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Radio Maryja is a Polish radio station, by which arise media group and over deed. religious, conservative, anti-communist and pro-life (except the support for death penalty) Roman Catholic, describing itself as patriotic. It was founded in Toruń, Poland, on December 9, 1991, by the Redemptorist rector Dr. Tadeusz Rydzyk, often called "Father Director" by his followers. A political and religious movement led by the Rydzyk has sprung forth from the station's audience, known as the Radio Maryja Family. The station has been at the centre of controversy since foundation, with many critics arguing that it is vehemently anti-Semitic, homophobic, and xenophobic, and misuses Catholic teaching as a political tool.

Because of Radio Maryja's close relationship with Poland's conservative Law and Justice party, the Vatican has expressed concern about the station, with the Episcopate of Poland warning Radio Maryja about engaging in "political broadcasting." Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Kraków and the country's Primate, Cardinal Józef Glemp, have urged fellow bishops to take immediate action against the station. However, the bishops remain divided over whether to do so, given Radio Maryja's considerable influence among its primary audience of the elderly rural poor. For years the Polish bishops have failed to act and some voice support for Radio Maryja.

The name "Maryja" assumed by the group, is a traditional Polish form of the name "Mary", referring to the Virgin Mary; colloquially the political group is often called 'Moherowe Berety' (mohair berets) after the oft worn garb of the elderly ladies who are perceived to be the main support of the radio station.

Programming schedule
Radio Maryja's programming consists of broadcasts from the station's news agency; frequent recitals of the Rosary, the breviary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy; the unction to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa; discussions on the Catechism of the Catholic Church; a daily transmission of the Mass; coverage of papal trips; and sociological and political programmes. Recorded broadcasts of the station are filed on many internet sites. A slogan frequently repeated on Radio Maryja is: "Radio Maryja - The Catholic Voice in Your Home".

Ownership and finances
The station is owned by the Warsaw Province of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, and is financed through donations from its audience. This is an unusual characteristic in Poland, where most radio stations are either publicly funded or dependent on advertising revenue. Due to a concordat with the Vatican that grants certain privileges to the Church, Radio Maryja is not bound by normal accounting rules as it is regarded as being Church-operated. Thus, Radio Maryja is not required to disclose the exact sources of its financing or enterprises, and does not pay taxes. Radio Maryja has disclosed that it is financed by Jan Kobylański, a Uruguay-based billionaire and accused Nazi collaborator, and by Edward Moskal, the chairman of the American Polish Congress.

In February 2011, the local district court of Toruń issued a fine of 3,500 zlotys to Rydzyk, finding that he illegally used Radio Maryja broadcasts to raise funds for his television station, Telewizja Trwam; his University of Social and Media Culture; and a geothermal drilling project run by Fundacja Lux Veritatus. Rydzyk denounced the verdict, calling it an "injustice" and claiming that Polish law ran "contrary to natural law." To date, he has refused to pay the fine. In August 2012, a political controversy transpired when Anna Sobecka, a Law and Justice MP and close ally of Rydzyk's, applied to pay the fine from her own pocket despite not having the authorization to do so. The district court of Toruń requested an investigation by police into her action.

In late October 2012, Rydzyk told followers that a raise in media licensing fees being proposed in the Polish parliament would cause Radio Maryja and TV Trwan to "cease to exist."

Audience
Radio Maryja's audience is reputed to consist mostly of rural, elderly listeners. The station claims that it has "millions of listeners"; market research indicates approximately 1.2 million people daily. The station estimates that it is listened to by well over 10% of adults in Poland; the most comprehensive market research by Radio Track for the whole of Poland (June–July 2005) shows a 2.5% "share of listening time".

The Economist has summarized that, "The church in Poland is divided between Vatican loyalists, who often oppose close involvement in politics, and energetic dissidents linked to Radio Maryja, a hardline broadcaster. This once had huge clout, articulating the feelings of Poles alienated by the country's brisk, materialist business culture and the decay in moral norms. But Radio Maryja's audience has shrunk in the past decade to no more than 2% of all current listeners."

Radio Maryja Family
The station has gathered a large group of committed followers, the Radio Maryja Family (Rodzina Radia Maryja), to which Tadeusz Rydzyk is a charismatic leader. Opponents refer to Rydzyk's followers as "the army of mohair berets", a pejorative and satirical expression. As of November 2006, the Radio Maryja Family network had six-hundred clubs and offices across Poland. The movement holds a pilgrimage to Częstochowa every year, which in 2006 attracted about 500,000 people. Representatives of the Radio Maryja Family visited the Vatican five times during the papacy of Pope John Paul II.

While the conventional greeting in the Roman Catholic Church is, "Praised be Jesus Christ", the followers of Rydzyk use, "Praised be Jesus Christ and Mary, ever Virgin."

Related enterprises
Enterprises related to Radio Maryja &mdash; and independent of Vatican authorities &mdash; initiated by Rydzyk include the TV network Telewizja Trwam; a daily newspaper Nasz Dziennik; the Nasza Przyszłość ("Our Future") Foundation; the Lux Veritatis ("The Light of Truth") Foundation; and the Wyższa Szkoła Kultury Społecznej i Medialnej ("The College of Social and Media Culture") in Toruń. Until recently, the rector of the College was Rydzyk. Radio Maryja's opponents say that this network of six enterprises is dominated by Rydzyk.

Allegations of intolerance
A survey on European "hate radio" prepared by Radio Netherlands has cited Radio Maryja as controversial. According to the magazine Polityka, one of Radio Maryja's programmes, Unfinished Conversations, is "dominated by intolerance and authoritarianism." Lech Wałęsa, the Nobel Prize laureate and former president of Poland, has stated that Radio Maryja "is lying if it considers itself a Catholic station". Nevertheless, Radio Maryja claims to be the only independent radio station in Poland. It accuses other media, mainly the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and the broadcaster TVN, of attacking the "only entirely Polish radio station" not controlled by foreign capital. Critics claim that the station uses propaganda which emphasizes nationalism, anti-Semitism, anti-communism and anti-German prejudice.

Conflict with Vatican
In 2006, the papal nuncio to Poland, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, wrote to Polish bishops requesting their aid "to overcome difficulties caused by some transmissions and the views presented by Radio Maryja." In response, the bishops established a supervisory body called the Cooperative Unit for Pastoral Care of Radio Maryja. However, a group of Polish Sejm deputies and MEPs addressed an open letter to the chair of the Polish Bishop's Conference concerning "protection for Radio Maryja". Rydzyk remains the head of Radio Maryja and has ignored the warning from the papal nuncio.

Several Polish bishops have criticized Radio Maryja for spreading opinions incompatible with the official teaching of the Catholic Church, but critics note that the Polish bishops have been divided over Radio Maryja for a long time. Media have speculated that the Roman Catholic Church in Poland is heading for a schism over the station. An imaginary breakaway church led by Rydzyk has been named "The Rydzyk Church of Poland", or the "Toruń-Catholic Church" (in Polish: kościół toruńsko-katolicki). In Poland, the latter term is sometimes used to refer to the ideology of Radio Maryja in general.

Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, the former secretary general of the Episcopate of Poland, said that Radio Maryja is "a real and growing problem", adding that the station "offers a reduced view on Christianity" that is "is extremely compromising and shameful, sick and dangerous." According to the official Vatican web page, "Radio Maryja...became much more involved in spreading risky politics than in spreading the Gospel."

Euroscepticism
Radio Maryja strongly opposed Poland joining of the European Union in 2004. The station also suggested that a close cooperation with Russia would better serve Poland's national interests rather than joining NATO. Until 2003 the Catholic Radio Maryja was also aired on shortwave from Russia. Despite his euroscepticism, Rydzyk applied for EU funds alloted to help boost Polish businesses and researchers from 2007-2013.

Allegations of antisemitism
Some Jews argue that Radio Maryja propagates "extreme" anti-Semitism, including concepts such as żydokomuna &mdash; the conspiracy theory blaming Jews for the rise of communism in Poland. The Council for Media Ethics has referred to the station's "weakly documented accusations" against Jews as "primitive anti-Semitism." In January 2000, Radio Maryja aired an interview between Ryszard Bender, a historian from the Catholic University of Lublin, and Dariusz Ratajczak, a convicted Holocaust denier who claimed that Auschwitz was a labor camp rather than an extermination camp.

In April 2006, well-known Polish essayist Stanisław Michalkiewicz &mdash; a major personality on Telewizja Trwam &mdash; was reported in Gazeta Wyborcza as stating that "men from Judea ... are trying to surprise us from behind", and referring to the World Jewish Congress as "a main firm in the Holocaust Industry". Michalkiewicz responded by calling Gazeta Wyborcza "an unusual example of the Jewish fifth column in Poland" and "a Jewish newspaper for Poles." Supporters of Radio Maryja claim that bigoted statements transmitted by the station are very rare and originate from its listeners rather than employees.

The charges of anti-Semitism against Radio Maryja have brought the station to worldwide attention. A report of the Council of Europe stated that Radio Maryja has been "openly inciting to antisemitism for several years" and that there is "a lack of effective implementation of measures intended to prohibit antisemitic acts and statements" in Poland. The Simon Wiesenthal Center initiated a petition condemning Rydzyk's alleged anti-Semitic statements. In July 2007, over seven-hundred Polish Catholic intellectuals, journalists, priests and activists signed a public letter of protest condemning Rydzyk's anti-Semitic remarks.

In August 2007, Nasz Dziennik, a newspaper owned by Rydzyk, suggested papal approval of for his behaviour, claiming that he led members of the Radio Maryja Family to the Vatican and met Pope Benedict XVI, kissing his hand. The Vatican promptly announced, "In reference to requests for clarification related to [Father] Tadeusz Rydzyk's 'kiss' ... the matter does not imply any change in the Holy See's well-known position on relations between Catholics and Jews".

Support for death penalty
Radio Maryja promoted the political programme of Law and Justice, a Polish conservative party, which together with the League of Polish Families sought to reintroduce capital punishment in Poland and throughout Europe. The support of Radio Maryja for the death penalty is explicitly against the teachings of the Church.

Involvement in politics
Direct involvement in politics violates the Catholic Church's directives for priests. Nevertheless, the former cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński openly supported Radio Maryja. In December 2006, Kaczyński joined the 15th anniversary celebrations of Radio Maryja and praised the station as a source of "comfort and hope", warning that "an attack on Radio Maryja is an attack against freedom." Kaczyński was a regular guest on Radio Maryja, as were other right-wing politicians such as Andrzej Lepper, Roman Giertych, and Zbigniew Ziobro. When it became aware of the station's service to conservative parties, the Vatican demanded that it "drop the politics." Asked whether Rydzyk would himself form a party, Bishop Pieronek replied that he could not imagine a priest starting a political organization.

In February 2006, Law and Justice signed a key agreement with two other political parties. To the fury of the Polish press, only Rydzyk and journalists from Telewizja Trwam &mdash; who actively supported Law and Justice during the election &mdash; were allowed in the room during the signing. The President of the Polish National Broadcasting Council, Elzbieta Kruk, stated that she had no authority to act in regard to these complaints, as she had been appointed by the Polish President Lech Kaczyński, a member of Law and Justice. Critics asserted that the government feared of alienating Radio Maryja's dedicated audience, which makes up a significant fraction of Law and Justice's political base.

In March 2006, Polish literary critic and television personality Kazimiera Szczuka satirized a girl who frequently recites prayers on Radio Maryja, not knowing that the girl used a wheelchair. Despite Szczuka's public apology, the Polish Broadcasting Council found her guilty of "insulting a disabled person and mocking her religion." The station on which she had appeared was fined the equivalent of $125,000; according to the Polish press, the highest fine the Council had ever levied. The sole dissenting member of the Council, Wojciech Dziomdziora, speculated that Radio Maryja's ties with Law and Justice was "the real reason" for Szczuka's punishment, noting that Szczuka was made to pay the stiff fine while Radio Maryja was allowed to disparage other religions with impunity.

In September 2012, Radio Maryja and TV Trwam organized a "Poland Wake Up" demonstration with both Law and Justice and the Solidarity trade union to protest the left-wing government's purported attempt to silence both stations by not including them on the country's digital television multiplex. The demonstration led to renewed criticism of the station's politicized message from high-ranking Catholic clergymen. Bishop Piotr Jarecki, a vice president in the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, said in an interview that the stations' action was "not in accordance with the doctrine of the Church," and said that they were "entering a dangerous path of confusion and turmoil."

Remarks about President Lech Kaczyński and wife
In 2007, Polish first lady Maria Kaczyńska met with fifty female journalists for International Women's Day; the women signed a statement to protest a tightening of Poland's already strict abortion laws. Rydzyk caused controversy when he described the meeting as a "cesspool." Later, the newsmagazine Wprost published a recording from one of Rydzyk's lectures in which he allegedly called Kaczyńska "a witch who should perform euthanasia on herself." He also claimed that President Lech Kaczyński "cheated" him, and called him "a swindler who had bowed to pressure from the Jewish lobby." Rydzyk neither denied nor apologized for the remarks, saying that the voice recording was "a manipulation" and the result of a "fight of spirits."

In 2012, Radio Maryja, which has long criticized Freemasonry, broadcast an interview claiming that the plane crash which killed President Kaczyński two years earlier &mdash; among "many other acts" &mdash; was the result of a Masonic plot against the Law and Justice party.