From Love to Hate: The Catholic Church in Poland in the Public Opinion
From Love to Hate: The Catholic Church in Poland in the Public Opinion

Summary/Abstract: Poland is a country that is still considered Cath-olic. Faced with a series of image problems of theCatholic Church, this opinion is being increas-ingly revised. People, especially young people, areincreasingly turning away from this centuries-oldinstitution in search of their moral principles. Thepercentage of Catholics in Poland is decreasing.The author of the study decided to find out:(1) What do Poles think of the Catholic Churchtoday?; (2) How do they evaluate the various areasof activity of the Catholic Church in Poland?;(3) Is there a predominant opinion in Polishsociety about the necessity of separation of stateand church?; (4) What political consequences doesthis have? These questions are answered throughdesk research analysis of reports by the PublicOpinion Research Centre and statistical analysisof the author’s quantitative survey conducted afterthe 2023 parliamentary elections in Poland. Thesurvey results indicate that various areas of activityof the Catholic Church in Poland are evaluated indifferent ways. The respondents are most criticalof the Church’s influence on political authoritiesand the problem of solving the issue of paedophiliaamong the clergy. The results of the survey confirmthat Law and Justice voters are the people whohave the highest opinion of the Catholic Churchin Poland and are closely associated with Christianvalues.

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