Bishop Paweł Socha, senior bishop of Zielona Góra-Gorzów diocese, dies aged 91

Death announced by the diocese

The Zielona Góra-Gorzów diocese announced that Bishop Paweł Socha, its senior bishop, died on Thursday, 29 October 2026, at the age of 91. He belonged to the Congregation of the Mission, the religious community of priests founded by Saint Vincent de Paul. The diocese said information about the date and place of the funeral would be given later. Polish outlets reported the death the same afternoon, citing the diocese.

Early life and ordination

Socha was born on 10 January 1935 in Wojsławice near Radom, then in the Sandomierz diocese and now in the Radom diocese. In 1951 he joined the Congregation of the Mission. He was ordained a priest on 22 May 1958 in the Congregation's church on Stradom in Kraków, by Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak. In 1969 he earned a doctorate in theology with a dissertation on the idea of tradition in the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum.

Bishop of Gorzów

On 16 November 1973, Pope Paul VI appointed him auxiliary bishop of the newly established Gorzów diocese and assigned him the titular see of Tunigaba. He was consecrated a bishop on 26 December 1973 in the Gorzów cathedral. The principal consecrator was Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. His episcopal motto was Facere veritatem in caritate, which the articles render as Czynić prawdę w miłości, meaning to do the truth in love.

Work in the Polish Episcopal Conference

Socha took part in several commissions of the Polish Episcopal Conference. From 1980 to 1996 he chaired the Commission for the Clergy, and from 1978 to 1996 he sat on the General Pastoral Commission. Between 1980 and 1989 he served on the Academic Pastoral Commission, and he also belonged to the Commission for Atheism and the Commission for Poles Abroad and Polonia. From 1981 to 1997 he was national director of the Apostolic Union of Clergy. In 1990 he attended the eighth Synod of Bishops in Rome, which dealt with priestly formation. In 2018 he received the Knight's Cross and in 2024 the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland.

Final appeal and remarks on abuse

Despite his age, Socha remained active in pastoral work. On 11 March, on the second day of the 404th plenary assembly of the Polish Episcopal Conference, held during the 400th anniversary celebrations of the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, he urged bishops to move away from constant planning, activism and a focus on figures and measurable success, and toward listening together for what God says and asks them to do. He also spoke about the sexual abuse scandals in the Church, saying they require truth, justice and purification.

“More than structural reform, what is needed is a conversion of hearts.”

The diocese has not yet set a date for his funeral.