The relationship between the Catholic Church and the State in Poland in the 1970s

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870724
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology; History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Kokugakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Kato Hisako 國學院大學, 研究開発推進機構, 研究員 (10646285)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 政教関係 / 民主化 / 社会変動 / カトリック / ポーランド / 宗教教育 / ノンフォーマル教育 / 歴史認識

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A lot of research shows that the Catholic Church has struggled against the Communist Party and played an essential role in the process of democratization under the Socialist regime of Poland. Nevertheless, I focus on the following Church functions: negotiations; striving for consensus, and trying to reach compromise with the Party.
The main achievement of my research during this period is published under the title, "Homilies of Pope John Paul II: His First Pilgrimage to the Homeland in 1979", which examined the process of diplomatic negotiation between the Polish episcopal conference and the Party in order to realize the pilgrimage, and its preparation of all programs in cooperation with the central and local government. Finally, I concluded that this historical event created a channel between the bishops and higher officials, priests and local administrators, the archdiocese of Warsaw and the provincial counterparts, clergymen and ordinary people, who are almost secularized.

Free Research Field

社会学