New Sanctions in the Polish Church: Financial Penalties for Clergy and Laity

As of March 1, 2026, the Polish Catholic Church is implementing a system of financial penalties to be imposed for canonical offenses committed while performing official duties. The new regulations constitute the implementation of changes to the Code of Canon Law, which Pope Francis introduced at the end of 2021. The Polish Bishops' Conference specified the amounts of these sanctions during its 402nd Plenary Assembly in Gdańsk, and the relevant decree has already received approval from the Holy See. The system provides for expiatory penalties of a financial nature, marking a return to the Church's former disciplinary practice. The financial mechanism has been rigidly linked to the gross minimum wage applicable in the Republic of Poland. The lower limit of the fine is half the lowest salary, while the upper ceiling is twenty times the minimum wage. According to calculations, these rates currently range from 2,403 PLN to 96,120 PLN gross. The modern penalty system allows not only for imposing one-time fines but also for the temporary or permanent deprivation of all or part of the church salary. However, the regulations contain an important social safety net: the sanction cannot deprive the punished person of the means necessary for a decent livelihood. The amount left to the perpetrator cannot be lower than the amount exempt from enforcement by a bailiff. In the tradition of canon law, financial penalties existed for centuries but were almost completely eliminated from the 1983 Code. Pope Francis's reform has restored them as an effective tool for disciplining employees of church institutions in the era of professionalized asset management.An important aspect of the new regulations is the purposefulness of the imposed sanctions. The body imposing the penalty, for example, an ecclesiastical court or an ordinary, is obliged to indicate a specific church purpose to which the collected funds will be allocated. This could be charitable activities, monument conservation, or mission support. The amendment affects a wide range of individuals—not only priests and religious but also directors of diocesan institutions or lay parish employees. Documentation of these changes has been officially published in the "Acts of the Polish Bishops' Conference," concluding the legislative process within the local Church.