years 1864-1914. The Church’s contribution to the "organic work” of the Polish nation is emphasized. Next the attitude of Poles, living both inside their country and in emigration, towards the Holy See is discussed. Special attention is paid to their constant attachment to papacy despite the Vatican’s policies that were not always favorable for the Polish cause. The last part of the article presents the Apostolic See’s attitude towards the reviving Polish state during World War I. Special attention is paid to Pope Benedict XV’s personal attitude to the Polish question in the years 1914-1918.