The main aim of the paper is to discuss the scale and nature of the practice of transmitting Holy Mass by parishes of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland through online live-streaming in spring 2020. The authors analyse these issues in a multifaceted and interdisciplinary way, mainly within the framework of communication and media studies and theology. The methodology of the paper combines practical theology (its four stages: “see-judge-act-review”), scientific methods applicable to social studies (especially social communication and media studies and sociological studies), and the technical aspect of communication activities (in the form of live video streaming) performed by parishes on the Internet. As it turns out, 40.8% of Polish parishes carried out online Mass broadcasts. In most cases, the main sources of broadcast signal were YouTube (18.9%) and Facebook (18.7%), while less than 5% of the parishes conducted technically independent broadcasts. The research showed a statistically significant correlation between online Mass broadcasting and the region of Poland. There was a statistically significant difference between the parish size and Mass broadcasting—the larger the parish, the more often such activities were performed; a similar correlation was observed between urban and rural parishes. Research has shown that in the dioceses where bishops directly encouraged parish priests to broadcast from their parishes, the average percentage of broadcasts was higher (46%) than in those in which there were no such incentives (38%). There was a statistically significant relationship between having a website and conducting online Mass broadcasting. Similarly, there was a statistically significant relationship between the type of parish (conventual–diocesan) and online Mass broadcasting. Conventual parishes did this much more often than diocesan ones (68.6% and 38.9% respectively).

This paper is interdisciplinary and combines the research perspective of medical studies with that of media and social communication studies and theological studies. The main goal of this article is to determine [from arguments on all sides of the issue] whether, and to what extent, statements issued by a religious authority can be used as an argument in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The authors also want to find answers to the questions of how the pope’s comments affect public opinion when they concern the sphere of secular and everyday life, including issues related to health care. The main method used in this study is desktop research and the analysis of the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on vaccination and on the types and significance of the pope’s statements on various topics. The auxiliary methods are sentiment analysis and network analysis made in the open source software Gephi. The authors are strongly interested in the communication and media aspect of the analyzed situation. Pope Francis’ voice on the COVID-19 vaccination has certainly been noticed and registered worldwide, but the effectiveness of his message and direct impact on Catholics’ decisions to accept or refuse the COVID-19 vaccination is quite questionable and would require further precise research. Comparing this to the regularities known from political marketing, one would think that the pope’s statement would not convince the firm opponents of vaccination.

This paper is the first part of a cycle comprising five texts on the marketing use of social media by nationwide opinion-forming Catholic weeklies in Poland. Considering the state of the research so far, it is not completely clear how to classify Catholic media profiles on social networking sites. On the one hand, the media activity of the Church is typically evangelistic in nature, but on the other hand it takes place in typically secular conditions. The evangelising role of the Catholic media cannot be separated from the opinion-forming function. The main objective of the project is, firstly, to assess the marketing potential of social media used by the aforementioned weeklies and secondly, to complement the previously described online presence of religious entities in the context of the mediatization of religions. This paper—as the theoretical background of the research—presents the detailed interdisciplinary literature review on the issues crucial for the project, as well as the methodological introduction to our study.

The main objective of this study is to determine the media image of dispensation and liturgy mediated during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The paper is based on interdisciplinary methodology, which combines elements of practical theology (the see–judge–act paradigm) and a communication and media studies approach (media content analysis, critical discourse analysis). The time range of the analysed media discourse is between 12 and 18 March 2020, which was the first week after issuing government restrictions towards liturgy and the Church’s response to that: granting the dispensation and supporting the mediatisation of liturgy. The material for the discourse analysis includes online editions of 20 Polish press titles. It occurs that the general attitude of the media towards dispensation and liturgy mediated was positive, but some media tended to present the topics according to their editorial policies. The paper also formulates a theological reflection: although liturgy mediated as a permanent solution could be challenging to accept, it allowed worshippers to experience the liturgy in times of isolation. It is, therefore, an expression of the Church’s concern for the health and lives of the faithful, although not entirely in line with the official and long-standing position of the Church towards the mediatisation of the liturgy.

Celem artykułu jest znalezienie odpowiedzi na następujące pytania: Czy teologia i nauki o mediach mają pewne wspólne płaszczyzny i obszary zainteresowania? Czy można mówić o powstaniu nowej subdyscypliny nauk teologicznych, będącej zarazem subdyscypliną nauk o mediach, czyli teologii mediów i komunikacji? Autorzy poddają analizie dostępne akty prawne, dokumenty urzędowe, dokumenty Kościoła oraz opracowania poświęcone metodologii nauk o mediach i nauk teologicznych. Odwołują się także do wyników własnych, wcześniejszych badań w tym zakresie, które zostały przedstawione w formie syntezy.

This article presents the partial conclusion of the research project devoted to marketing activity of Polish Catholic opinion-forming weeklies on the social media platforms. The main aim of this article is to present the results of the study on the use of Twitter as a marketing tool by Polish nationwide Catholic opinion-forming weeklies. The basic research questions concerned the extent of utilizing the platform by the magazines’ editors to create and distribute the content of their media product, maintain and develop brand communication and self-promotion. The case studies and the content analysis of the accounts of the three magazines—Gość Niedzielny, Tygodnik Katolicki Niedziela and Przewodnik Katolicki—show that there are three different ways in how the editors of the magazines understand the role of the Twitter account of the title they represent—as an ‘active communicator’, ‘active communicator and community supporter’ or ‘community supporter’. The conclusions show that the studied media fairly efficiently use the visual and distributional potential of the platform as well as some of its features, at the same time missing the chance to build a brand-loyal community. They also limit the role of Twitter to that of a supplement for the main communication channel, which is the printed weekly and its website.