(2 of 2)
The church's stance on abortion has hardly endeared it to the 59% of the population that favors legalized abortion with or without limitations. Even some churchmen are uneasy. Says Father Roman Indrzejczyk, a parish priest in the Zoliborz district of Warsaw: "The church's role is to deepen morality, not to dictate it."
The church's power stems less from mass popularity or direct intervention than from its pervasive influence on politicians. It vetted Solidarity's candidates in the parliamentary election of June 4, 1989, and their landslide victory was helped by unbridled electioneering from the country's pulpits. With Poland gearing up for new balloting later this year, notes Stanislaw Podemski, a commentator on legal issues for the weekly Polityka, "parliamentary Deputies won't speak openly against church positions for fear of being vilified as atheists by priests in their electoral districts."
Politicians who think serving the church is the best way to further their careers might in fact be miscalculating. There are indications that public opposition is growing to the church's sometimes bumbling attempts to meddle in political issues. An April poll showed that public trust in the church had dropped to 69% from 78% in December. "The abortion issue and the fight over religion in the schools have had a negative effect on the future of the Catholic Church in Poland," says Zofia Kuratowska, a physician and deputy speaker of the Senate. "People don't want that kind of influence on their private lives."
Some analysts say anticlericalism, which is deeply rooted, is gradually becoming an effective political issue again. "The church was a moral force under communism, but after 1989 some people began using their allegiance to it as a political tactic," says Bronislaw Geremek, the parliamentary leader of the centrist Democratic Union and a longtime Solidarity activist. "We're seeing a reaction to that now, and, step by step, we're returning to a healthy situation." As democratic institutions gain in stature and experience, the church is likely to be squeezed out of the political realm. But with the country still lurching through political and economic tribulations, the pulpit will remain a potent political force -- as well as, for many, a bulwark against despair.