When martial law was imposed, the position of the Catholic Church in Polish society and public life was very strong, but also fragile. It was strong because the Poles belonged to that ever-smaller group of “religious” European nations; i.e., most Poles regularly attended Mass, and the parish priest was still a local authority. The Church in Poland had deep roots in society, both because it was traditional, and also because it was a spiritual alternative to communism. Many Poles regarded that atheistic system as alien and something imposed upon them against their will. The Church's position was also strong because for over thirty years, since 1948, Primate Stefan Wyszyński, both an outstanding priest and statesman, had stood at its head. He was eminently able to formulate the nation's essential needs and expectations in the language of faith. Finally, it was also because Cardinal Karol Wojtyła was elected pope in 1978, and thus became overnight the principal authority for the vast, and probably overwhelming, majority of Poles. His election as pope also sparked a tidal wave of national pride. These were the “positive” sides of power.

The Church also enjoyed its position thanks to the fact that the atheistic communist system had been experiencing, since the mid-1970s, yet another crisis in its short history. The clearest and also most dangerous manifestation of this crisis was the emergence of Solidarity, a mass movement whose protests were constantly expanding into new areas. While it is true that the exact position of the Church cannot be assessed empirically, one can with a large degree of certainty assert that, without the role of the Church, primate, and “Polish pope” in the Vatican, Solidarity would not have taken the shape it did. Although these three conditions alone did not suffice, they were essential. It would be difficult to imagine that there could have been any other main bases of support in Poland for a social movement of that magnitude. Clearly, the link to Christianity was certainly crucial. The communists ruling Poland, despite their varying degrees of antagonism to religion and the Church, had already invoked Primate Wyszyński several times in the past during moments of crisis in hopes that he would help calm the public mood.