ISKK: Aggression against clergy, places and objects of worship is on the rise in Poland

https://episkopat.pl/doc/226772.ISKK-Wzrasta-agresja-wobec-osob-duchownych-miejsc-i-obiektow

Prof. Marcin Jewdokimow, director of the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics (ISKK), admitted that this topic was taken up by the Institute because of the "disproportion between the experience of everyday life and the press reports". "Press coverage is the tip of the iceberg of a certain growing social problem that concerns aggression against clergy, but also against places and objects of worship" - he assessed.

Karol Leszczynski, PhD from the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, who initiated the study, admitted that the search was exploratory in nature. He reported that the study was conducted in the form of an electronic survey via the Internet in October/November 2024. He added that 966 priests responded to the survey. He pointed out that the survey showed that half of the priests surveyed (49.7%) had experienced aggression in the past 12 months. The most common were taunts, threats and insults (41.6%), and a significant proportion of clergy (33.6%) declared that they had experienced aggression on the Internet. "So we can say that it is a widespread phenomenon if half of the people, when asked the question, declare that they have experienced such phenomena" - he assessed.

Karol Leszczynski pointed out that in the last 12 months prior to the survey, there had also been attacks on churches, destruction of property, destruction of graves, disruption of Masses and services. "However, the most common form was verbal aggression against priests" - he admitted.

He added that a feature of the participants in the survey was a low propensity to report incidents. The vast majority (80.8%) of the priests surveyed did not report incidents of aggression to the relevant institutions. The most common reasons for not reporting were that incidents were not considered serious enough (46.2%) and unwillingness to comply with formalities (22.6%). Lack of trust in the authorities was indicated by 14.6% of respondents.

Leszczynski noted that more than half of the respondents take steps to avoid such situations: they do not wear the cassock or collar, they resign from certain tasks and functions. He noted that outside the parish, 57.2% of the priests surveyed felt safe in their clerical garb, while without it, as many as 89.7% declared a sense of security.

He indicated that, according to the participants of the study, the main causes of aggression are the negative image of the clergy in the media (96.4%) and increasing political and social tensions (91.1%). As many as 85.9% of respondents believe that the level of aggression towards clergy in Poland has increased in the last 10 years.

Prof. Krzysztof Koseła, chairman of the ISKK Scientific Council, acknowledged that since 2020, priests have found themselves in the group of people being beaten and killed, just as journalists were before. "Priests and journalists are in the same group of people at risk of aggression" - he pointed out. Referring to the causes of aggression against the clergy, he said that the first cause is the negative image of priests in the media. The second is the clash between Christianity and liberalism, i.e. the culture war. And finally, the third is the fault of priests themselves.

ISKK/ Press Office of the Polish Bishops' Conference