Solidarity In The Catholic Church

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Solidarity began with Lech Wałęsa, who was a Polish electrician that had seen the shootings at Gdansk shipyard in 1970 during the infamous 1970 Polish protests (Gaddis, 2005). The protests were a result of opposition due to the communist regime increasing the prices of food and other items (University at Buffalo, 2000). With the Pope's picture next to him, he announced the formation of Solidarity in August, 1980 (Donovan, 2005). The pen that he co-signed the charter for Solidarity had the image of John Paul II (Gaddis, 2005). Lech Wałęsa would later credit John Paul II with giving Poles the courage to demand change (CNN, 2005).

During the first trip to Poland that Pope John Paul II took, he uplifted the nation's spirit and “sparked the formation of the Solidarity” (Gaddis, 2005). When Solidarity went underground, the Pope aided Solidarity with moral support, while American trade unions gave financial support (Donovan, 2005).

Jerzy Popiełuszko, an important member of the Catholic Church was a charismatic priest who connected with the workers and the trade unionists from Solidarity (BBC). He had sermons that contained “spiritual exhortations” combined with political messages, as well as criticizing the Communist system as well as motivating people to protest. During the period of martial law, The Catholic …show more content…
This was mainly due to support of famous leaders such as Ronald Reagan and the Pope (Garton Ash, 2002). Solidarity also grew as the ROPCiO melted into Solidarity (Czuma). Allegedly the Vatican Bank funded Solidarity also (Lewis, 1982, July 28). Economic sanctions were imposed by US President Ronald Reagan on Poland and consequently forced the Polish communist regime to “liberalize their policies” (Neier, 2003). At the same time the Catholic Church, the CIA and Western trade unions like “AFL-CIO” provided the equipment, advice and funds that Solidarity underground needed. (Hannaford,
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