“The Civic Platform knows that there is not yet such a situation in society that someone who raises his hand against John Paul II will win and that most people will believe this nonsense. Therefore, it was impossible to vote against the resolution, because it would be against the majority of voters, and to vote for it would be against the media base they serve and under which they operate,” says Prof. Mieczysław Ryba – historian, lecturer at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.
READ ALSO: Prof. Roszkowski: They were gathering forces and at the same time they joined the campaign. Slandering the pope may be related to the election
wPolityce.pl: The entire Civic Coalition club, with the exception of MP Joanna Fabisiak, did not vote on the commemoration of St. John Paul II. What can be said about the political and moral state of Civic Platform in the context of the attacks on St. John Paul II?
Prof Mieczyslaw Ryba: You have to look at it pragmatically, as if you were calculating the profit and loss statement. On the one hand, the whole scandal is being fueled by the media from the back office of the PO – especially TVN and “Gazeta Wyborcza”, as well as several other attachments – feeding this whole anti-pope hysteria. These media outlets have mainly ideological goals, and if they are pragmatic, then they are ill-calculated. Nevertheless, they follow the rhythm of de-Catholicization according to the Spanish or Irish model, ie unleashing a campaign related to pedophilia. They defined that Poland could not bring about a revolution without destroying the authority of John Paul II. This famous Dutch author, Ekke Overbeek, states in the end of his book that John Paul II was a hypocrite because on the one hand he imposed severe restrictions on the believers, as if he were poisoning their lives – he writes it literally, and he is a scandal that had no control over the concealment of pedophilia. It is, of course, based on some Secret Service documents, completely absurd. So there is a clear ideological purpose here, while the PO now has an election year, and as its media base has determined that it is good to weaken the Church in the election year, because this way the right-wing electorate is destabilized and PiS people are disgusted , then this is a false distinction and the Platform knows it all too well. The PO knows that there is not yet a situation in society where someone who raises his hand against John Paul II wins and that most people believe in this nonsense. Therefore, it was impossible to vote against the resolution, because it would be against the majority of voters, and to vote in favor would be against the media base they serve and in the context of which they operate. That’s why it was decided to make such a move, but of course it’s not a good one, but it shows that the Platform has hit a corner. This is a derivative of a decision made somewhere in these opposition ideological and media centers.
Don’t you think the PO “shot itself in the foot” by washing its hands of defending St. John Paul II just before the parliamentary elections?
Yes, but they didn’t have a good choice – they were all bad from their point of view. Let’s imagine they voted like Law and Justice. Therefore, the whole action, which is launched by “Gazeta Wyborcza” and various types of TVN, would be discredited by their representatives, who say it is absurd. In that sense, PO would hit their main ideological campaign. In turn, if they voted against the resolution, as the left does, it would be against their electorate. A large portion of PO voters, well, anything can be anti-clerical and agnostic, but can such a full-frontal attack on St. John Paul II. So they chose this third bad option, which also weakened them, but they calculated that it would be the least of the losses.
Civic Platform deputies – Jan Grabiec and Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska accuse Law and Justice of instrumentally using this case, but otherwise how can we defend the memory of the Holy Pope?
Let’s not forget that John Paul II is the most important figure in the Catholic Church in Poland, he is fundamental when we talk about issues of identity – in the sense of national identity, national ties, which make up the Polish nation. So hitting St. John Paul II is actually a blow to the heart of the Catholic Church in Poland, to its teachings. It is also a blow to the nation in times of war. We are funded with a religious war, a cultural revolution, while we have a real war in Ukraine. In this sense, politicians, if they are responsible, should absolutely oppose such things. On the one hand it has a purely religious dimension, on the other hand it has a community and cultural dimension. In fact, the motion on the resolution to the memory of St. John Paul II is good. That is why MPs of the PO speak this way, because they know very well that the Civic Platform loses on all this and PiS gains. Hence this and not other statements by PO politicians, which aim to tone down the tone of the resolution and explain it all in one way or another.
Will anti-clericalism be the leitmotif of Poland’s electoral campaign?
Certainly in the left camp and especially Donald Tusk took up this rhetoric. Let’s recall the issue of abortion, the famous words of his right-hand man Sławomir Nitras and the issue of “submitting Catholics”. There is a certain race here for the left-wing electorate, which the PO and the left undertake. On the other hand, the PO wants to please the ruling circles in the European Union as much as possible, and left circles rule there. Just look at what is happening in the European Parliament – that is what is provoking this race. Unfortunately, this led the media to St. John Paul II to heat it up even more, and in my opinion this is a mistake. Polish society is not prepared, it is not rebellious enough to accept such a vulgar attack on a person who is still surrounded by universal authority among Poland.
In the context of the battle for left-wing voters: who will emerge victorious? Platform or links? Who will outbid?
We will see. That will be decided sometime before the autumn elections. Most likely, Donald Tusk calculates that if he radicalizes his message, the left will lose some of its voters in this way. Tusk expects the left to oscillate on the edge of the electoral threshold and will come to him on his knees to accept them on his lists. I think that’s what the project is about. For now, however, it doesn’t seem like the left is losing enough to go down on its knees, and if it fails, the platform won’t gain on the left flank and will collide on the right. This is all an extremely risky game, but Tusk is up against the wall here and decided he had to play risky.
READ ALSO:
– ONLY HERE. Prof. Fish: It’s not really pedophilia. The absolute target is John Paul II himself and his teaching on the family
– ONLY HERE. Behind the scenes of the opposition’s talks on the resolution on John Paul II. Sawicki: “We hoped that at least the Christian Democratic part of PO would be on the side of the truth”
— Sellin: Among other things at stake in the upcoming election memory of JP2. The makers of the slanderous report Karol Wojtyła are simply ignorant
He spoke to Mr
Source: wPolityce