Abstract

Primate of Poland Józef Glemp took office in a completely different media reality than the current one, in the times of state censorship in the People’s Republic of Poland. Nevertheless, he started working with journalists. The aim of this article is to examine the style of media communication of Archbishop Józef Glemp in the first weeks after his nomination to the office of the Primate of Poland, in the period from July 7, 1981 to September 14, 1981. The research material consists of the Polish and foreign press from July – September 1981. A review of the Primate’s statements for Polish television in the same period was also made, and a query of documents related to the beginnings of the office of the Primate collected in three archives: the Archdiocese of Warsaw, the Secretariat of the Primate of Poland in Warsaw and Polish Bishops’ Conference in Warsaw. The following research methods were adopted: desk research, the method of content analysis and, as an auxiliary method, the method of analyzing the context of the press discourse. As the results of the analysis undertaken in this article show, Primate of Poland Józef Glemp created a new style of communication and cooperation between the clergy and the media and contributed to the opening of the Church to the media.