KRAKOW, Poland (OSV News) ─ The level of trust in the Catholic Church in Poland hit a record low with only one third of traditionally Catholic Poles trusting the church.
The level of distrust has almost doubled over the same period, skyrocketing from 24.2% to 47.1%. Commentators blame the fall on the bishops -- too engaged in "politics, money" and not taking care of the abuse crisis.
The Polish Institute for Market and Social Research Foundation, or IBRiS, released the poll -- conducted for the Polish Press Agency Sept. 18, noting that the total percentage of people who declare trust ("strongly" or "rather strongly") in the Catholic Church plummeted by over 22% -- and has fallen from 58% in September 2016 to 35.1% in the same month in 2025.
The "most alarming change" occurred within one year. Between October 2024 and September 2025, the trust index fell by 4%, while the percentage of those who say they "strongly distrust" the church increased by 4.8%.
"I beat my breast, even though I know that this is not enough," Bishop Artur Wazny of Sosnowiec wrote on X. He is the only bishop to date to comment publicly on the results of the survey,
The bishop -- the first one to set up an independent commission for investigating abuse in his diocese -- cited the Book of Ezekiel in his social media post: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds pasture the flock?"
In his X post, Bishop Wazny said he "sought to understand" the results of the IBRiS research and "found one answer in prayer," quoting Ezekiel's: "You consumed milk, wore wool, and slaughtered fatlings, but the flock you did not pasture."
Bishop Wazny most likely referred to years of unmet expectations from the side of Polish faithful in regard to being pastors, especially amidst the peak of the abuse crisis.
In the five years since the crisis came to light in the country, the church in Poland has taken up many reforms, including initiating the St. Joseph Foundation in 2019, which finances therapy and other needs of abuse survivors, and setting up the Office of Delegate of Child Protection of the Polish bishops’ conference led by Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno.
It has not, however, issued a national report on the scope of abuse, which the investigating commission is expected to work on. The commission's idea however was announced as early as in March 2023, only to not be established two years on.
Moreover, in June, in a move that shocked victims of abuse, Archbishop Polak -- an outspoken advocate of survivors of abuse -- was dismissed by the country’s bishops from his role as a leader of the team of experts preparing the ground for the commission.
During the last debate for which some of the bishops did not stay as the vote was not a planned one, the bishops voted to replace Archbishop Polak with Bishop Slawomir Oder of Gliwice.
"The blame for the significant decline in trust in the Church lies solely with the bishops," wrote Tomasz Krzyzak, editor of the Rzeczpospolita journal in his Sept. 18 editorial.
"No more distorting reality. The church is an authority only for a handful of Poles," he said, pointing out that upon the fall of communism in 1989, over 90% of Poles trusted the church.
He said the trust has been "squandered" by bishops too engaged in politics, too worried about money -- including giant grants gifted to the church by subsequent governments -- and ignoring the scandals rocking the church for the last six years.
"It all boils down to the 3 P's: polityka, pedofilia, pieniadze," Krzyzak said, referring to "politics, pedophilia" and "money," in English.
Robert Fidura, clergy sex abuse victim and advocate of survivors of abuse, told OSV News he would add another factor to Krzyzak's list -- communications.
"A crucial factor is the complete lack of communication skills; current and previous spokespersons, and even bishops themselves, speak in pompous, church-like language that perhaps only theological specialists or clergy can understand. For many, this is empty talk," he said.
Fidura also pointed out that once St. John Paul II was out of the picture in 2005, the church in Poland entered a "black hole" period. "The pontificate of St. John Paul II was an act of God for the bishops," Fidura told OSV News. "They decided that their role here was merely to implement his vision for the church in Poland. When he was gone, a void emerged, no ideas, no strategy."
For Fidura, addressing the abuse crisis is "too little too late" with one more blow to the already established system when on Sept. 18, Marta Titaniec -- president of St. Joseph Foundation, which helps victims of abuse -- and the only laywoman in the leadership of Polish national-level church structures, said she would not run for another, third term in the foundation's leadership.
"Looking back on these six years, I feel grateful to the people I have met during my work," she said in a statement posted on Facebook of St. Joseph Foundation.
"Above all, I thank the people who have been harmed, with whom I had the opportunity to interact within the foundation. Without your trust, the foundation would be meaningless," Titaniec said.
She said however that the decision was also influenced by the fact that she "did not always encounter understanding for the foundation's activities" among bishops.
"Although established by the bishops," the foundation was "sometimes treated by some as an alien, external institution."
For Fidura, "this is not solely getting rid of the only layperson left in charge of safeguarding structures," but the recent decisions "effectively extinguish everything related to fighting abuse."
"It looks like there will be no independent commission, nor will there be the foundation in the welcoming form that Marta Titaniec created and led. Her vision of an institution centered on survivors failed in the opinion of the bishops," Fidura told OSV News.
Krzyzak, for his part, underlined: "Pope Francis often said that a good shepherd must smell the scent of his sheep. The problem is that a large portion of Polish hierarchs don't even attempt to get close to their sheep and feel their scent. The effect is visible."
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Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina.
