that declaring Poland as the bulwark of Christianity was at odds with Poland's relationship with the Soviet Union and struck at the foundations of Poland's foreign policy. In the midst of this crisis, the Polish episcopate was also criticized in the press for making no progressive contribution to the Second Vatican Council and Cardinal Wyszyński was reproached for supposedly calling "for the condemnation of atheism, the preservation of the old, anti-socialist and pro-fascist social doctrine of the Church in all spheres of social life. " To punish the Church for its behaviour, several seminaries were closed and seminarians were made subject to the military draft, Wyszyński was denied privilege to travel to Rome and Paul VI was barred from coming to the Millennium celebrations. The government staged rival secular celebrations at the same time as the religious celebrations took place, in order to blunt enthusiasm in the religious celebrations. Despite all of this (and in contrast to the USSR), the number of parishes, priests and nuns reached higher figures than it had prior to the coming of Communism. The postwar church had 20,000,000 regular communicants. In 1968, following the student uprisings, the Church was criticized for providing moral support to anti-Polish forces on account of its speaking up for human rights. Edward Gierek's decade in office (1970–1981) Beginning in the early 1970s the Church moved from a defensive stance to a more aggressive stance in speaking in defence of human rights. In 1970, Edward Gierek became the new leader of Poland, and he embarked on more relaxed policies with regard to anti-religious activity than his predecessors had. He established a personal working relationship with Stefan Wyszyński, authorized the building of new Churches and the resumption of instruction for priests in seminaries. In October 1977, he became the first Polish Communist leader to go to the Vatican and meet the pope (then Paul VI). The security apparatus in Poland, as in other Communist nations, recruited members of the clergy. The security service used blackmail, psychological manipulation and a variety of material rewards (e.g. needed medicines for ill relatives) in order to secure the cooperation of clergy. In a reversal, the security service and Polish government had also members in its ranks who were secretly providing beneficial information to the Church Catholic youth were forced to enroll in Communist Youth organizations. Unlike in the CPSU (which was staunchly atheist), believers formed the