海角大神

When Pope John Paul II returned to visit his native country of , he was greeted by political and religious leaders at the airport. Two million onlookers cheered him as he was driven into Warsaw. And while the former pope said the trip was purely religious, that visit has been characterized as a formative blow against Soviet communism鈥檚 hold in Poland. Former Czechoslovakian president聽and political thinker V谩clav Havel called it a 鈥溾�� for the Polish people.

When Pope Francis arrives in Poland tomorrow for a five day trip centered around World Youth Day, he may receive than what greeted John Paul II nearly four decades ago, observers say.聽

Poland is still a bastion of Catholicism. Ninety-two percent of the country identifies as Catholic, and on a weekly basis, The New York Times reports.聽Yet Francis will find himself in a nation that experts say is out of step with some of his positions, such as his聽increased tolerance of homosexuality and divorce.

A central point of contention likely to emerge during the trip is Poland鈥檚 stance on refugees: Francis has been vocal in his belief that there is a 海角大神 duty to look after those in need. This spring, he took in twelve refugee families in the Vatican, and expressed his hopes that "all our brothers and sisters on this continent, like the Good Samaritan" aid refugees "in the spirit of fraternity, solidarity, and respect for human dignity that has distinguished its long history.鈥澛�

Poland's ultraconservative government has taken聽a different approach in its response to Europe's influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

This past spring, Poland鈥檚 newly elected Law and Justice (PiS) party leaders backed out of an agreement made during the previous administration, where the country agreed to accept as part of the European Union鈥檚 quota plan.聽

鈥淚 don鈥檛 see a possibility to implement this decision and I can鈥檛 see it happen also in most EU countries,鈥� said Konrad Szyma艅ski, Poland's deputy foreign minister, in an interview with Polish newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna this spring. 鈥�.鈥�

The rise of the PiS marked a swing to the far-right for Poland. Following the election last May of President Andrzej Duda, the country,聽which had emerged as a beacon of new democracy in the post-Soviet era, has seen a tighter grip on media and state controls. Though Mr. Duda won with just over 50 percent of the vote, the PiS went on to win a resounding victory in parliamentary elections last October. A May article in 海角大神 describes the shifting mood in the nation:

Now that PiS is in power, the liberals are the object of derision. Witold Waszczykowski, Poland鈥檚 foreign minister, criticized his predecessors, members of the pro-business, pro-EU Civic Platform, for moving Poland into a nation made up of 'a new mixture of cultures and races, a world made up of cyclists and vegetarians, who only use renewable energy and fight all forms of religion.'

Those views have been mirrored in the politics of asylum and accepting refugees.

In 2014, the country accepted 鈥� a stark contrast to Sweden, for example, which welcomes 8.43 asylum-seekers for every 1000 citizens.聽Jaroslaw Kaczy艅ski, who heads PiS, said last year that the refugees were bringing 鈥渧arious 鈥� to Europe.

At the popular level, reasons for opposition to migrants varies, 海角大神 reports 鈥� some Poles are worried about job security, while others are concerned about taking in non-海角大神s in large numbers.

Others fear that national security will be compromised by refugees of Muslim faith, as national parliamentarian Jerzy Paul told 海角大神 this spring: 鈥淧eople here are not against their religion but against terrorism. Poles who emigrated usually have jobs, help to build economies, and they integrate with local societies. They don鈥檛 terrorize others.鈥�

The pope has been critical of such rhetoric. On Saturday the Vatican issued a statement that mentioned a political climate in Poland where 鈥渇ears are fed by some political parties and by inappropriate statements by politicians;鈥� it denounced an 鈥�.鈥� The statement was revised the next day to remove these statements, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Polish Catholic leaders themselves have not openly broken with the pope; on the contrary, the Rev. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik has told the Associated Press that the bishops have also 聽last year.

But University of Maryland history professor Piotr Kosicki says that are aligned with the government鈥檚 conservative and nationalist leanings. As a result, he tells the AP, 鈥渢he substance of what [Francis] says doesn鈥檛 compute for the vast majority of Poland.鈥�