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Poland is set to ordain 208 men to the sacred priesthood this year, the highest number of any European country.
A total of 141 men will be ordained for the diocesan priesthood. The Archdiocese of Warsaw, the country’s second largest by Catholic population, is set to ordain 12 men. However, the diocese with the largest number of new priests will be the Diocese of Tarnów, in the south of Poland, which will ordain 13 men.
The diocese is known for its deeply devout population, where 61.5 per cent attend Holy Mass and 99.4 per cent identify as Catholic. It has consistently been blessed with a greater number of seminarians than other dioceses. For the past three years, members of the diocese have undertaken a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Tuchów to pray for priestly vocations. This year, over 1,000 faithful took part in the pilgrimage, which many attribute to the comparatively large number of vocations within the diocese.
The Archdiocese of Kraków, where Pope Saint John Paul II once served as bishop, will gain seven new priests this year.
Men’s religious orders are expected to gain 67 priests. The Congregation of the Mission, founded by St Vincent de Paul in 1625, will ordain the most, with eight new priests. Larger orders will gain comparatively few, with both the Dominicans and Franciscans ordaining just four men each.
Poland remains one of the most Catholic countries in the world, with 71.4 per cent of the population identifying as Catholic in the 2021 census. Fewer than 7 per cent identified as having no religion, while a further 21 per cent declined to answer, suggesting the actual Catholic proportion may be higher. Non-Christian faiths are almost non-existent, with only 0.01 per cent identifying as Muslim. In a 2023 referendum, 97 per cent of voters opposed accepting migrants from the Middle East and Africa in line with EU regulations.
The country is also noted for its traditional sacramental observance. In 2022, the Sunday communion rate stood at 13.9 per cent, despite Sunday Mass attendance being close to 30 per cent. A 2023 survey found that 97 per cent of Polish Catholics go to confession more than once a year, compared with just 2 per cent of Catholics in the United States.
