Religion in Poland

Religion in Poland is rapidly declining, although historically it had been one of the most Catholic countries in the world.

According to a 2018 report by the Pew Research Center, the nation was the most rapidly secularizing of over a hundred countries measured, "as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders." The rate of decline has been described as "devastating" the former social prestige and political influence that the Catholic Church in Poland once enjoyed. Most Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism. 71.3% of the population identified themselves as such in the 2021 census, down from 87.6% in 2011. According to church statistics, approximately 28% of Catholics attend mass weekly. The church's reputation has declined significantly in response to sexual abuse scandals, its support of a near-total abortion ban in Poland, and close ties to the Law and Justice party, often considered its de facto political proxy in the country.

The current extent of this numerical dominance results largely from The Holocaust of Jews living in Poland carried out by Nazi Germany and the World War II casualties among Polish religious minorities.Project in Posterum, Poland World War II casualties. Retrieved 20 September 2013.Holocaust: Five Million Forgotten: Non-Jewish Victims of the Shoah. Remember.org.AFP/Expatica, Polish experts lower nation's WWII death toll , Expatica.com, 30 August 2009Tomasz Szarota & Wojciech Materski, Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami, Warsaw, IPN 2009, (Introduction online. ) Its members regard it as a repository of Polish heritage and culture. The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox (Polish Orthodox Church – approximately 507,196 believers), various Protestant churches (the largest of which is the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, with 61,217 members) and Jehovah's Witnesses (116,935). There are about 55,000 Greek Catholics in Poland. Other religions practiced in Poland, by less than 0.1% of the population, include Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

In the 2021 census, the most common religion was Latin Catholicism, whose followers comprised 71.3% of the population, followed by the Eastern Orthodoxy with 0.4%, Jehovah's Witnesses with 0.3%, and various Protestant denominations comprising 0.4% of the Polish population and 0.1% for Greek Catholic Churches. According to Statistics Poland in 2018, 93.5% of the population was affiliated with a religion; 3.1% did not belong to any religion. Roman Catholicism comprised 91.9% of the population, with Eastern Orthodoxy at 0.9% (rising from 0.4% in 2011, caused in part by recent immigration from Ukraine).

In 2015, 61.1% of the population gave religion high to very high importance whilst 13.8% regarded religion as of little or no importance. The percentage of believers is much higher in the eastern parts of Poland.

Religion 2011 census2021 census Number % Number %Christianity 34,194,133 88.79 27,550,861 72.43–Latin Catholics 33,728,734 87.58 27,121,331 71.30–Eastern Orthodox 156,284 0.41 151,648 0.40–Jehovah's Witnesses 137,308 0.36 108,754 0.29–Lutherans 70,766 0.18 65,407 0.17–Greek Catholics 33,281 0.09 33,209 0.09–Pentecostals 26,433 0.07 30,105 0.08–Mariavites 9,990 0.03 12,248 0.03–Polish Catholics 8,807 0.02 6,942 0.02–Baptists 5,982 0.02 5,181 0.01–Seventh-day Adventists 4,947 0.01 3,129 0.01–Other Christians 11,601 0.03 12,907 0.03Buddhism 4,817 0.01 3,236 0.01Islam 4,593 0.01 2,209 0.01Other religions 18,408 0.05 44,694 0.12No religion 929,420 2.41 2,611,506 6.87Undeclared 3,360,451 8.73 7,823,612 20.57Total 38,511,822 100.00 38,036,118 100.00

History For centuries the ancient West Slavic and Lechitic peoples inhabiting the lands of modern-day Poland have practiced various forms of paganism known as Rodzimowierstwo (“native faith”).Gniazdo – Rodzima wiara i kultura, nr 2(7)/2009 – Ratomir Wilkowski: Rozważania o wizerunku rodzimowierstwa na przykładzie... From the beginning of its statehood, different religions coexisted in Poland. With the baptism of Poland in 966, the old pagan religions were gradually eradicated over the next few centuries during the Christianization of Poland. However, this did not put an end to pagan beliefs in the country. The persistence was demonstrated by a series of rebellions known as the Pagan reaction in the first half of the 11th century, which also showed elements of a peasant uprising against landowners and feudalism, and led to a mutiny that destabilized the country. By the 13th century Catholicism had become the dominant religion throughout the country. Nevertheless, Christian Poles coexisted with a significant Jewish segment of the population.

In the 15th century, the Hussite Wars and the pressure from the papacy led to religious tensions between Catholics and the emergent Hussite and subsequent Protestant community, particularly after the Edict of Wieluń (1424). The Protestant movement gained a significant following in Poland and, though Roman Catholicism retained a dominant position within the state, the liberal Warsaw Confederation (1573) guaranteed wide religious tolerance. But the Counter-Reformation's reactionary movement succeeded in reducing the scope for tolerance by the late 17th and early 18th century – as evidenced by events such as the Tumult of Toruń (1724).

When Poland was divided between its neighbors in the late eighteenth century, some Poles were subjected to religious discrimination in the newly expanded German Prussia and Russia.

Prior to the Second World War, some 3,500,000 Polish Jews (about 10% of the national population) lived in the Polish Second Republic, largely in cities. Between the Germano-Soviet invasions of Poland and the end of World War II, over 90% of Jews in Poland perished. The Holocaust (called the "Shoah" in Hebrew) took the lives of more than three million mostly Ashkenazi Jews in Poland. Comparatively few managed to survive the German occupation or to escape eastward into the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, beyond the reach of the Nazi Germany. As elsewhere in Europe during the interwar period, there was both official and popular anti-Semitism in Poland, at times encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church and by some political parties (particularly the right-wing endecja and small ONR groups and factions), but not directly by the Polish government itself. Poland's Holocaust by Tadeusz Piotrowski. Published by McFarland. From Preface: policy of genocide.

According to a 2011 survey by Ipsos MORI, 85% of the Poles remain Christians; 8% are irreligious, atheist, or agnostic; 2% adhere to unspecified other religions; and 5% did not answer the question.Views on globalisation and faith . Ipsos MORI, 5 July 2011.

According to an opinion poll conducted in "a representative group of 1,000 people" by the Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS), published in 2015, 39% of Poles claim they are "believers following the Church's laws", while 52% answered that they are "believers in their own understanding and way", and 5% stated that they are atheists.

The Polish Constitution and religion

The Polish Constitution assures freedom of religion for all. State and religion are formally separated in Poland. The Constitution also grants national and ethnic minorities the rights to establish educational and cultural institutions and institutions designed to protect religious identity, as well as to participate in the resolution of matters connected with their cultural identities.

Religious organizations in the Republic of Poland can register their institution with the Ministry of Interior and Administration, creating a record of churches and other religious organizations which operate under separate Polish laws. This registration is not necessary, but it does serve the laws guaranteeing freedom of religious practice.

Slavic Rodzimowiercy groups registered with the Polish authorities in 1995 are the Native Polish Church (Rodzimy Kościół Polski), which represents a pagan tradition which goes back to pre-Christian faiths and continues Władysław Kołodziej's 1921 Holy Circle of Worshipper of Światowid (Święte Koło Czcicieli Światowida), and the Polish Slavic Church (Polski Kościół Słowiański).Simpson, Scott (2000). Native Faith: Polish Neo-Paganism at the Brink of the 21st Century This native Slavic religion is promoted also by the Native Faith Association (Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary, ZRW), and the Association for Tradition founded in 2015.

Major denominations Around 125 faith groups and minor religions are registered in Poland. Data for 2018 provided by Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Poland's Central Statistical Office.

DenominationMembersLeadership Catholic Church in Poland, including:LatinByzantine-UkrainianArmenian32,910,86555,000670Wojciech Polak, Prymas of PolandStanisław Gądecki, Chairman of Polish EpiscopateSalvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio to PolandJan Martyniak, Archbishop Metropolite of Byzantine-Ukrainian RitePolish Autocephalous Orthodox Church507,196 Metropolitan of Warsaw SawaJehovah's Witnesses in Poland116,935 Warszawska 14, Nadarzyn Pl-05830Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland61,217 Bishop Fr. Jerzy SamiecPentecostal Church in Poland25,152 Bishop Marek KamińskiOld Catholic Mariavite Church in Poland (data from 2017)22,849 Chief Bishop Fr. Marek Maria Karol BabiPolish Catholic Church (Old Catholic)18,259 Bishop Wiktor WysoczańskiSeventh-day Adventist Church in Poland9,726 President of the Church, Ryszard JankowskiChurch of Christ in Poland6,326 Bishop Andrzej W. BajeńskiNew Apostolic Church in Poland6,118 Bishop Waldemar StarostaBaptist Christian Church of the Republic of Poland5,343 President of the Church: Dr. Mateusz WicharyChurch of God in Christ4,611 Bishop Andrzej NędzusiakEvangelical Methodist Church in Poland (data from 2017)4,465 General Superintendent, Andrzej MalickiEvangelical Reformed Church in Poland3,335 President consistory Dr. Witold BrodzińskiCatholic Mariavite Church in Poland1,838 Bishop Damiana Maria Beatrycze SzulgowiczThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Poland1,729 President of the Church: Russel M. Nelson Warsaw Mission President: Mateusz TurekIslamic Religious Union in Poland523 President of the Supreme Muslim College Stefan KoryckiUnion of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland1,860 President of the Main Board Piotr Kadlčik Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich

Selected locations

Religion in Poland

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