It seemed like a scene from a police movie, with agents storming a hideout of criminals: six hooded police officers entering the building, “armed” with cameras, drones flying in the air; the police searching the rooms and photographing the interiors: the operation lasted two hours. The problem is that this was not fiction, but a real event that occurred in Lublin, where on December 19, 2024, under orders from the National Prosecutor’s Office, officers stormed the historic Dominican friary, violating and desecrating the monks’ cells. Scenes worthy of a totalitarian country, not a country that proclaims itself democratic like the Republic of Poland governed by Tusk.
According to official documents, the objective of this shameful action was to search for Deputy Marcin Romanowski, wanted with an arrest warrant. However, why was Mr. Romanowski being sought in the Lublin friary? On what grounds? The search provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Article 219 of the Penal Code) presupposes reasonable suspicion of the presence of a suspect in a given place. But as early as December 19, pro-government media openly reported that the deputy was abroad: there was talk of Spain or Hungary. Thus, what happened was a farce, an action purely demonstrative and repressive in nature.
This brutal and unprecedented raid on the Dominican Monastery of Saint Stanislaus in Lublin has caused great indignation in various sectors of Polish society. According to the Association of Lawyers for Poland, not only have national laws been violated: the government has breached Article 8, paragraph 3 of the Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland. “This document,” the lawyers write, “clearly guarantees the inviolability of places of worship, and any activity in such places is possible only with the consent of ecclesiastical authorities or in exceptional situations where life, health, or property are at risk.” “Whose life, whose health was at risk in this grotesque operation?” they ask rhetorically.
The Lawyers for Poland have no doubt about the motivations of the authorities of the current government: “The purpose of this action was not to enforce the law or justice, but to humiliate the clergy and write another chapter in the political war against the Catholic Church. The government, which has long obsessively denounced Catholic influence in Poland, has decided to take another step and launch a symbolic attack on one of the bastions of spirituality.” Could it be any clearer?
The lawyers, firmly condemning this shameful action, invite those in power to step back. “Each new case of law violation distances us from the group of civilized countries and leads Poland towards the abyss of authoritarianism. We demand the immediate punishment of those responsible and the restoration of respect for the law and ethical standards in state actions,” the lawyers insist.
The Dominicans themselves have also reacted to the shameful police action. Father Łukasz Wiśniewski, Polish provincial of the Dominicans, in a letter addressed to Father Dariusz Wilk CSMA, President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Religious Orders in Poland, wrote: “The case is surprising because none of the brothers in the Lublin friary know Mr. Romanowski or have ever spoken with him. Additionally, Mr. Romanowski has no contact with the Lublin friary. At the same time, at the moment of the search, the media had already reported that Mr. Romanowski was in Hungary, where he had been granted political asylum. The search is an unprecedented act. What is shocking is the fact that the brothers were suspected of hiding a man wanted with an arrest warrant.” In this unfortunate situation, the Dominicans have decided to file a complaint with the National Prosecutor’s Office denouncing the actions taken. “As a Province, we will submit a request to access the records regarding the reasons why it was suspected that Mr. Romanowski was hiding in the Lublin friary,” the friars declare.
What is happening in Poland, governed by politicians supported by the Brussels oligarchies, by politicians who wanted to restore the rule of law and continuously violate the Constitution and the laws? According to the Lawyers for Poland, “the raid on the Lublin friary was carried out under the aegis of the National Prosecutor’s Office, which since January 2024 has been taken over by politician Adam Bodnar and his puppet prosecutors. Instead of enforcing the law, they have brought the institution into a state of chaos and anarchy. It is not without reason that the rulings of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Tribunal highlight devastating violations in the functioning of this institution.” So the question arises: why do the supposed defenders of legality and justice in Brussels not react, who attacked the Poland of the previous conservative government and deprived the country of European funds?
