What is the Church Fund?
The Church Fund was established on the basis of Article 8 of the Law of 20 March 1950 on the acquisition by the State of the goods of the dead hand, the provision of the holding of agricultural holdings to parishes and the creation of the Church Fund. The fund was under the supervision of the Minister of Public Administration. A period later, the Sejm reorganized the central administration, creating, among others, the Office for Confessions. Until 1989, the Church Fund operated as a stand-alone lecture in the structure of the Office for Confessions (UdSW).
Currently, the Kościelny Fund supports all Churches and another spiritual unions, which have legal position in Poland, including those that were created after 1950 and could not be taken over. According to the Ministry of abroad Affairs, there are over 160 of them. The Catholic Church receives the largest part of the funds. Since 1990, the only origin of backing for the Fund has been the state budget.
However, as it turns out, any Churches and spiritual unions may rise considerable doubts about their activities.
Communities at least murmured
The Church Fund was originally intended to compensate the Catholic Church for lost property. It presently includes about 20 1000 clergymen of different denominations, and in 2023 over 213 million zlotys were allocated to it.
The problem is that there is simply a deficiency of control over which entities these funds actually go to. In consequence to the parliamentary interpelling by Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic of the Left, Deputy Minister Gajewski admitted that neither the government nor the Social safety Office have data to identify the churches of beneficiaries, which gives emergence to concerns about the correct usage of public money.
Controversial communities, specified as the Church of Polish Remonstrants and exotic groups created in the 1990s, illustrate uncertainty and possible abuses. The Kucharska-Padzić MP points out the absurdity of the situation in which churches with small known doctrines have access to the state budget.
The Ministry of the household is working on a improvement aimed at eliminating the Church Fund and introducing a mechanics for identifying beneficiaries. This is 1 of the promises of the Citizens' Coalition.
Elimination that is not there
The Citizens' Coalition among the 100 concrete actions to be carried out within 100 days after the takeover of power took account of the liquidation of the Church Fund, ensuring that the State's budget was no longer transferred to the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, according to the “Fact” at the beginning of September this year, the budget for 2025 already provides for a evidence amount of over PLN 275 million.
The Kościelny Fund has been increasing steadily for years – in 2015 expenditure amounted to PLN 128 million, and since then it has gradually increased. For example, in 2022 the Fund amounted to PLN 200 million, in 2023 – PLN 216 million, and in 2024 – PLN 257 million.
The diary reported that despite the promises of the Civic Coalition, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to introduce fresh solutions since 2025, work on changes has been progressing slowly. The interministerial squad liable for drafting the fresh government has only met twice so far.
Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski confirmed that the work on the changes was underway, and another gathering of the squad was scheduled to take place in mid-August. However, the pace of this work suggests that the fresh regulations will not enter into force before the end of the year, as confirmed by the planned increase in spending on the Church Fund in the budget for 2025.
