“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money (Koh 5:9) – towards the transparent finances of the Catholic Church in Poland” is the full title of the report, the author of which is Love Hodun.
In addition to the request to improvement the ethics of public life and the quality of the legislation, another area which requires changes in Poland is undoubtedly the strategy of financing the Church. Hodun calls him anachronistic and far from social expectations and has numbers to confirm his words. According to the IBRiS poll of 2022, 66% of respondents want the state to halt financing the Church; 26% are against it, 70% are against the taxation privileges of the Church. Furthermore, Hodun stresses that although the finances of the Church have long been a origin of large emotion, the public debate raises issues which are only part of his budget. This is the deficiency of a full image of the Church's finances and the misunderstanding of the foundations of the operation of the church's cash registry and the principles of spending funds, according to the author of the report, prevents constructive debate about the future of this institution and its relation with the Polish state.
According to Hodun, the change will benefit both stakeholders, and a number of crucial changes can be made without affecting the concordat. The presented study focuses on these solutions. According to the author, the paper consists of 2 parts. In the first, the reader has the chance to read the full strategy of the Church's income together with the most crucial proposals for reforms.
The second part focuses on services provided by the Church in those fields where it competes for money with the state. Hodun points to 3 specified areas: spiritual lessons in schools and weddings and funerals – ceremonies where secular formats are increasingly popular, and local governments – especially cities – are actively fighting for their part of cake. According to the author of the report, the construction of a secular state requires support, including legislative support, for the above services and offers concrete guidance on how to do so.
“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money (Koh 5:9) – towards transparent finances of the Catholic Church in Poland” is 1 of the 5 reports that were created at the initiative of the Liberté Foundation! They aim to diagnose the main problems we face on the eve of the parliamentary elections and set out the directions for changes and reforms that are needed to improve the current situation.
The full study is available in a convenient format for reading on media pdf
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The study on the financing of the Catholic Church in Poland besides became the starting point for discussion in the Olympic panel: “Swiss Republic. How do we celebrate public services in Poland?" The gathering was attended by:
- Marek Borowski – Polish politician and economist,
- Love Hodun – president of the Foundation Project: Poland, Vice-President of the European Liberal Forum,
- Joanna Scheering-Wielgus – sociologist, cultural manager, social activist, MP for the Polish Parliament,
- Czesław Sikorski – expert on social management problems.
Moderation: Susan Nowicka – lawyer of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation.
Photo by HOLLYBABA
