#EU #Poland #Warsaw – Archbishop Adrian Galbas, the Metropolitan of Warsaw, issued a public appeal on Friday evening calling on the faithful to pray for Poland amid escalating tensions surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal.
In a message posted to his Facebook profile, Galbas wrote that, “in the context of the actions around the Constitutional Tribunal,” he asked all believers to pray for the Fatherland. He urged prayer “for social peace, and for those in power for the gift of prudence and humility,” adding that he hoped “all those exercising power” would “act honestly and in accordance with the law.” He invoked the intercession of Mary Queen of Poland and the nation’s patron saints.
The statement marked one of the first public responses from a senior figure in the Polish Catholic Church to the confrontation that unfolded that evening outside the tribunal’s headquarters on Aleja Szucha in central Warsaw.
The crisis intensified after Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced a one-month suspension of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, and said she was temporarily assuming leadership of the court. Święczkowski and the tribunal’s official channels rejected the move, describing it as an illegal “coup d’état.” Police deployed around the building amid protests by supporters of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party; some demonstrators chanted slogans against Prime Minister Donald Tusk and attempted to force entry. President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally who was en route to Senegal, ordered his plane to turn around and return to Warsaw, stating that the president needed to be in the country at such a moment. Tusk defended the government’s steps as necessary to restore the rule of law after years of what he has called PiS-era lawlessness.
Galbas’s appeal remained carefully non-partisan. It did not characterize the events as a coup, endorse any specific legal interpretation of the suspensions or police presence, or name political actors. Instead, it focused on social peace and the moral obligations of those in authority.
The 58-year-old archbishop, a member of the Pallottine order, has led the Archdiocese of Warsaw since December 2024, succeeding Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz. In a homily delivered earlier in October on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, Galbas had warned against the concentration of power, noting that democracy requires dispersed authority and separation of powers so that no group can seize “total power,” from which totalitarianism is not far removed. He has also previously called for political reconciliation and for respect for the constitution by all sides.
Polish media noted that the Friday evening statement was read aloud at least in part during the ongoing protest outside the tribunal building. As of early Saturday, the broader Polish Bishops’ Conference had not issued a separate joint communiqué on the latest developments.
Cover Image: Archbishop Adrian Galbas (left) and a scene from the police blockade at the Constitutional Tribunal.
