Question: Is Poland a Catholic country?

Religion in Poland



While a number of religious communities operate in Poland, the majority of the country's population adheres to Christianity. Within this, the largest grouping is the Roman Catholic Church, with 87.5% of Poles in 2011 identifying as Roman Catholic (census conducted by the Central Statistical Office (GUS)).[1] According to the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, 36.7% of Polish Catholic believers attended Sunday church services in 2016.[2]
 Catholicism continues to play an important role in the lives of many Poles and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland enjoys social prestige and political influence, despite repression experienced under Communist rule.[3] Its members regard it as a repository of Polish heritage and culture.[4] Poland lays claim to having the highest proportion of Catholic citizens of any country in Europe except for Malta (including more than in Italy, Spain and Ireland).
This numerical dominance results from the Nazi German Holocaust of Jews living in Poland and the World War II casualties among Polish religious minorities,[5][6][7][8] as well as the flight and expulsion of Germans, many of whom were not Catholics, at the end of World War II.
The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox (Polish Orthodox Church) (504,400 believers, Polish and Belarusian),[9] various Protestant churches (the largest being the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland with 61,270 members)[9] and Jehovah's Witnesses (118,774).[9] There are about 55,000 Greek Catholics in Poland.[9] Other religions practiced in Poland, by less than 1% of the population, include Islam and Judaism and to a lesser extent Hinduism and Buddhism.[10]
History

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. 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.[11][12]
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).[13] The Protestant movement gained a significant following in Poland; and while Catholicism retained a dominant position, the liberal Warsaw Confederation (1573)guaranteed wide religious tolerance.[13] The resulting counter-reformation movement eventually 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).[13][14][15]
When Poland lost its independence to foreign invaders in 1795, Poles were subjected to religious discrimination in the expanded Germany and Imperial Russia.[16]
Prior to Second World War there were 3,500,000 Jews in the Polish Second Republic, about 10% of the general population, living predominantly in the cities. Between the 1939 German invasion of Poland, and the end of World War II, over 90% of Jewry in Poland perished.[17] The Holocaust, also known as Shoah took the lives of more than three million Jews in Poland (majority of Ashkenazi descent). Only a small percentage managed to survive in the German-occupied Poland or successfully escaped east into the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, beyond the reach of the Nazis. As elsewhere in Europe during the interwar period, there was both official and popular anti-Semitism in Poland, at times encouraged by the Catholic Church and by some political parties (particularly the right-wing endecja and small ONR groups and faction), but not directly by the government.[18]
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 give an answer to the question.[19]
The Polish Constitution and religion

According to Poland's Constitution freedom of religion is ensured to everyone. It also allows for national and ethnic minorities to have the right to establish educational and cultural institutions, institutions designed to protect religious identity, as well as to participate in the resolution of matters connected with their cultural identity.[21]
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 who operate under separate Polish laws. This registration is not necessary; however, it is beneficial when it comes to serving the freedom of religious practice laws.
The Slavic Rodzimowiercy groups, registered with the Polish authorities in 1995, are the Native Polish Church (Rodzimy Kościół Polski) which represents a pagan tradition that 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).[22]  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
There are roughly 125 faith groups and other minor religions registered in Poland.[23] Data for 2017 provided by Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Poland's Central Statistical Office.[9]

2015 poll by CBOS
According to an opinion poll conducted "on 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 they are "believers in their own understanding and way" and 5% answered that they are atheists.[25][26]
Selected locations

St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral in Poznań
Old Catholic Mariavite Temple of Mercy and Charity in Płock
St. Anna in Warsaw Wilanów
St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral in Legnica
Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń in Licheń Stary - the largest church in Poland
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Wrocław
Oliwa Cathedral, Gdańsk
Włocławek Cathedral
St. Stanislaus Kostka Cathedral in Łódź
Cathedral in Radom
Romanesque church in Czerwińsk by Vistula river
Cathedral in Lublin
Saint Roch and John Church in Brochów
Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family in Częstochowa seen from the John Paul II square
Catholic St. Anne's Church in Warsaw
Catholic Mariavite Monastery in Felicjanów
St. Catherine church in Gdańsk
Eastern Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Białystok
Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral in Warsaw
Lutheran Jesus Church in Cieszyn
Nożyk Synagogue in Warsaw
Tempel Synagogue in Kraków
Mosque in Kruszyniany
Mosque in Gdańsk
Hindu temple in Czarnków
Gompa Drophan Ling in Darnków

See also

Roman Catholicism in Poland
Slavic Native Faith in Poland
Eastern Orthodoxy in Poland
Protestantism in Poland
Islam in Poland
Buddhism in Poland
Hinduism in Poland
History of the Jews in Poland
Bahá'í Faith in Poland
Polish anti-religious campaign (1945–1990)
Irreligion in Poland