How Poland’s Church Brought Down An Empire

On August 15, former Polish President Lech Wałęsa sat at the front row of a blessing that, for him, completed his journey – for many, it was as one of the country’s most consequential figures. It was beneath the massive, 55-metre-tall statue of Our Lady of Mercy – now the tallest Marian statue in Europe; higher even than Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.