''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

weekly magazine, published in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha.

Jerzy Turowicz Jerzy Turowicz (; 10 December 1912 – 27 January 1999) was a leading Polish Catholic journalist and editor for much of the post-Second World War period. He was editor of the Catholic weekly ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' from 1945 until his death i ...

was its editor-in-chief until his death in 1999. He was succeeded by Adam Boniecki, a priest. ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' often covers politics, religion, culture, society,

Polish-Jewish relations The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

and international affairs. Its foreign department publishes stories by correspondents all over the world, including Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Writer and reporter

Wojciech Jagielski Wojciech Jagielski (born 12 September 1960) is a Polish people, Polish journalist and author. He has won acclaim for his reportage from conflict zones in the Transcaucasus, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa. He worked for the leading Polish ne ...

has been a member of the international department since 2017.

History

Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha helped found the weekly magazine ''Tygodnik Powszechny'', whose first edition was published on 24 March 1945, during the closing months of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Initially, its editorial staff had four people: Jan Piwowarczyk, a priest;

, editor-in-chief for many years; Konstanty Turowski and Maria Czapska. Later, they were joined by Zofia Starowieyska–Morstinowa,

Stefan Kisielewski Stefan Kisielewski (7 March 1911 in Warsaw – 27 September 1991 in Warsaw, Poland), nicknames Kisiel, Julia Hołyńska, Teodor Klon, Tomasz Staliński, was a Polish writer, publicist, composer and politician, and one of the members of Znak, one ...

Leopold Tyrmand Leopold Tyrmand (May 16, 1920 – March 19, 1985) was a Polish novelist, writer, and editor. Tyrmand emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1966, and five years later married an American, Mary Ellen Fox. He served as editor of an anti-com ...

, Antoni Gołubiew, Paweł Jasienica (until he was arrested by the communists in 1948), Stanisław Stomma, Hanna Malewska and Józefa Golmont–Hennelowa. In 1953, the weekly was suspended and lost its printing house after it had refused to print the obituary of Soviet Premier

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

. From 1953 to 1956, it was published by new editors, representing the pro-government

PAX Association The PAX Association () was a pro-communist Catholic organization created in 1947 in the People's Republic of Poland at the onset of the Stalinist period. The association published the ''Słowo Powszechne'' daily for almost fifty years between 19 ...

and was informally known as ''Tygodnik Paxowski''. The same format was used and numbering was continuous during that period although none of the previous editors still worked for the paper. After the 1956 Polish October, the "Thaw" allowed the original editors were able to resume control of the magazine in December. Columnists have included prominent clerics, such as Karol Wojtyła (later Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

), academics and poets, journalists and other writers, including Władysław Bartoszewski,

Jerzy Zawieyski Jerzy Zawieyski, born Henryk Nowicki, (2 October 1902, Radogoszcz, Piotrków Governorate – 18 June 1969, Warsaw) was a Polish playwright, prose writer, Catholic political activist and amateur stage actor. He wrote psychological, social, moral ...

, Jacek Woźniakowski, Stefan Wilkanowicz,

Adam Szostkiewicz Adam Dawid Szostkiewicz (; born 22 June 1952) is a Polish author, commentator on religion and politics, journalist and translator. Biography Szostkiewicz was born in Częstochowa. He studied Polish language and literature in the early seventies ...

Leszek Kołakowski Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his three-volume history, ''Main Currents of Marxism'' (1976). ...

Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...

Zbigniew Herbert Zbigniew Herbert (; 29 October 1924 – 28 July 1998) was a Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist. He is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. While he was first published in the 1950s (a volume titled ...

Wojciech Karpiński Wojciech Karpiński (11 May 1943 – 18 August 2020) was a Polish writer, historian of ideas and literary critic. Life Wojciech Karpiński was born on 11 May 1943 in Warsaw, the son of the architect Zbigniew Karpiński and a grandson of ...

, Tadeusz Kudliński and Czesław Zgorzelski.

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

published his poems in ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' for many years. In 1945, he prepared a handwritten volume of poems, ''Wiersze pół-perskie'', for Jerzy Turowicz, the editor. Forced into exile to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, Miłosz continued to publish in the magazine. After he received the Nobel Prize, it was the only magazine in which Miłosz published his poems. In the late 1950s, the newspaper became affiliated with the officially recognized political party Znak, which was newly organized in the wake of the "Thaw". When Znak helped establish the

Solidarity movement Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

, Father

Józef Tischner Józef Stanisław Tischner (12 March 1931 – 28 June 2000) was a Polish priest and philosopher. The first chaplain of the trade union, "Solidarity" (Polish ''Solidarność''). Life Tischner was born in Stary Sącz to a Góral family and gre ...

, one of the writers of the Krakov edition, became its chaplain. After martial law was declared, the magazine suspended its publication for several months. Since 1982, ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' has been published continuously. After Wojtyła was elected as Pope John Paul II, ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' became the most popular vehicle for his teachings in Poland. For a long time, it was the only magazine in the world to have gained an interview with the new pope, which was published 3 August 1980. In the 1980s, the magazine informally represented the Polish democratic opposition. It was sometimes regarded as the only legal oppositional magazine in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

(PRL). In 1987, it published a controversial essay by Jan Błoński, "The Poor Poles Look at the Ghetto" ("Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto"), which explored the historic relations between Catholic and Jewish Poles, and the experiences of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

during World War II. Since the 1990s, part of the church hierarchy has criticized ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' for what is considered to be its overly-liberal outlook. That does not reflect the parochial distribution of the magazine. In 1998, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz produced the documentary ''Ordinary Kindness'' (''Zwyczajna dobroć''), which told the story of Turowicz. In 1999, after the death of Turowicz, the chief editor became Father Adam Boniecki. In April 2007, the

ITI Group ITI Group (International Trading and Investments Holdings SA Luxembourg), known as Grupa ITI in Poland, was a large media conglomerate headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. On 2 July 2015, ITI Group and Canal+ Group complete the sale of their control ...

purchased 49% of the magazine. Since 5 December 2007, ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' has been published in a smaller size. Its format and editorial staff were also changed. In 2014, the magazine has changed its logo, layout and the format to attract younger readers.

Values

''Tygodnik Powszechny'' has tried to reconcile the values of liberalism with the principles of faith. It has presented an open ecumenical view of Polish

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, called by the editors an 'open Catholicism'. Its goal is a dialogue. Persons with non-Catholic ideas are invited to take part in printed debates. According to the analysis by

Jarosław Gowin Jarosław Adam Gowin (born 4 December 1961) is a Polish conservative politician and editor. Gowin served as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk between 2011 and 2013, and as Minister of Science and Higher Education i ...

, presented in his book ''Kościół w czasach wolności'' ("Church in the Times of Freedom"), the magazine is one of the main representatives of "open" Catholicism, inspired by Catholic personalism Sergiusz Kowalski. Sergiusz Kowalski, who analysed the history of the journal from 1993 to 1995, wrote, "The authors of ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' appreciate moderation, openness, readiness to dialogue and compromise, looking for a modus vivendi between liberal democracy and Church, between modernity and tradition" (Kowalski 1997: 148).

Criticism

In the time of the

(PRL), ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' was known to be the magazine that allowed publishing of some criticism of the communist authorities, although within the boundaries set by state censors. After 1989, the magazine was seen to represent one option in a dialogue within the Church that was called "open Catholicism", which received criticism from people of other circles. After 1989, ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' was believed to represent only one political party, the Democratic Union, which was later transformed into the Freedom Union. Many people involved in the magazine participated in the political changes of the era ( Józefa Hennelowa, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Krzysztof Kozłowski). The critics of the Cracow weekly magazine often quote the letter written by

on 15 May 1995, on the occasion of the magazine's 50th anniversary:

The year 1989 brought Poland deep changes connected with the downfall of the
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
system. Resumption of independence paradoxically coincided with an increased assault of secular left-wing parties and liberal groups directed against the Church, the
Episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
as well as against the Pope. I felt it especially in the context of my last visit to Poland in 1991. The point was to erase from the memory of citizens what was the role of the Church in the nation within the space of the last years. Accusations and slanders about clericalism were multiplying as well as those about the alleged intention of the Church to rule Poland and about hindering political emancipation in the Polish society. Forgive me, if I say that those influences were also visible in ''Tygodnik Powszechny''. In those difficult times, unfortunately the Church did not find in it any support and defense which in a way it could have expected: “it did not feel cherished enough” – like I once said.

– Letter of 15 May 1995 from John Paul II to

, editor-in-chief, ''Tygodnik Powszechny''

References

External links

Official website

Information in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tygodnik Powszechny 1945 establishments in Poland News magazines published in Poland Polish-language magazines Weekly magazines published in Poland Catholic Church in Poland Magazines established in 1945 Catholic magazines Mass media in Kraków

History

Values

Criticism

See also

Further reading

References

External links