A magazine in Poland explores the increasingly common phenomenon of believers formally abandoning their Catholic faith
While some media outlets in Western Europe talk of a “quiet revival” of the Christian faith, especially among young people, the Polish Catholic magazine Tygodnik Powszechny published a recent piece on those who have chosen to make a decisive break from the Church.
The article by journalist Adrian Burtan features the stories of two women who turned to “apostasy” – a complete, official abandonment of the faith, rather than a decision to stop attending Mass.
While reliable figures on apostasy in Poland are scarce, an “Apostasy Map” project and the website apostazja.eu, which offers templates for leaving the Church, have recorded thousands of downloads since 2020. Not everyone who downloads a declaration submits it, but the figures suggest that such formal departures may be widespread.
Alicja Bazan grew up deeply involved in the Church in Kraków. She attended retreats, belonged to youth groups and helped organise church camps.
But over time she became disillusioned, especially as she watched bishops make hostile statements about sexual minorities and saw little accountability among the clergy for abuse scandals. When she raised questions with officials, she said she was told she “thinks too much” and was expected to accept the Church’s teachings without discussion.
“It’s not that I didn’t try to fight for my faith,” she told the magazine. “I did, because giving up something you’ve dedicated a large part of your life to isn’t easy.”
Eventually she concluded she could no longer stay. When she was writing her list of goals for the New Year of 2025, she made apostasy one of them. The formal process involved submitting a declaration and visiting a priest.
Joanna Banach, also featured in the report, turned to the Church as a teenager, finding it provided an escape from a difficult family environment. She became deeply involved in parish life.
But a crisis came later when her own daughter told her she was attracted to women. After seeking guidance from a priest – who advised her to love her child – Joanna chose to support her daughter openly, attending Pride marches and sharing this publicly online.
The reaction from fellow parishioners, however, was harsh. Community members condemned her, and pressure from the parish council led to her removal from official roles.
The experience pushed her into a depression and led her to stop attending Mass. Apostasy, when she chose it, formalised a separation that had already happened.
Banach said: “Over time, I began to think that the Church was no longer my place. That everything the community taught had nothing to do with the Gospel. Jesus said that we are all loved just as we are. But in the Church, it’s different.”
Experts cited in the article said that these two examples were part of broader trends. Katarzyna Zielińska, a sociologist of religion at Jagiellonian University, pointed to cultural and economic change as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Polish religiosity, she says, often relies on ritual and repetition. When lockdowns disrupted that rhythm, many people simply did not return to church.
Recent declines have also been shaped by local factors: the Church’s closeness to politicians, and what critics like Alicja Bazan see as a lack of decisive action against abusive clergy. Without movement on either of these issues, Poland’s secularisation is likely to continue, the Catholic publication predicts.
The original article ‘Dlaczego wierni odchodzą z Kościoła? Dwie opowieści o apostazji’ by Adrian Burtan was first published in Polish on 10 February.
It is available here.
Tygodnik Powszechny is a Catholic weekly magazine that was founded in 1945.
Summary by TM
