The political freedom of independent Ukraine in the context of the efforts of Poles living in Lviv to regain the church of St. Mary Magdalene

Abstract

This article is a case study of St. Mary Magdalene’s Church in Lviv and the efforts of parishioners to regain the church for the parish and the faithful in the context of the reality of the multinational border city. Based on data obtained during interviews with various figures (Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Lviv, the Metropolitan Curia in Lviv, the parish priest of St. Maria Magdalena, the Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Lviv, the Head of the Historical Environment Protection Department of the City of Lviv, the directors of the Lviv Organ and Chamber Music Hall in Lviv, director of the Polish School of St. Mary Magdalene in Lviv and a parishioner from the parish of St. Mary Magdalene), as well as information on Ukrainian legal acts and articles in the Ukrainian and Polish press, consecutive stages of the dispute over the recovery of the church are described. The article also considers the politicization of the dispute and discusses the activities of politicians and other actors who have been involved. Furthermore, an attempt was made to answer the question whether thirty years of Ukraine’s independence resulted in either the expansion or restriction of the actual political freedom of this country, with a particular emphasis on the question of whether the country has become free from post-Soviet influence and whether it is free to such an extent that it can enforce its own law.