Poland's most powerful politician was spotted reading a book about cats during a session of parliament on Friday.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the country's ruling party, seemed fully absorbed in the small handbook, "Atlas of Cats: Wild and Domestic."

Lawmakers were debating a number of topics, including controversial changes to the country's justice system, which Kaczynski's conservative Law and Justice party says are needed to reform a broken system but which the European Union believes would violate the separation of powers.

Kaczynski, 68, is known as a cat lover, having had cats of his own over the years and helping strays. The trait has somewhat softened the image of a man known for his tough political drive.

One of his cats made the news last summer during a period of mass anti-government protests. The dark cat was captured in a photo sitting in the window of Kaczynski's house, a lone figure facing off against the protesters gathered outside.

Polish media noted the irony in the fact that the book about cats that Kaczynski read was published by Ringier Axel Springer, a German-Swiss publisher with a strong presence in Poland's media market. Kaczynski is calling for a law that would limit foreign ownership in the media sector, arguing that the strong presence of foreign media owners hurts Poland's national interest.