Migration crisis at the Polish–Belarusian border in the Polish Catholic press discourse

Abstract The aim of this article is to examine the issue of refugees/migrants at the Polish–Belarusian border in the discourse of the Polish Catholic press, with a particular focus on assessing the consistency of the Catholic press discourse with the teachings of Pope Francis. This juxtaposition is significant, as the teachings of the Pope undergo interpretation by spiritual symbolic elites, the Catholic press and are further conveyed to the people. In light of this, the most widely read Catholic opinion weeklies were selected for empirical analysis. The longterm perspective (from August to December 2021) made it possible to observe the evolution of views on the migration crisis at the Polish–Belarusian border. The analysis was based on Gerbner’s framework for the analysis of press information. The research led to the conclusion that there is a lack of consistency between the presented discourses. This article examines how faith-based media mediate religious authority while navigating political alignments during the migration crisis on the Polish–Belarusian border. Rather than uniformly transmitting papal teachings, Catholic outlets employ selective citation and framing that subordinate religious authority to political interests. The analysis reveals three mechanisms: mediation of religious authority through selective interpretation of papal texts, political alignment subordinating theology to political projects, and threat construction shaping editorial narratives to reflect political positioning. These mechanisms reflect broader patterns observed in faith-based media globally when addressing migration and humanitarian crises.