Priests shortage in Poland, Catholic Church Turns to Africa
Poland’s Catholic parishes are running out of priests – and looking beyond Europe to keep the churches open.
In 2026, only 196 priests will be ordained in Poland – 12 fewer than last year and 205 fewer than in 2013. Seven dioceses will have zero ordinations this year. Several seminaries have already merged or closed – Wrocław, Legnica and Świdnica into one, Kalisz moved to Częstochowa, Elbląg to Olsztyn, while Łowicz and Bydgoszcz have shut completely.
“Over a dozen seminaries will need to be closed,” says priest and ethicist Andrzej Kobyliński. _”In Płock there are 13 seminarians in seven year groups. Some years are empty or have only one or two people. How can you survive seven years on your own?”
The response: recruit from Africa and Asia.
In Kielce there are currently two seminarians from the Central African Republic and seven from Angola. In Ełk, Bishop Jerzy Mazur – himself a former missionary in Ghana – announced in 2023 that he would invite African clergy to the diocesan seminary. They train in Poland and then work in the region for 8-10 years under inter-diocesan agreements.
That is how Father Fransiskus Laka from Indonesia ended up in Brzegi, near Zakopane. He landed at Warsaw Okęcie in October 1999 – 7 degrees – and thought he would not last. 27 years later he is parish priest in Podhale, sometimes shoveling snow in a T-shirt.
It was not his first choice. At his Verbite seminary in Pieniężno he asked for Ecuador, Nicaragua and Poland last. The provincial sent him to Poland anyway.
Father Romuald Mawakina Tchilabalo Mozou from Togo arrived seven years ago to the Opole seminary. He learned Polish 7 hours a day, 6 days a week for 7 months. Now he speaks with almost no accent and serves as a curate in Ujazd – and plays as a striker for GKS Piomar Tarnów Opolski-Przywory in Klasa A.
“They were a little surprised at first – I’m the first African priest in the Opole diocese,” he says. His teammates call him Romek.
The model is spreading. In 2023 Ełk ordained only one deacon – from Togo. Of seven seminarians there now, three are from Africa, two from Ghana.
“We have a vocations crisis everywhere in Europe,” Kobyliński says. “Essentially we have two areas where we can recruit – mainly Africa, and possibly India. Latin America is not an option, it faces its own exodus to Pentecostal churches. This is an enormous historical change – it was once Poland and Europe that sent missionaries to Africa.”
Source: Notes from Poland / Tygodnik Powszechny, Sep 21, 2026