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A total of 196 new priests are scheduled to be ordained in Poland this year, continuing a long-term decline in numbers.
Poland’s Catholic information agency KAI reported that 130 of the candidates will be diocesan priests and 66 will serve within religious orders.
This is expected to be the first year in the 21st century with fewer than 200 priestly ordinations in Poland. There were 208 new priests in 2025 and 235 in 2024.
The drop in priestly ordinations is likely to be felt far beyond Poland, because the country has traditionally supplied priests to other European countries, both East and West. Poland has also long been an important source of missionary priests to Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Despite the ongoing decline, Poland remains the European country with the most priestly vocations. In France, for example, there were 90 new priests in 2025. In Germany, there were 25.
Poland has a smaller overall population than France or Germany, but it has a larger number of baptized Catholics and a significantly higher Mass attendance rate than either country.
The new priests in 2026 will be spread unevenly among Poland’s dioceses. Tarnów, commonly described as the country’s
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