Decline of religion

[GUBU]

'On brink of abyss,' Polish church ignores warning signs

With empty pews and seminaries and its moral authority in free fall, Poland's Catholic church is on the brink of the abyss, a reality analysts say it is choosing to ignore.

Only 71 percent of Poles describe themselves as Catholic, down from 88 percent a decade ago, according to the latest national census, from 2021.

Less than a third of the faithful went to Sunday mass that year, the lowest figure since 1980, according to Poland's Institute for Catholic Church Statistics.

The number of baptisms fell by 40 percent between 2017 and 2022, and families have been taking their children out of religion class in droves, especially in big cities.

Faced with a lack of interest, three seminaries recently closed their doors.

The roughly 200 priests ordained last year were half that of a decade ago, prompting some bishops to recruit priests from Africa to fill the gap.

Among young Poles, the late homegrown Pope John Paul II -- once a beloved national hero whose likeness graces hundreds of statues across the country -- is nothing more than a subject of memes.

"The church has been abandoned by the Catholics themselves," said the former Jesuit, adding that it is "on the brink of the abyss" and its new head guarantees no reform.

The list of the church's failings is long, beginning with the paedophilia scandals and the institution's inability to manage them.

Fourteen bishops have been punished by the Vatican for sexual assault scandals in recent years.

"The matter of sex crimes is not over. It's just the beginning," theologian Zuzanna Radzik told AFP, explaining that cases of harassment at seminaries and religious orders had yet to be examined.

The church's alliance with the former government has also not helped its reputation.

"For years, Poland's bishops blackmailed successive governments in order to obtain gains for the church or themselves," Dudkiewicz said.

They notably backed a massive campaign against "LGBTQ ideology" waged by the previous right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20...ning-signs

"Ah feck," says the Irish conference of bishops, "where are we going to get our priests from now? We've far too many blacks as is."