Authors

Joanna Lastun¹;  ¹ University of Birmingham, UK

Discussion

Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Catholic priest closely associated with Solidarność (Solidarity), was murdered by the Communist state in 1984. Whilst the role of Pope John Paul II and the institutional Church in Polish opposition is well known, this paper addresses how ordinary Poles responded to Popiełuszko’s abduction and murder. Through an analysis of language, it argues that these responses played a formative role in reshaping state-society relations. In this process, Catholicism emerged as a distinctly lived channel of resistance under and against the state apparatus. Drawing on state operational reports, daily information notes, letters, and Solidarność materials, the paper traces how public reactions, whilst retaining a devotional core, moved from pious expressions of mourning to increasingly assertive and confrontational. Solidarność’s involvement sharpened this evolution, turning mourning into a complex interplay of piety and explicit political contestation, and creating an emotionally charged counter-discourse to the state-spun narrative. To elucidate the endurance of this devotional-political register, the paper also examines responses to the Toruń trial, which failed to pacify public opinion and instead opened a new arena where devotional piety and political contestation resurfaced. However, the trial also bore contradictions: alongside devotional expressions of grief, some voices defended the accused, exposing the contested and morally complex terrain of 1980s Poland. The paper ultimately argues that the abduction and murder of Jerzy Popiełuszko contributed to the shift in the emotional landscape of 1980s Poland. This reinforced a distinctive synergy between Catholic devotion and political opposition; one not universal, yet overwhelmingly significant, which helped consolidate the role of Catholicism as both solace and instrument of resistance within wider currents of Polish opposition.