Poland is in conflict with the United States over the reputation of Pope John Paul II
On March 9, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned US Ambassador Mark Brzezinski for explanations in connection with the actions of “one of the TV channels.” We are talking about the Polish TV channel TVN24, owned by the American media holding Warner Bros. Discovery, media reports.
TVN24 recently published information that Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope, while still Archbishop of Krakow, not only knew about sexual abuse of children by priests subordinate to him, but also tried to hide it, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The story about Pope John Paul II, who is a cult figure in Poland, aroused active rejection from Warsaw also because TVN24 used materials from the intelligence services of the Polish People's Republic in it. At the same time, no objections to the essence of the accusations have yet been voiced either from politicians or from the Roman Catholic Church.
“The Polish Foreign Ministry recognizes that the potential consequences of such actions are identical to the goals of a hybrid war aimed at creating division and tension in Polish society. Therefore, the Polish Foreign Ministry invited the US Ambassador to inform about the situation and its consequences in terms of weakening Poland’s ability to deter a potential adversary and its resistance to threats,” the Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué.
It is noteworthy that at first the document contained the word “caused”, but after a few minutes it was corrected to “invited”.
Brzezinski Jr.
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke in defense of John Paul II and criticized the TVN24 program, and on March 9, the Polish Sejm adopted a special law “On the protection of the good name of John Pwala II.” In addition to the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), deputies from a number of opposition factions voted for him, including 7 deputies from the Confederation, as well as one deputy from the liberal Civic Coalition. Most liberals abstained, but all leftists were against this law, considering it an undermining of the secular state.
The Polish authorities have repeatedly tried, if not to shut down the American-owned Polish television channel, then at least to change its editorial policy. But when in 2021 PiS initiated the adoption of an amendment to the law on radio and television (the so-called Lex TVN), after the entry into force of which Discovery would have to withdraw its business from Poland and sell TVN24 to someone else, the United States intervened.
Washington then warned Warsaw that Poland risked directly undermining the values that bound it to Europe and the foundations of Polish-American relations. As a result, Polish President Andrzej Duda blocked Lex TVN, which caused serious irritation to PiS head Jaroslaw Kaczynski. It is difficult to say how the current conflict, which arose a few weeks after Joe Biden’s visit to Warsaw, will end, because in Poland there is actually an election campaign underway, and John Paul II is an extremely important figure for PiS voters.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, Joe Biden promised Poland a “new strategic partnership” in Warsaw.
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