Kościół i Prawo 2 (15) 2013: 115-127

Legal situation of Catholic Church in Polish People’s Republic

Piotr Wierzbicki

doktorant, Katedra Kościelnego Prawa Publicznego i Konstytucyjnego, Instytut Prawa Kanonicznego KUL, Wydział Prawa, Prawa Kanonicznego i Administracji, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II

Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

e-mail: piotrwie@op.pl

Poland, after the Second World War, was in communist bloc. Due to immense political changes which took place against religion and Church. Legal situation of the Church in the Communist Period was extremely difficult because legal status of the Church had not been regulated.

The article includes a legal situation of Catholic Church in Polish People’s Republic. At the beginning it was defined the term of "communist regime" regarding churches and other religious unions. The grounds for communist regime is ideological and political monism . It is characterized by negative opinion of religion’s role in social life. Society was manipulated by big discrepancy between statutory law and its application.

The following article shows the application of communist regime in Poland. Polish society resisted against the application of that system. Political system against the Church were changing within the years. Finally, the Author showed that dialogue between the Church and communist authorities had a material impact on the legal regulation.

Słowa kluczowe: Kościół Katolicki, Polska Ludowa, reżym komunistyczny

Key words: Catholic Church, Polish People’s Republic, communist regime