The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has accused governments of using the coronavirus crisis to restrict democracy and further their “authoritarian aspirations”, and urged Church leaders to begin reasserting their “autonomy and sovereignty”.

“We’ve witnessed an unprecedented treatment of the Church by the state – unilaterally suspending any kind of gathering and making Masses and liturgies unavailable,” said Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the conference president. “Nothing like this has happened in the Church’s 2000-year history, not even during the wars, bombardments and plagues which often afflicted our country’s people.”

In an article for the Polish Church’s Catholic Information Agency (KAI), the archbishop said government restrictions had violated Poland’s 1993 Vatican Concordat and 1997 constitution, by failing to uphold Church rights or comply with legislative and consultative requirements.

“We were informed of decisions already taken, a few hours before they were announced, without any conversations about their legitimacy or proportionality, or any dialogue”, Archbishop Gadecki added. “The Church was treated worse than a commercial enterprise – as an area not necessary for life. Past governments never dared muzzle the Church in such drastic ways, displaying total disrespect for its role.”