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'''FIGURE 31. Open-air peasant's market, Warsaw (U/OU)''' (picture)

'''FIGURE 32. As many as one-half million pilgrims attend the annual August religious services in Czestochowa. Many have walked in procession (above) from Warsaw, about 120 miles away. (U/OU)''' (picture)

negotiations could lead to a formal agreement and, according to some sources, eventually to a concordat establishing diplomatic relations.

Even under Gierek's predecessors, the ubiquitous presence of the church in Poland and its influence in national affairs was never seriously threatened. In fact, periods of frontal attack by the regime generally strengthened the support of "the flock for its shepherd," in the words of Cardinal Wyszynski. Unique in the Communist world in its ability to withstand the onslaught of totalitarianism, the church in Poland remained throughout the postwar period not only a spiritual symbol of opposition to Communist rule but, unlike its traditionally weaker counterparts in some other Eastern European countries, periodically and generally successfully challenged the regime for the allegiance of the people.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy in Poland under the leadership of Cardinal Wyszynski—who also holds the positions of Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw—consists of two additional cardinals—Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Krakow and Boleslaw Cardinal Kominek of Wroclaw—two additional archbishops, and some 65 bishops (Figure 33). Ecclesiastical administration includes 27 dioceses, subdivided into 6,346 parishes (Figure 34). In 1970 there were nearly 12,000 churches and chapels, and 13,765 diocesan priests. In addition, there were some 148 orders which operated 47

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