Populism, Neo-Traditionalism and the Backlash Against Catholic Church in Post-2015 Poland

The accelerated change of the era of globalization (Eriksen 2016), the post-transformational fatigue experience by the region of Central and Eastern Europe (Kubik 2017), led – among others – to a return to traditional values and the safe boundaries of ethnic, religious and national communities (Mach 2018). In Poland, the familiar confluence of national and religious values could be observed in the populist discourses of the right-wing parties, in particular Law and Justice, which came to power in 2015. Law and Justice has links with large sections of the mainstream Catholic Church, but also with the more radical group within the Church, the milieu of Father Rydzyk and his Radio Maryja, as well as ultra-conservative association Ordo Iuris. Recently, the backlash against the Catholic Church and its relations with the world of politics has, however, intensified. This paper focuses on cultural critiques of the Church, more specifically, the theatre play “Klątwa” [The Grudge] (2017) directed by Oliver Frljić, and the movie “Kler” [Clergy] (2018) directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, and the ensuing public debates on the role of religion and the institutions of the Catholic Church in Poland. These debates reveal a deep polarization among the Polish society, which exacerbated since the populist turn of 2015. It thus appears that the populist use of highly ideological elements, related among others to religious values, leads to further strengthening of the neo-traditionalist attitudes on the one hand, but also of the progressive, secularist worldview on the other.