Enslavement of the Church in Poland in 1953

Abstract

The accord entered into by and between representatives of state and Church authorities on April 14th 1950 did not protect the Catholic Church from further repression. On February 9th 1953, the State Council decreed with regard to the filling of ecclesiastical posts in the Church. Through such normative, the state authorities awarded themselves the right to interfere with the human resources aspect of religious creed. A categorical objection (Non possumus!) to this policy determined the imprisonment of the Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The primate’s detention offered proper political conditions to engage in this and other campaigns targeting the authority, independence, and identity of the Catholic Church. The clergy’s influence on public life was restrained, and the Church was deprived of independence. It might well be assumed that were it not for events of October 1956, the Church in Poland would have been permanently subjugated to the State.