A report from the Catholic Church’s Institute of Statistics brings a surprising revelation: one in every two diocesan priests in Poland has experienced some form of aggression in the last twelve months.
Newsroom (04/08/2025 5:14 PM, Gaudium Press) Half of the interviewed priests in Poland report having suffered some kind of aggression in the past year. This is highlighted in the report titled A Dangerous Mission? Attacks on Consecrated Persons, Places, and Objects of Worship in Poland, prepared by the Catholic Church’s Institute of Statistics (ISKK) and presented at the headquarters of the Polish Bishops’ Conference in Warsaw. The study points to the deteriorating image of the clergy in the media and the increasingly tense social and political climate as the main causes.
Situation Unreflected in the Media
ISKK Director Dr. Marcin Jewdokimow explained that the study was conducted due to the “discrepancy between the clergy’s daily experiences and their minimal media coverage.” He noted that “media reports are only the tip of the iceberg of a growing social problem that affects consecrated people as well as religious places and objects.”
Jewdokimow said the study focused on four areas: experiences of various forms of violence; the clergy’s reactions to these situations; the sense of security tied to their pastoral mission; and the causes and evolution of aggression against priests. He also clarified that the research focused on diocesan priests and will continue in later phases to establish ongoing monitoring of the phenomenon.
Mockery, Threats, and Insults as the Most Common Forms of Aggression
This exploratory study was carried out via a digital survey from October to November 2024, with a total of 966 priests responding, 614 of whom completed the questionnaire. According to Dr. Karol Leszczyński, who spearheaded the research, 49.7% of respondents acknowledged having been victims of aggression in the last year. The most common forms were taunting, threats, and insults (41.6%), followed by online attacks (33.6%).
Attacks on churches, vandalism, desecration of graves, and the disruption of religious services were also reported over the last twelve months, although verbal violence remains the most common.
Aggressions Rarely Reported
Leszczyński highlighted the low tendency of clergy to report such incidents: 80.8% of priests did not notify any authority. The main reasons cited were viewing the incidents as not very serious (46.2%), a reluctance to engage in bureaucratic procedures (22.6%), and lack of trust in institutions (14.6%).
More than half of those surveyed acknowledged taking steps to avoid conflict situations, such as refraining from wearing a cassock or clerical collar, or opting out of certain functions. Outside the parish environment, 57.2% feel secure wearing clerical attire, a figure that rises to 89.7% if they do not wear it.
Based on the collected data, 96.4% of participants believe the primary trigger for aggression is the negative image of the clergy in the media, followed by social and political tensions (91.1%). Additionally, 85.9% believe that violence against priests has increased in the last decade.
War Between Christianity and Liberalism
Professor Krzysztof Koseła, president of the ISKK Scientific Council, highlighted that since 2020, priests have joined journalists as a group at risk of physical attacks and even homicide. In his view, the key factors behind this phenomenon include the poor image of the clergy, the conflict between Christianity and liberalism—what he calls a “cultural war”—and mistakes made by the priests themselves.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Fr. Leszek Gęsiak SJ, described the findings as concerning and called for solidarity from the faithful toward their priests. “It is important for priests to know they are not alone, that there are people who rejoice with them in good times and support them in bad times, especially when facing such hostility as reflected in this report,” he concluded.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj with files courtesy of ISKK
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