A controversial priest in Poland features on a provocative new punk band’s album cover holding a gun in his hand.

The album, Tylko dla …(Only for…) by the band Apteka will be released on Friday.

On its cover Father Henryk Jankowski, a priest once associated with the Solidarity Gdansk shipyard strikes of 1980, but since accused of making anti-Semitic remarks and twice banned from preaching, is depicted on the album cover holding a gun in a pose reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino movie.

The band claim that they are supportive of the priest, whose various antics over the years have divided Poles.

“The cover is a form of provocation. We wanted to show that certain limits cannot be exceeded. We respect Father Jankowski and think that his dignity has been trampled on recently,” Apteka band leader Jedrzej Kodymowski told TVP Info.

“Father Jankowski is a good man, a true priest, a positive symbol. Without him, Walesa and Solidarity would not have achieve that much,” adds Kodymowski.

The band claims that it has the right to use Father Jankowski’s image as it received the photo from Jankowski himself. His only condition was that the songs included on the album will not be contrary to the Catholic Church’s teachings.

TVP reports, however, that Father Ludwik Kowalski, rector of St Brigida’s Church in Gdansk, the church the priest is most associated with, argues that Jankowski is being used by the band, who tricked him into giving his permission.

“Some people use the fact that Father Jankowski is an easy-going person in order to damage the image of the Catholic Church,” says Father Kowalski.

Since becoming known for his support of Lech Walesa and the striking shipyard workers in August 1980, the 75 year old Father Jankowski has sparked controversy in the last two decades for remarks such as when he claimed that there were “too many Jews in the government” in 1997. He was banned from preaching for 12 months consequently and was banned from the parish in 2004 after more controversial behaviour. The ban was revoked in 2008.

The band Apteka was founded in 1983 in the coastal city of Gdynia, close to Gdansk. Apteka is known for choosing controversial topics and using swear words on its albums. One of the latest songs by Apteka is about the late Simon Mol, a Cameroonian who was arrested in Warsaw for knowingly infecting women with HIV. (pg/mg)