A more accurate picture of Cahtlicism would be its " catholic" nature ( the adjective) Catholcism is no more monolithic than protestantism. Within the body of Catholics you run the range from Nazis to Communists. As my brother noted Catholicisnm in the only faith in which you could have Pat Buchanan, Joe McCarthy, The berrigan Brothers and Daniel Ortega sitting in the same pew read the same St. Joseph's missal.
In Poland elements of the Church served as a bulwark against communism while others collaborated with it.
Here's the deal that a lot of people don't get when they talk about Catholicism (because I don't think that the concept really exists in non-heirarchical churches), it believes in a concept of self-excommunication. Catholics who are not following the official teachings of the Church are not really practicing Catholics. Now, there are sins, like using birth control, and then there are more mortal sins like a politician advocating a pro-choice position (like John Kerry or Ted Kennedy or Nancy Pelosi or Rudy Giuliani). It is the Church's official position that such people have excommunicated themselves by their continued rejection of the Church's position, and priests are directed not to offer them Communion. We have free speech in this country and they can call themselves whatever they want (they can call themselves the Linburgh baby), but the Church doesn't recognize them as Catholics. No matter what the MSM thinks. The same goes for the elements in Poland, or Daniel Ortega, or for that matter Adolf Hitler. Catholicism is a religion, not an ethnicity. Nobody is "born" a Catholic. It's something that you have to practice.