Published: 2025-01-25

Attempts to appoint Bishop Józef Gawlina as ordinary in Katowice (1948) in the light of materials from the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State

Michał Kłakus Logo ORCID

Abstract

In the first months after the end of World War II, some Polish bishops supported the new authorities in the process of rebuilding the country. The bishop of Katowice, Stanisław Adamski, belonged to this group. The Vatican Secretariat of State was informed about his initiatives in this direction. In Rome he was considered willing to cooperate with the communist authorities. In May 1947, Bishop Adamski became partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke. In his place, the Holy See intended to appoint the current field bishop Józef Gawlina.
In January 1948, he began preparations to return to the country. The opposition of the Warsaw government prevented the implementation of these plans. The analysis of previously unknown materials from the the Historical Archive of the Secretariat of State allows not only to supplement the knowledge on this subject, but also to show the motives of the main actors of the events (the Vatican, the Primate of Poland, the Bishop of Katowice, the Polish government in exile).

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Citation rules

Kłakus, M. (2025). Attempts to appoint Bishop Józef Gawlina as ordinary in Katowice (1948) in the light of materials from the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State. Śląskie Studia Historyczno-Teologiczne, 57(1), 7–19. Retrieved from https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/ssht/article/view/15787

Vol. 57 No. 1 (2024)
Published: 2025-01-25


ISSN: 0137-3447
eISSN: 2956-6185

Publisher
Księgarnia św. Jacka

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