MFA statement on anniversary of signing Warsaw Confederation

The act comprised provisions relating to religious freedoms enjoyed by the nobility in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Against a backdrop of religious wars and persecution of dissenters that were shaking up the 16th-century Europe, the Warsaw Confederation stood out as an expression of religious tolerance that was unusual for those times. The act guaranteed everlasting peace among all denominations and granted dissenters rights and state protection equal to those enjoyed by Catholics. The 1573 act is considered to have marked the beginning of religious tolerance that was guaranteed by law and extended to all denominations, whereas the earlier Statute of Kalisz of 1264 granted religious freedom to the Jewish community in Poland. In 2003, the Warsaw Confederation was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.

In times of growing persecution on the grounds of religion, including Christianity, the Warsaw Confederation takes on a new meaning. This tradition of tolerance is the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth before it was torn apart by the partitioning powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, in the second half of the 18th century. It is a legacy whose depositaries include Poland as well as Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine - the nations that made up the Commonwealth.

Łukasz Jasina
MFA Spokesperson