Hardly any area is spared from conflict, be it education, dealing with cases of abuse or the future of church media.
These issues are currently at the centre of a debate that affects not only the church, but the whole country.
The conflict over religious education in schools is particularly heated. Since the early 1990s, it has been firmly anchored in the Polish education system, financed by the state.
However, the new centre-left government wants to reduce the number of lessons from two to one per week.
Although the Constitutional Court declared this decision unconstitutional, Education Minister Barbara Nowacka rejected it.
According to Nowacka, parliament had denied the Constitutional Court its legitimacy in March 2024.
Since then, its decisions have been considered invalid. The reason for this is that the previous conservative government unlawfully appointed judges.
In an interview with the news portal "Onet", Nowacka therefore described the ruling as an "attempt to destabilise the education system."
"A group claiming to be a court is undermining the government's actions together with bishops," said the politician from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Citizens' Coalition.
Dispute over religious education and new school subject
For the bishops, this is a declaration of war. They emphasise the "great contribution" of religious education to personality development and warn of a loss of spiritual and moral foundations.
Bishop Wojciech Osial, Chairman of the Education Commission of the Polish Bishops' Conference, emphasised at a press conference following the meeting of the Permanent Council of the Bishops' Conference at the beginning of September that religious education is a central element of education. He received support from his fellow bishops, including the former Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah.
At a conference in Warsaw, he criticised the "erosion of the spiritual life" and gender theory and called on parents to remain faithful to their Christian heritage.
He literally said that today everything was being done "to take away all depth from the spiritual life in God, among other things by restricting religious education for children and young people".
At the same time, he opposed views that advocate the separation of biological gender from cultural gender. A side blow against the introduction of a new compulsory subject "Health Education", which is to replace the current elective subject "Education for Life in the Family" from 2025/26?
According to reports, the new curriculum includes topics such as contraception, fertility technologies, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/Aids, abortion and forms of sexual violence. Psychosocial aspects are also included in the programme. The Church reacted with clear disapproval.
Although it recognises the positive content of the programme, the Bishops' Conference's Education Commission stated that many points "contradict the Church's teaching" - particularly in matters of morality and sexuality.
In an open letter, the commission called on parents not to allow their children to take part in the new subject.
"You have the right to decide on the education of your children," it says. When asked by katholisch.de, the Polish Bishops' Conference said that they had no information on how many children were enrolled in the subject. According to the spokesperson, parents had until 25 September to withdraw their child from the class or allow them to take part.
Polish education activist Dorota Łoboda criticised this appeal by the Bishops' Conference on "X" and emphasised that health education is an indispensable subject. "I don't know what you have to have in your head to describe knowledge about health as depravity and demoralisation," said Łoboda.
Aleksandra Krasowska, a specialist in psychiatry and sexology, also accused the church of taking action against the education of children and young people despite its own scandals. In contrast, Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik, MEP for the far-right Konfederacja party, spoke of "left-wing indoctrination and sexualisation".
Dispute continues
The dispute shows the fundamental conflict: the government is in favour of pluralism and enlightenment, while the Church, the PiS party (Law and Justice) and the Confederation of Freedom and Independence (Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość) are defending their ideas on marriage, family and morality.
One cleric told katholisch.de that concerns about losing power were the real reason behind the Polish bishops' resistance.
But the dispute continues. Shortly after the halving of religious education, those in favour of the elective subject were nevertheless able to record a partial success: Parliament recently decided to allow a draft law from a popular initiative to be discussed further. This provides for pupils to receive two hours of religious or ethics lessons per week in future. A motion by the co-governing left-wing party Lewica to reject the bill failed to gain a majority.
In addition to the national-conservative and right-wing opposition parties, some MPs from the government camp also voted in favour of further consideration of the proposal - including the conservative PSL parliamentary group, parliamentary speaker Szymon Hołownia and parts of his Polska 2050 movement.
The largest governing party, the liberal-conservative KO of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the other hand, spoke out against the initiative and supported the left's motion to reject it.
Abuse reappraisal with obstacles
In addition to the education dispute, the bishops are struggling to come to terms with sexual abuse in a convincing manner. After a long period of hesitation, a working group is working on the establishment of an independent commission of experts. Bishop Sławomir Oder, who is leading the preparations, recently presented drafts for a legal basis.
Cooperation with the men's and women's orders is planned. As resolutions of the conference are not binding, the accession of individual dioceses and religious orders remains voluntary. "The formal establishment of the commission will therefore be linked to the signing of bilateral agreements," explained Oder.
The drafts have now been sent to the Legal Commission; if the assessment is favourable, the commission could be officially established in the coming months.
However, there was already a hail of criticism in the run-up. Observers criticised the anonymity of Oder's working group and the lack of consultation with those affected. The bishop justified both with security concerns and pointed out that only procedural issues had been dealt with so far.
An earlier group of experts under Archbishop Wojciech Polak had already worked anonymously and was disbanded after a short time. The names only became known when the members were thanked for their work. The 2023 team of experts included Archbishop Grzegorz Ryś (now a cardinal), Bishop Ryszard Kasyna (Diocese of Peplin) and Bishop Jan Kopiec (now Bishop Emeritus of Gliwice).
Critics see these personnel changes and delays as evidence of a lack of will to clarify the matter, according to a report on the "deon.pl" portal.
Many of those affected feel put off, while bishops have been promising clarification for years. At the same time, supporters are warning against prematurely rejecting the new attempt: For the first time, there is the prospect of a legally viable structure.
Whether the commission will actually be launched in the coming months remains to be seen.
Church journalism with question marks
The church media is also increasingly caught up in the maelstrom of controversy. The Catholic news agency KAI (Katolicka Agencja Informacyjna), the most important source of information on church-related topics in Poland, recently took centre stage. Its founder and long-standing editor-in-chief Marcin Przeciszewski resigned after 32 years in office.
He spoke of a "de facto liquidation" of the agency and accused the bishops of wanting to tie KAI more closely to their press office - at the expense of journalistic independence.
The Bishops' Conference has rejected these accusations. KAI should remain in existence, emphasised a spokesperson, but as part of a comprehensive restructuring of all church media companies.
In view of high costs, the work must become more efficient. The agency is to be integrated into its own new "media group".
Critics saw this as a danger of taking away the agency's journalistic independence. At the same time, the spokesperson also admitted that the bishops were disturbed by some of KAI's reports that "did not entirely correspond with their message", such as reports on the investigation of abuse.
Przeciszewski's resignation is considered to be far-reaching in the case. In 2018, he was honoured with the Pontifical Order of St Gregory, one of the highest awards for laypeople. With his departure, there is growing concern that independent church reporting will be weakened. Critics are warning of a step backwards at a time when the Church urgently needs to regain trust.
However, no concrete decisions have yet been made. When asked by katholisch.de, the Polish Bishops' Conference explained that the reform concerns three media organisations founded by the episcopate and is an internal reform. "Work is underway to ensure closer cooperation between them and thus improve their efficiency," said a spokesperson.
Social fronts
The conflicts surrounding schools, abuse and the media reflect a deeper crisis of trust. On the one hand, the Catholic Church remains deeply rooted in Poland, shaping holidays, family life and public consciousness, but on the other hand its authority is crumbling, especially among younger people.
According to a survey conducted by the opinion research institute IBRiS for the news agency PAP, only 35.1 per cent of adults still trust the church very much or to some extent.
This is 4.3 percentage points less than in October 2024 and the institute's worst survey result for the church to date. 26.1 per cent said they had "no" trust in the Catholic Church at all, and 21 per cent "rather not". Together, that is just under half of the 1,067 respondents. According to opinion researcher Kamil Smogorzewski from IBRiS, the "erosion of trust" has accelerated.
For the bishops, this now means a balancing act: they want to defend their influence and tradition, but at the same time have to confront reforms and criticism.
Whether they succeed in this balancing act will determine how the church can maintain its role in a changing society.