Cover Osteuropa 6/2009

In Osteuropa 6/2009

Wojtyłas Legacy
Church and Politics in Poland

Dieter Bingen


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

In the decades of Communist rule, the Roman Catholic Church gained a central place in Polish society that not even the ruling party challenged. John Paul II, the Polish pope, had considerable influence on the political break with Communism. In Poland, he has become the object of almost mythic veneration. But after his death, “his” church has conveyed the impression that it lacks orientation. Despondent and insecure, it is searching for its place in a pluralistic society.

(Osteuropa 6/2009, pp. 101–112)