At the turn of the 20th century, a Polish nun, Rosalia Zelkova, had a vision that Poland would meet its demise if it did not declare Christ its king. Skepticism and discomfort stalled the actions necessary to make Jesus Poland’s sovereign monarch, and after the church made reforms with Vatican II in the 1960s, this idea seemed even more impossible. Despite this, on November 19th, 2016, Poland returned to a theocracy by naming Jesus Christ its king.

The symbolic, but legitimate, act of making Jesus the king of Poland raises concerns for many citizens, leaving them to worry over the influence religion and Poland’s conservative government will have when dealing with crucial and topical human rights topics. Most recently, women in Poland protested against a proposed ban of abortion. Also, still pressing against the traditional, conservative values of Poland’s government is the issue of same-sex marriage.

The crowning of Jesus is a decisive step by the Polish government, led by President Andrzej Duda, in infusing conservative legislation in the country.