In May 2022, the Centre for Social Opinion Research asked Polish women and men about their faith and religious practices. At the time the survey was conducted, the requirement to cover the mouth and nose in enclosed spaces—including churches—was no longer in force, and there were no limits on the number of people in churches.
How many people attend church?
According to respondents’ declarations, 68% of them—more than two-thirds—no longer attend church on Sundays. This is an increase of 9 percentage points compared with 2020, when 59% did not attend, and as much as 13 percentage points compared with 2018. Only one in three Poles (32%) takes part in Mass, a service or a religious meeting once a week because they feel an inner need to do so.
Men more often than women declare that they never attend church (18% and 12%, respectively). The same is true of one in four people aged 25–34 (25%), more than one in four members of managerial and professional staff with higher education (28%), and almost one in three people with left-wing views (31%).
| Excluding weddings, baptisms and funerals, how often do you take part in Mass, a service or a religious meeting because you feel such a need? | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every day | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| More than once a week | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| Every Sunday | 45% | 41% | 32% |
| Approximately once a month | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| At Christmas and/or Easter | 13% | 11% | 13% |
| Less often | 9% | 11% | 15% |
| Never | 10% | 11% | 15% |
| Refusal to answer / Difficult to say | 2% | 3% | 3% |
In May 2022, more than four-fifths of adult Polish women and men (82%) said that they neither attended nor had ever attended meetings of any religious community, prayer group or religious movement.
Poles’ religious practices do not always translate into their behaviour in everyday life. Therefore, CBOS researchers asked not about personal beliefs, but about how others perceive them: “What do you think others consider you to be?” It turns out that just under two-thirds of Poles (64%) say they are perceived as believers, including 3% who say that others consider them deeply religious. The behaviour, attitude and statements of one in ten people lead others to assess them as rather non-believing (10%), while almost 6% of respondents believe they are perceived as completely non-believing.
What does the Church mean to people?
In the survey, CBOS interviewers asked respondents about their attitude toward the institutional Church. Respondents selected one of the statements presented—the one they felt was closest to their view. Their answers were distributed fairly evenly. The largest group, 27%, believe that the Church is a community in which their faith is fulfilled. Almost as many adult Poles (26%) view the Church through the prism of priests and bishops who, by what they say and do, discourage them from it. One-fifth of respondents (20%) identify most closely with the statement that the Church is a parish where they feel comfortable. The same share (also 20%) identify with the statement that the Church is out of step with the present day and therefore does not attract them.
People are leaving the Church
As specialists from the Centre for Social Opinion Research write, the coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly left its mark on Poles’ religiosity. This is most visible in the departure from the Church of people who previously practised regularly and in the increase in the share of respondents declaring that they never attend church. The issue that divides Poles more is their attitude toward the Church as an institution or community than their attitude toward God or their personal faith. It can therefore be assumed that events which came to light during the pandemic, such as scandals involving church hierarchs, also contributed to the weakening of religious practices among some people.
All data and quotations come from the research bulletin “Changes in Poles’ religiosity after the pandemic” (June 2022), conducted by the Centre for Social Opinion Research.