Adam “Nergal” Darski, a musician of the deathmetal band Behemoth, would like to see as the president of the Polish Republic… Szymon Hołownia – a TV presenter who now is the face of Polish open Catholicism. “A Satanist can respect a Catholic” as long as he represents the “ecumenical trend,” Nergal said.
In Poland – despite the coronavirus epidemic – the presidential election campaign is in progress. The incumbent President Andrzej Duda, who is closely linked to the ruling Law and Justice party, is fighting for reelection. One of his rivals in the run for the presidency is Szymon Hołownia, a journalist, TV presenter and co-host of the program “Mam talent” (I’ve Got Talent) – a talent show broadcast by the private Polish TV network TVN. For many years Szymon Hołownia has also been the face of progressive trends in Polish Catholicism; he has cooperated with some liberal magazines, including “Więź”, “Newsweek” and “Tygodnik Powszechny”. He is a vegetarian and recently he’s drawn media attention with the claim that at the Final Judgment he – as a Catholic – will be judged by the animals which caused to suffer. Now, during the election campaign, Hołownia has surprisingly gained quite a lot of support.
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Hołownia, were he to become the president of the Polish Republic, would be welcome by… Adam “Nergal” Darski, a heavy metal musician from the band Behemoth. Speaking to the liberal website “NaTemat,” Darski said that he believed in consensus that transcends divisions and that even a Satanist can respect a Catholic. Asked about the presidential election “Nergal” answered, “I’ll give one name: Hołownia. Maybe it will make people say something like, ‘Darski is a hypocrite’. But I do believe in consensus that transcends divisions, after all a Satanist can respect a Catholic and I have nothing against such people as long as they represent ecumenical trends. You know, I’m talking about people who want to build bridges instead of – like those who are ruling now – burning them,” the musician said.
Maybe it wouldn’t be that surprising, if not for the fact that Adam “Nergal” Darski has gained widespread renown for his regularly repeated anti-Catholic manifestations, presented as freedom of artistic expression. In the past two decades Darski has caused numerous scandals, including ostentatiously destroying a copy of the Bible, profaning the Cross and an image of Our Lady. There have been several court cases against the artist because of an offence against religious feelings.
During one of his concerts Darski explained how one of his songs had been created in the following way, “This is a song from our new album ‘The Apostasy’ which is about our visit in the Holy City of Jerusalem. We went there to personally dispose of the myth that has been maintained for the freaking past two thousand years. The myth whose main hero is a man crucified between two criminals. The myth whose hero is the biggest, the most murderous sect that has existed on earth. This is the Holy Scripture they say. I say – this is a book of lies. Screw that shit. Screw that hypocrisy. This song is just our commentary on this shit.”
Now Darski – not having some other, more progressive candidate – declares his sympathy for the candidacy of Hołownia, a man of the media who has no political experience whatsoever. It turns out that the key to understanding his support is just the so-called ecumenical trends mentioned by Darski. In the past “Nergal” posed for a photograph with Father Adam Boneicki, a doyen of “Tygodnik Powszechny” – the most important magazine of liberal and progressive circles in the Polish Church. Hołownia – who was twice a novice in the Dominican order and now is a husband and father – has also been a regular columnist in “Tygodnik Powszechny”.
Today Szymon Hołownia is trying to gain the support of the center and leftist electorate, promising such things as the decarbonization of Poland, focusing on renewable energy sources and legalizing unions of same sex partners. So, as says Satanist “Nergal” he is a person… building bridges.
PCh24.pl
Transl. Jan J. Franczak
