Poland's bishops have appealed for de-escalation and prayer amid a deepening standoff over the country's Constitutional Tribunal, warning that the dispute is driving a "deep crisis of the state."
"It is not the role of the Church to adjudicate the causes of this dispute or the responsibility for the lack of its resolution," the Presidium of the Polish Bishops' Conference, headed by Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, said in an Oct. 31 statement.
The Polish prelates called on politicians to calm the conflict and asked for "the initiation of constructive dialogue and the peaceful resolution of all difficulties."
The bishops appealed to the faithful to pray "for light and wisdom for the rulers and all those responsible for public life."
Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno, Poland's primate, urged all sides of the political dispute to "seek a common solution" through talks. The heads of Poland's religious orders called for dialogue "on the basis of respect for the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the applicable legal order."
Archbishop Andrzej Przybylski of Katowice and military Bishop Wieslaw Lechowicz also urged prayer.
A fight over the bench
The tribunal decides whether Polish laws are constitutional. Who gets to sit on it has been contested since 2015.
This term the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, elected eight judges. President Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the opposition Law and Justice party, swore in three. The other five took their oath in parliament instead, and Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski barred them from ruling.
On Oct. 30 one of the five, Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, struck back. She suspended Swieczkowski and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski, for one month. The court's official account on X replied that she "is not a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal." Many legal experts doubt she had the power to issue the order, though some say it can be justified as a case of "higher constitutional necessity."
Nawrocki turned his plane around on the way to Senegal and was inside the building in the early hours of Oct. 31. A statement in his name, read out by Pawel Szefernaker, head of the president's cabinet, called the night's events "a forcible takeover of a constitutional body." Hundreds of people gathered outside.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk was just as blunt in a televised address: "In certain matters, there can be no compromise."
Others want to start over. Szymon Holownia, whose Poland 2050 party sits in Tusk's coalition, has backed a "constitutional reset" — a move that would replace the entire bench. This idea has long been pushed by the opposition right-wing Confederation and left-wing Together parties.
Either way, Tuesday may not settle anything: The daily Rzeczpospolita reported that none of the judges seated before the current parliament will attend the assembly Korwin-Piotrowska has called for Nov. 3. Without them, it would fall short of its quorum of 10.
European Union reactions
In Brussels and Strasbourg, reactions split along political lines: Michael McGrath, the EU justice commissioner, told Politico the tribunal "needs to be able to function in accordance with the Polish constitution and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU" and that "the Venice Commission has been clear that appointing the new judges lies within the power of the Sejm."
The Venice Commission is the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional law.
However, McGrath stopped short of backing the suspensions, and conservatives in the European Parliament saw it the other way.
"The Tusk government's actions constitute a clear and grave violation of the rule of law," said Nicola Procaccini, co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists group. "We support President Nawrocki in defending Poland's constitutional order."
