The ‘Islam Discourse’ in Poland since the Refugee Crisis 2015: Alliances and Conflicts between the PiS Party and the Polish Catholic Church

This paper focuses on the ‘Islam discourse’ in Poland since 2015 and its impact on the relations between the currently governing Law and Justice party (PiS - Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) and the Polish Catholic Church. The aim is to examine positions towards Islam of the Polish government and the Catholic Church in order to identify converging and diverging frames of religious concepts. The paper accounts for contextual factors such as Poland’s historically rooted symbiosis of Catholicism and nationalism as well as the pro-refugee stance of Pope Francis, which is in clear conflict with the view of large parts of the Polish Catholic Church. Recent studies on relationships between populist parties and church actors within current ‘Islam discourses’ particularly focus on Western democracies. In this context, Western right-wing populists have been criticized by church representatives who have blamed them of exploiting pro-Christian religious narratives for their anti-Islam agenda. Therefore, studies on the Western context have disclosed a conflict of interests between populists and Church actors. In contrast, Poland sets an example of a close relationship between populist right-wing parties and numerous church authorities. Being in line with the Polish government’s populist ideology, many Polish church actors see Pope Francis responsible for the raise of liberal elitist forces which, in their view, endanger Catholic values and traditions. Although Poland’s symbiosis of Catholicism and nationalism constitutes a unique feature in theEuropean Union, Poland’s alliance of populist and ecclesial actors reflects a broader trend in Eastern Europe. In this context, this research paper wants to provide missing insights for a more systematic research of the relationship between right-wing parties and church actors. In doing so, the empirical approach of this paper will be based on a qualitative frame analysis examining selected material such as manifestos, public documents, press releases, and official websites of the PiS party and Church authorities. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews with parliamentarians of the PiS-party as well as Church representatives are planned to be conducted in order to draw a precise picture of the diverging discourses on Islam between Warsaw, (parts) of the Polish Catholic Church and the Vatican. Pope Francis’ appeal to embrace strangers in need has not only caused conflicts within the Polish Church but has also put the alliance between populist and ecclesial actors under moral pressure. Hence, it remains to be seen if the alliance of PiS politicians and representatives of right-wing Catholicism can maintain their credibility of being the true guards of Catholic values and principles.