The last great hope of Europe recently seems to be willing to walk the secular path of relativism seen in neighboring nations. Church Militant’s Paul Murano looks at why faithful Catholics are lamenting Poland’s recent moves on the COVID jab and the unborn.
Poland, the homeland of 20th-century saints Faustina Kowalska and John Paul II — and the first nation to spark a solidarity that would eventually take down the Iron Curtain — is now following its secularized neighbors in dealing with abortion-tainted vaccines, and COVID restrictions in general.
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announced Tuesday that all medical professionals, military personnel, police, firefighters and teachers be fully vaccinated or face termination. Further, beginning Dec. 15, a 30% capacity requirement will be enforced for all of Poland’s theaters, hotels, restaurants and churches. And beginning around Christmas, the nation’s schools will shift to online learning.
Catholic Poland is following the repressive direction Austria and Germany have taken.
And sadly, the last Catholic hope of Europe also may be getting soft on abortion. Most preborn lives are protected in Poland, but signs indicate the right to life may now be under threat.
Polish mother (in Polish): “Today the thing that worries me the most is that there are a lot of young, single people — they don’t feel the need to start a family. They want sexual freedom.”
Thousands recently protested in Warsaw for a change in the law, and last Thursday Poland’s ruling party led by Prime Minister Andrzej Duda overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would punish anyone who assists in killing an unborn child with 25 years imprisonment.
Faithful Catholics are a little uncomfortable with the recent shift in what they believe to be Europe’s last hope of Catholic resistance.
Despite over 50% of Poles being vaccinated, they’ve had a recent surge in COVID cases to rival numbers from last year before the vaccine was distributed.
