Tadeusz Rydzyk (Polish pronunciation: [taˈdɛuʂ ˈrɨdzɨk]), born May 3, 1945 in Olkusz, Poland,[1] is a Roman Catholic priest and Redemptorist, creator and head of the conservative and controversial Radio Maryja radio station, rector and doctor of the University of Social and Medial Culture in Toruń.
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Tadeusz Rydzyk spent his childhood in Olkusz.[1] He studied at the Higher Spiritual Seminary of Redemptorists in Tuchów, and later at the Catholic Theology Academy in Warsaw. He was ordained a priest in 1971 and taught religion in Toruń, Szczecinek and Kraków. In 1986 Rydzyk left for West Germany where he was involved with a radio station Radio Maria International in Balderschwang (later closed by the Catholic Church authorities). His tenure in West Germany was opposed by the Church hierarchy, but he remained there for 5 years.
Following his return to Poland in 1991, Rydzyk started Radio Maryja, the second world-wide Catholic radio station (the first being Vatican Radio). He established the nationalist newspaper Nasz Dziennik ('Our Daily') and the television station Trwam ('I Persist'). A high proportion of Radio Maryja listeners and Rydzyk followers tend to be older people.[2] On 8 October 2009, Rydzyk earned a PhD in Theology from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.[3] The degree enabled him to reassume the post of President of the University of Social and Medial Culture in Toruń, from which he had to resign due to changes in law requiring that such posts be held only by persons with a doctorate.
Rydzyk applied for the funds of the European Union alloted to boost Polish businesses and researchers from 2007-2013 on the grounds that his school is an "incubator for modern technology in the service of civil society."[4][5]
On 9 July 2007, Wprost magazine published part of a lecture given by Rydzyk in which he called the president's wife Maria Kaczyńska a "witch who should euthanize herself".[6] He was also to claim that the president had cheated him.[7] Rydzyk refused to apologize, saying that the sound recording was "a manipulation" and a result of a "fight of spirits". The official Vatican website states that Rydzyk's radio station "became much more involved in spreading risky politics than in spreading the Gospel."[8] Several Polish bishops also condemned Rydzyk's Radio Maryja for promoting anti-Semitic teaching. In 2007, the BBC reported that Rydzyk had allegedly referred to the then Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, as someone who was under the influence of Jews.[9] The support of Rydzyk and his radio for the death penalty brought him into direct conflict with Catholic teaching, which is against such a practice.[10]
In February 2011, Rydzyk was fined 3500 zlotys after the local district court in Toruń found that he broke the law by using Radio Maryja to call for donations to TV Trwam, the University of Social and Media Culture and the geothermal drilling conducted by the Lux Veritatis Foundation.[11]
In June 2011, while meeting members of the European Parliament, he called Poland "an uncivilized country" and "a totalitarian regime", as well saying that it was not ruled by Poles. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested against these statements and sent a diplomatic note to the Holy See, to which Catholic religious orders, including the Redemptorists, are subject.[12]
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