Warsaw Archbishop – don’t play politics with the cross

For the first time since the Smolensk cross conflict broke out weeks days ago, Warsaw’s Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz has laid out the official line of Poland’s Roman Catholic church on the issue – not to drag a religious symbol into a political dispute.

At a rare press conference on Thursday, Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz called for the cross commemorating the Smolensk victims to be moved from outside of the Presidential Palace to St. Anne’s Church, as the Roman Catholic church officials agreed with President Bronislaw Komorowski last week.

So far Church authorities have tried not to get dragged into the controversy but after a series of protests by both self-styled Defenders of the Cross and secular opponents, Poland’s Episcopate has called for the Chancellery of the President, the government, politicians, cross defenders and opponents not to escalate the conflict still further.

“The issue got out of control during the presidential election campaign and both defenders and opponents of the cross have been used for political purposes,” said Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz today.

The Archbishop added that the cross should not be the object of mockery but it cannot be moved by force, either.

Nycz also asked for two different issues not to become confused: the commemoration of the Smolensk victims and the erection of Lech Kaczynski’s monument.

“The cross cannot be held hostage to a political dispute,” said the Archbishop.

Nycz added that a cross and other religious symbols can exist in public space but a row over the cross should not lead to questions of freedom of faith guaranteed by the Constitution.

SIC: TNPL