Nearly 20% fewer candidates for the Catholic priesthood have enrolled in Poland’s seminaries this year, compared to 2020.
Fr. Piotr Kot, chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Major Seminaries, told the Polish Catholic news agency KAI on October 12 that 356 seminarians began their studies in 2021.
Last year, he said, there were 441 candidates, meaning that “the number is lower by approxi-mately 20%.”
He explained that of the 356 candidates, 242 were training for the diocesan priesthood and 114 for religious orders.
There were 47 fewer semi-narians in diocesan seminaries and 38 fewer candidates for religious orders compared with the previous year, he said.
The Polish Catholic weekly GoϾ Niedzielny noted that priestly vocations had declined sharply in Poland in recent years.
In 2012, it said, 828 candidates enrolled in the first year of seminary. There were 498 in 2019 and 441 in 2020.
In March this year, Poland’s bishops made their final adjust-ments to a decree, called “The Way of Formation of Priests in Poland” (Ratio institutionis sa-cerdotalis pro Polonia), setting out new rules for priestly for-mation.