Statistics concerning the Church in Poland

(April 27, 2006) : In view of Pope Benedict’s forthcoming apostolic visit to Poland from May 25 to 28, the Vatican has released statistics concerning the Catholic Church in Poland. Poland has a population of 38.2 million, of whom 36.6 million (95.8 percent) are Catholic. There are 45 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 10,114 parishes and 800 pastoral centres of other kinds. Currently, there are 133 bishops, 28,546 priests, 24,826 religious, 1,081 lay members of secular institutes and 14,418 catechists. Minor seminarians number 1,803, and major seminarians 6,427. A total of 315,698 children and young people attend 1,726 centres of Catholic education, from kindergartens to universities. Other institutions belonging to the Church, or run by priests or religious in Poland include 33 hospitals, 244 clinics, 267 homes for the elderly or disabled, 538 orphanages and nurseries, 1,820 family counselling centres and other pro-life centres, and 1,462 centres for education and social rehabilitation.