Państwo polskie a Kościół katolicki w ujęciu historycznym
The Polish State and the Catholic Church in the Historical Development

Summary/Abstract: On the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of Poland’s baptism the author discusses the problem: what is the significance of this event with respect to religion, politics, culture and law. The deep significance – in his opinion – consists in the fact that Mieszko I’s baptism started including the tribes of the Polans and the neighboring Slavic tribes to three communities, that is to: 1) the Catholic Church, the religious community created by Christ; 2) the Polish state, the political community created by Prince Mieszko I; 3) the Polish nation, the cultural community built during the ages on the basis of the values rooted in the culture of the Slavic tribes, enriched with the values of the Christian religion and of the Greco-Roman culture.In analyzing the principles of the relation between the state and the Church the author employs two criteria. The first one is the axiom of the religious-political dualism, formed in the European culture on the basis of Christ’s order: “give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.” (Matt 22, 17-21; Luke 20,25). The second criterion is the safety of the state and respecting the independence of the state and the Church, each of them in its own scope, as well as their cooperation for the good of man and for the common good. In the history of the relations between the state and the Church in Poland there were the following periods: 1) First Republic of Poland; 2) Partitions of Poland; 3) Second Republic of Poland; 4) Occupation, comprising two sub-periods: a) the German and Soviet occupation during the Second World War, b) the communist dictatorship in the Polish People’s Republic; 5) Third Republic of Poland, in which the religious-political dualism is guaranteed in the Polish Constitution of 1997 and in the Concordat of 1993; but in the process of Poland’s integration in the European Union attempts are made to impose ideological-political monism in the neo-liberal version.

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