1981 in St Peter's square. The Polish Orthodox Church hierarchy, which had had their position in society strengthened since 1945, spoke out against the Solidarity movement. They refused to send delegates to meetings about human rights issues. Some exceptions occurred, such as Fr Piotr Poplawski, an Orthodox priest openly sympathetic to Solidarity who "killed himself" in 1985; several doctors asked to confirm his suicide refused to certify this as the cause of death. A Roman Catholic priest named Jerzy Popiełuszko had been murdered by the police the previous year, and the doctor who performed his autopsy was brought in and also confirmed that Fr Piotr had committed suicide. During the government's problems with Solidarity, many parishes were used to help the grass-roots opposition to the regime, which occurred alongside growing attacks on priests by the state including brutality against priests (some of whom where murdered), breaking into churches and desecration as well as theft of religious objects. Communist authorities blamed nationalist Catholics for fanning strife between Catholic and Orthodox populations. In the Gdańsk accords, the Church was given permission to perform radio broadcasts. As the 80s progressed, the Church became increasingly critical of the regime and in the last years of the decade it played a critical role in the transition to democracy. Resistance In Poland, Lech Wałęsa, Chairman of the Solidarity movement, then President of Poland summed up the contrasting Polish view of the Soviets and of Religion (specifically Catholicism) this way: Thus, it is clear that Polish nationalists linked their struggle against the Soviet Union with a struggle against atheism. In Hungary, following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, one of the first actions of the resistance was to retrieve imprisoned Cardinal József Mindszenty; a large crowd took him to the episcopal palace in the city, and his first free action was to celebrate mass in honor of the resistance. In Czechoslovakia, the 1968 Prague Spring provided a renewed Catholic resistance to the Soviets and the Soviet-led Orthodox control of Catholic lands, churches, and institutes. This inspired Ukrainian Greek-Catholics to renew their efforts to achieve official recognition from the Soviets. See also Anti-religious campaign during the Russian Civil War (1917–1921) League of Militant Atheists Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries Religion in Poland Anti-religious campaign of Communist Romania USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928) USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–1941) USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–1964) USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1987) References Polish People's Republic