Poland: Lech Walesa against Radio Maryja

The former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, has declared war on Radio Maryja, a powerful Catholic broadcaster. In an open letter, the founder of the union Solidarity described the radio as a “club for practicing non-believers” which is sowing the seeds of hatred and defiling the name of the Mother of God. He launched an appeal to Polish Catholics not to give another cent to the founder of Radio Maryja, the Redemptorist Fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk.

Radio Maryja – whose publicity slogan is: “the Catholic voice in your home” – is broadcasted on short wave and by satellite; it has been received by millions of regular listeners throughout the country for more than a decade. Founded by Fr. Rydzyk in 1991, independent of the episcopate, Radio Maryja is allied with a veritable press and publishing network, as well as a very active associated organization.

The radio station, whose general headquarters are situated in the town of Torun in the north of Poland, offers its faithful listeners prayers, canticles, but also political analyses: it has led a campaign against Poland’s membership of the European Union.

Walesa – much discredited in the eyes of his compatriots – accuses Fr. Rydzyk of having succumbed to the “murmurings of the devil” in order to destroy Poland and the Catholic faith. This is his response to attacks by Radio Maryja which reproach him for not having cleaned out the communist political establishment when he was president of the Polish state in the 1990s.

The radio has been targeted several times in the past by the Polish Bishops Conference, notably for its political stands.