Political values in communicating Polish bishops in the context of the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and the European Union

The aim of the undertaken research is to analyze the presence of political values in the messages of Polish bishops in the context of the migration crisis on the external border of the European Union with Belarus. The article attempts to answer the question of whether and to what extent three basic ways of understanding the concept of "political values" according to Jacek Kołodziej's typology were present, in the statements of the hierarchs (political values as social values of political importance, political values as functional components of the political system, political values as criteria of the rationality of political actions).

 Methodology: The study uses the method of discourse hermeneutics according to Fritz Hermanns, the method of interpretation as a method of linguistic discourse analysis and the method of system analysis. The research material consisted of messages and statements of Polish bishops on the official website of the episkopat.pl and ekai.pl. The analysis covered the period from May 23, 2021 to February 24, 2022, i.e. from the arrest of Raman Pratasiewicz to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 Results and conclusions: In the analyzed material, the presence of two ways of understanding political values according to Jacek Kołodziej's concept was noted, i.e. political values as social values of political importance, and political values as criteria of rationality of political actions.

 Cognitive value: The article increases the cognitive value in the area of political communication of Polish bishops in the context of the migration crisis on the EU-Belarus border. The undertaken analysis proves the presence of the issue of political values in the discourse of the Polish Episcopate.