Pope Pius XI cited condemning Communism’s class struggle, loss of private property, ‘cruelty and inhumanity.’
Newsroom (31/01/2026 11:00, Gaudium Press) Citing papal encyclicals condemning Communism, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal unanimously ruled on 3 December 2025 that the Communist Party of Poland (KPP), founded in 2002, is incompatible with the 1997 Constitution, which banned such organizations and ordered its removal from the national register of political parties.
The court declared that the party’s program adopts ideological principles and methods associated with totalitarian communist regimes, which are explicitly prohibited by the Polish Constitution.
‘There is no place in the Polish legal system for a party that glorifies criminals and communist regimes responsible for the deaths of millions of human beings, including our compatriots,’ Judge Krystyna Pawłowicz said in presenting the court’s reasoning. ‘Nor is there any place for the use of symbols that clearly refer to the criminal ideology of Communism.’
Constitutional ban on totalitarian ideologies
In its ruling, the court relied on Article 13 of the Polish Constitution, which prohibits political parties or organizations whose program refer to totalitarian methods and practices, including those associated with Nazism, Fascism or Communism.
The Constitution also prohibits groups that promote racial or national hatred, incite violence to seize political power, or operate with secret structures or undisclosed members.
After reviewing the party’s documents, ideology, and activities, the court concluded that the KPP’s stated objectives were aligned with communist totalitarianism and therefore violated Article 13.
The decision comes nearly five years after Poland’s former justice minister and attorney general, Zbigniew Ziobro, filed a request with the court to ban the KPP. Last month, Polish President Karol Nawrocki also filed his own request.
Church teachings on communism
The KPP identifies itself as the ideological heir to several earlier communist movements in Polish history, including the Communist Party of Poland (1918-1938) and its precursor, the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (1893-1918). It also claims continuity with the post-war Polish Workers’ Party (1942-1948) and the Polish United Workers’ Party, which ruled the country during the communist era from 1948 to 1990.
In its written justification, the court took the unusual step of citing Catholic social doctrine, quoting passages from two papal encyclicals condemning communism.
The judges cited Pope Pius XI‘s 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, which condemns Communism’s reliance on class struggle, the abolition of private property, and its record of ‘cruelty and inhumanity’ in Eastern Europe and Asia.
They also cited Pope Pius XI’s later encyclical, Divini Redemptoris (1937), which warns that Communist movements seek to exacerbate class antagonisms and justify violence against those they perceive as opponents in the name of ‘progress.’
The court used these texts to illustrate what it described as the inherently totalitarian nature of the ideology underlying the party’s program. They also served as historical evidence of the documented practices of Communism and its global impact, well understood by the drafters of Poland’s post-Communist Constitution.
The party will be removed from the register
The judges concluded that the KPP’s activities violate constitutional prohibitions on organizations that refer to totalitarian methods, ordering the party’s removal from the national register and its effective dissolution.
During the hearing, KPP national executive committee chairwoman Beata Karoń argued that while her party has ‘a clear vision of what it wants,’ if the proposals are not attractive, the party will simply not gain support in elections.
The ruling reflects the broader challenge facing countries that were under Soviet rule, which continue to grapple with the political and cultural wounds of the Communist regime as they work to rebuild their institutions and identity in a post-totalitarian era.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm with files from Catholic News Agency.
Related Images:
