The Polish government said Tuesday it has protested to the Vatican after two bishops issued scathing criticism of Warsaw’s migration policies.
Poland said the bishops, who are close to the country’s nationalist movements, were interfering in domestic politics and harming relations with Germany.
“We do not consent to statements containing hurtful and unacceptable words, which undermine the fundamental principles of human dignity, as well as the sovereignty of the government of the Republic of Poland”, the Polish ministry of foreign affairs said in a letter delivered to the Vatican by the Polish ambassador to the Holy See.
Last week, Bishop Antoni Dlugosz, from Czestochowa, openly supported the ultranationalist “Border Defence” movement that organises “citizens’ patrols” at Polish-German border crossings. The government says the patrols are illegal.
Poland recently reintroduced border controls with Germany to stem the flow of illegal immigration, but the nationalist opposition and far right accuse the pro-European government of “abdicating” to Germany on migration, accusing it of allowing Berlin to swamp Poland with migrants.
The Bishop of Wloclawek, Wieslaw Mering, called the government “political gangsters” and quoted a 17th century Polish poet who wrote that there could never be understanding between Poles and Germans.
He compared events along the German border with that of Belarus. The Belarus and Russian governments have been accused of encouraging migrants to cross the border to destabilise the European Union.
“The borders of our country are equally threatened from the west and the east,” Mering said.
The “unacceptable” statements “undermine good Polish-German relations, slander the government and represent clear support for nationalist circles”, according to a foreign ministry letter to the Vatican which expressed “deep indignation”.