State of the Catholic Church in Poland

August 15, 2013 in Częstochowa, the great Marian shrine in Poland.

A report from the Polish Catholic Church Institute of Statistics (ISKK) published in 2014, shows that 92.2% Poles consider themselves Catholic, 39.1% come to church every Sunday, and 16% receive Communion. The practice of religion is declining and varies from one diocese to the next. Since 2003, the Church has lost two million faithful and nearly a third of young married couples are affected by divorce. In 2000, Poland had 4,773 seminarians. In 2009, the number of seminarians fell to 3,732. Although churches are commonly full on Sunday, anti-Communism is giving place to the attractions of comfort and materialism; could it perhaps be said that post-Communist Poland is falling into the “silent apostasy” condemned by John Paul II?

(DICI no. 339, dated August 5, 2016)

Read also:
Pope Francis in Poland, July 27 – 31, 2016