ABSTRACT
The role of the Catholic Church in the Polish political transformation process is important and unambiguous. Generally speaking, the activity of the Church in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) favored the formation of independent attitudes and beliefs in society. The Church progressively became a voice of fundamental social values and a defender of freedom and pro-democracy initiatives— even if these were the initiatives of groups that were not tied to the faith or the Church, or were even quite distanced from them, in fact, as was sometimes the case with democratic opposition circles in the 1970s. On the other hand, significant gestures made by representatives of these environments were conducive to creating a common social and political front with the Church in the struggle with the party/state for democracy and civil rights. I am speaking of such significant gestures as the famous book by Adam Michnik, one of the organizers of the Workers’ Defense Committee, The Church and the Left, which still has great symbolic value today. 2
