Many antisemitic titles were sold at a beatification ceremony, the first step toward sainthood, of two revered Catholic figures in Warsaw's main church last week, Algemeiner reported.
Titles included Scum and the Jews in Today's Poland, Judeopolonia II - Anatomy of Enslaving Poland and Homoterror. Additionally, there were books that blamed Jews for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aside from prominent Catholic figures, the ceremony was attended by Poland's President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the head of the country's ruling Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Wojciech Karpieszuk, a journalist who attended the ceremony, wrote an article for the Gazeta Wyborcza describing his unease at the sight of the books and the fact that no one else around him seemed to be bothered by them.
"During those 40 minutes, I didn't see a single reaction of indignation. Nothing," he wrote. "Many of the clergy, and even one bishop among them, passed by the stands indifferently."
Karpieszuk wrote that he had seen similar titles at ultranationalist meetings, but he "never thought that something like that could be sold during a beatification Mass attended by the highest state authorities."
In a tweet, Karpieszuk posted a photo of the books sold at the ceremony, writing "the Holocaust company, "Chamy and the Jews in today's Poland", "Coronavirus vaccine - a threat to humanity?", "Homo terror" - these are just a few titles at the stand next to the temple of Divine Providence. Crowds of believers and clergy. Nobody reacts."
Przedsiębiorstwo holocaust", "Chamy i Żydy w dzisiejszej Polsce", "Szczepionka na koronawirusa - zagrożenie dla ludzkości?", "Homo terror" - to tylko kilka tytułów na stoisku tuż przy świątyni Opatrzności Bożej. Tłumy wiernych i duchownych. Nikt nie reaguje. #Beatyfikacja pic.twitter.com/nVoZ2VYUys
— Wojciech Karpieszuk (@WKarpieszuk) September 12, 2021
As these antisemitic titles were being sold at a beatification ceremony, Pope Francis was holding a meeting with Christians and Jews in Budapest and speaking out against antisemitism, calling it a "fuse that must not be allowed to burn" in Europe.