Why Poles are losing their religion

Alice Bateman
27 August 2026, The Tablet

The statue of Christ in the courtyards of the Jasna Góra monastery

Alamy/Makasana Photo

The celebration of the Feast of the Assumption at the national Marian shrine of Jasna Góra remains a major event, if not the major event, in the Polish Catholic year.

As I write, thousands of people are setting off from all over Poland to walk to Częstochowa; groups of pilgrims, with their banners, singing hymns as they walk, are a familiar sight on Polish roads in early August.

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