In Poland, the communists took power in 1944/1945. However, this People’s Republic had a special status within the Warszaw Pact countries, because the regime had to respect the vast catholic majority to remain at power.
Bl. Stefan Kardinal Wyszyński, Primate of Poland, Archbishop of Gniezno and of Warszawa
Michał Klepacz, Bishop of Łódź , during the Primate’s imprisonment 1953 – 1956 President of the Polish Bishops Conference
During the first years it was difficult to predict the further developments. Therefore the Holy See gave special powers to Primate Augustyn Cardinal Hlond as well as to his successor Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński. Both had the faculty to appoint bishops in case of necessity without asking for a Roman placet before.
In fact, it became necessary to consecrate bishops in clandestinity only in former German eastern provinces which now became Polish western provinces. The Holy See did not acknowledge the new boundaries up to the German East Treaties in 1972. On the other hand, the Polish government demanded own regular Polish ordinaries for these regions. Therefore Primate Wyszyński saw himself forced to elect single clandestine bishops on 26.04.1951 to continue pastoral care there:
Theodor Bensch, Titular Bishop of Tabula; Pastoral Administrator Wrocław (in Gorzów)
Boleslaw Kominek, Titular Bishop of Sofene, Pastoral Administrator Wrocław
Edmund Nowicki, Titular Bishop of Adriane.
Bishops Bensch and Nowicki, who was responsible for Gdańsk, could be consecrated only on 21.09.1954; Valentin Dymek, Archbishop of Poznań, consecrated them in the chapel of his residence, with Franciszek Jedwabski and Lucjan Bernacki as co-consecrators. Bishop Kominek’s consecration followed on 10.10.1954 at Przemyśl by Mons. Franciszek Barda, Latin rite Bishop of Przemyśl, and co-consecrators Franciszek Jop and Wojciech Tomaka. All three bishops were published on 01.12.1956 and were able to resume their office. After the death of exiled Carl Maria Splett, the last German Bishop of Danzig, Mons. Nowicki became his successor in 1964, while Mons. Kominek became first Polish Archbishop of Wrocław in 1972 and a cardinal the following year.
On June 28, 1972, the Holy See erected an ordinary Polish hierarchy in the once German areas. On October 16, 1978, the cardinals assembled in Rome choosed Cracovian archbishop Karol Cardinal Wojtyła as new Supreme Pontiff of the Church. Two years later, this election partly led to the establishing of a free workers union in Poland and, as result, to the crackdown of communism in whole Europe.
St. John Paul II (1978 – 2005)