“Unholy Alliance”: Identification and prevention of ideological and religious frames between right-wing populism and christianity in Poland

Abstract

Since 2015, power in Poland has been exercised by the right-wing populist coalition, led by the socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. The deconfliction mark of these governments became the “unholy alliance” with Christianity, which was a movement that used populist manipulation based on exacerbating social dichotomy, campaigning against the LGBT community, nationalism, xenophobia, attitudes of rejection, anti-pluralism and anti-establishment. In this context, the aim of this article is to theoretically analyse the ideological and religious frames between right-wing populism and Christianity in Poland. The considerations begin with the presentation of the theoretical background, that is, the relationship that exists between the populist “thin-core ideology” and Christianity within the framework of ideological appropriation of religion by populists. Furthermore, the author will make an attempt to decipher mutual influences and seek answers to the question: How did PiS “hijack” the Catholic Church in Poland? The next step will present a comparative identification of convergent and divergent frameworks between right-wing populists and the Catholic Church in Poland. Finally, the article will outline indications for the socio-pastoral prevention of populism and a summary of the main results.