The Politics of Pilgrimage: The Legacy of John Paul II’s Pilgrimages to Communist and Post-Communist Poland

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  • Newhall, Elizabeth Grace
    • College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Global Studies
Abstract
  • This thesis examines the political and emotional influence of Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimages to Poland during the communist era, analyzing their role in shaping both resistance and long-term Church-State dynamics. While the Catholic Church is often remembered as a close ally of the Solidarity Movement, this disquisition argues that its legacy is more complex. Through a close analysis of John Paul II’s first (1979), second (1983), and fourth (1991) visits, this study explores how the Church cultivated a form of Catholic nationalism grounded in socially conservative values. Drawing on affective geopolitics, the thesis highlights how the emotional and symbolic power of the pilgrimages legitimized the Church’s influence in politics. This influence enabled the Church to operate with limited state interference, creating a space of ideological pluralism. Yet paradoxically, that pluralism was expressed through a vision of an ethnically and morally unified Poland, shaped by conservative and nationalist ideals.
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  • In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Advisor
  • Rose, Eliza
  • Bryant, Chad
  • Bohlman, Andrea
Degree
  • Master of Arts
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Graduation year
  • 2025
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