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THE POLICY OF THE POLISH COMMUNIST POWER ON CHANGING CHURCH GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN LANDS OF POLAND (1945-1951)

The article considers the policy of the Polish communist power, which aimed at eliminating the temporary condition of church government and establishing a permanent church administration in the Western and Northern lands of Poland in 1945-1951. The attention of the party-state leadership to the preparation of an appeal to episcopate and to the conduct of a broad propaganda campaign in the press to eliminate the temporary condition in the “reunited lands” has been traced. Under the influence of pressure and threats from the authorities, the temporary church administrators of Wroclaw, Gdansk, Gorzow, Olsztyn and Opole resigned their posts. The election of permanent capitular vicars of these dioceses, organized by the government on the direct instructions of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party, indicates the determination of the authorities’ actions. Most of the newly elected diocesan leaders were clergymen who belonged to “patriotic priests”. The position of the episcopate on changing church governance in the Western and Northern lands of Poland has been highlighted. Trying to prevent further advance on church institutions of power structures, Primate S. Wyszynski, in agreement with the Main Commission of the Episcopate, allowed to take an oath “of allegiance to the Polish Republic and its People’s Democratic power” by five new capitular vicars. The difficulties of the negotiation process between the party-state leadership and the representatives of the episcopate have been clarified. Personal meetings between Primate S. Wyszynski and president of Poland B. Bierut were of particular importance for further church-state relations. Changes in the confessional sphere of state policy, which resulted in the direct intervention of the communist authorities in the personnel policy of the Catholic Church and the attempt to force the episcopate to recognize the supremacy of state power, have been analyzed.