St. Florian's Roman Catholic Cathedral inWarsaw. A large majority of ethnicPoles are adherents of theCatholic branch ofChristianity.

Religion in Poland israpidly declining, although historically it had been one of the mostCatholic countries in the world.^[2]

According to a 2018 report by thePew 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."^[3] The rate of decline has been described as "devastating"^[4] the former social prestige and political influence that theCatholic Church in Poland once enjoyed.^[5] Most Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism. 71.3% of the population identified themselves as such in the2021 census, down from 87.6% in2011.^[4] According to church statistics, approximately 28% of Catholics attend mass weekly.^[6] The church's reputation has declined significantly in response tosexual abuse scandals, its support ofa near-total abortion ban in Poland, and close ties to theLaw and Justice party, often considered itsde facto political proxy in the country.^[2][3][4]

The current extent of this numerical dominance results largely fromThe Holocaust of Jews living in Poland carried out byNazi Germany and the World War II casualties among Polish religious minorities.^{[7][8][9][10]} Its members regard it as a repository of Polish heritage and culture.^[11] The rest of the population consists mainly ofEastern Orthodox (Polish Orthodox Church – approximately 507,196 believers),^[12] variousProtestant churches (the largest of which is theEvangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, with 61,217 members)^[12] and Jehovah's Witnesses (116,935).^[12] There are about 55,000Greek Catholics in Poland.^[12] Other religions practiced inPoland, by less than 0.1% of the population, includeIslam,Judaism,Hinduism, andBuddhism.^[13]

In the2021 census, the most common religion wasLatin Catholicism, whose followers comprised 71.3% of the population, followed by theEastern Orthodoxy with 0.4%,Jehovah's Witnesses with 0.3%, and various Protestant denominations comprising 0.4% of the Polish population and 0.1% forGreek Catholic Churches. According toStatistics 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, withEastern Orthodoxy at 0.9% (rising from 0.4% in 2011, caused in part by recent immigration fromUkraine).^[14]

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.^[15]

For centuries the ancient West Slavic andLechitic peoples inhabiting the lands of modern-day Poland have practiced various forms ofpaganism known asRodzimowierstwo (“native faith”).^{[17][18][19][20]} From the beginning of its statehood, different religions coexisted in Poland. With thebaptism of Poland in 966, the oldpagan religions were gradually eradicated over the next few centuries during theChristianization 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 thePagan reaction in the first half of the 11th century, which also showed elements of a peasant uprising against landowners and feudalism,^[21] and led to a mutiny that destabilized the country.^{[22][23][24][25]} 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.^[26][27]

In the 15th century, theHussite Wars and the pressure from thepapacy led to religious tensions between Catholics and the emergentHussite and subsequent Protestant community, particularly after theEdict of Wieluń (1424).^[28] TheProtestant movement gained a significant following in Poland and, though Roman Catholicism retained a dominant position within the state, the liberalWarsaw Confederation (1573) guaranteed widereligious tolerance.^[28] But theCounter-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 theTumult of Toruń (1724).^[28][29][30]

When Polandwas divided between its neighbors in the late eighteenth century, some Poles were subjected to religious discrimination in the newly expandedGerman Prussia andRussia.^[31]

Prior to theSecond World War, some 3,500,000Polish Jews (about 10% of the national population) lived in thePolish Second Republic, largely in cities. Between theGermano-Soviet invasions of Poland and theend of World War II, over 90% of Jews in Poland perished.^[32]The Holocaust (called the "Shoah" in Hebrew) took the lives of more than three million mostlyAshkenazi Jews in Poland. Comparatively few managed to survive theGerman occupation or to escape eastward into theterritories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, beyond the reach of theNazi Germany. As elsewhere in Europe during theinterwar period, there was both official and popularanti-Semitism in Poland, at times encouraged by the RomanCatholic Church and by some political parties (particularly the right-wingendecja and small ONR groups and factions), but not directly by the Polish government itself.^[33]

According to a 2011 survey byIpsos MORI, 85% of thePoles remainChristians; 8% areirreligious,atheist, oragnostic; 2% adhere to unspecified other religions; and 5% did not answer the question.^[34]

According to an opinion poll conducted in "a representative group of 1,000 people" by theCentre 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 areatheists.^[35][36]

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.^[38]

Religious organizations in the Republic of Poland can register their institution with theMinistry 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.

SlavicRodzimowiercy groups registered with the Polish authorities in 1995 are theNative Polish Church (Rodzimy Kościół Polski), which represents a pagan tradition which goes back to pre-Christian faiths and continuesWładysław Kołodziej's 1921 Holy Circle of Worshipper ofŚwiatowid (Święte Koło Czcicieli Światowida), and the Polish Slavic Church (Polski Kościół Słowiański).^[39] This native Slavic religion is promoted also by the Native Faith Association (Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary, ZRW), and the Association for Tradition founded in 2015.

Around 125 faith groups and minor religions are registered in Poland.^[40] Data for 2018 provided byGłówny Urząd Statystyczny, Poland's Central Statistical Office.^[12]

• 
  St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral inPoznań
• 
  St. Anna's Catholic Church inWarsaw-Wilanów
• 
  Old Catholic MariaviteTemple of Mercy and Charity inPłock
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  St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral inLegnica
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  Saint Roch and John Church inBrochów
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  Romanesque church inCzerwińsk byVistula river
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  Cathedral inWrocław
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  Cathedral inLublin
• 
  Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family inCzęstochowa
• 
  CatholicSt. Anne's Church in Warsaw
• 
  Eastern Orthodox Church of theHoly Spirit inBiałystok
• 
  Eastern OrthodoxMetropolitan Cathedral in Warsaw
• 
  LutheranHoly Trinity Church in Warsaw
• 
  LutheranJesus Church inCieszyn
• 
  Nożyk Synagogue in Warsaw
• 
  White Stork Synagogue inWrocław
• 
  Mosque inKruszyniany
• 
  Mosque inGdańsk
• 
  Światowid monument byWawel inKraków
• 
  International Society for Krishna Consciousness atPol'and'Rock Festival
• 
  GompaDrophan Ling inDarnków

Wikiquote has quotations related toReligion in Poland.

• List of churches and religious unions registered according to special legislation
• List of churches and religious unions from the Register of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration
• Institute for Catholic Church Statistics

• Religion in Poland

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