€126 million in aid for Ukraine, donations worth €53 million, €74 million to help Ukrainians, the reception of refugees often in private, religious and parish homes, the distribution of aid offered by other countries are the fruit of generous fund-raising and in-kind collections and the year-long commitment of the Church in Poland to the victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The relief effort of the Church in Poland on behalf of the Polish Bishops’ Conference involves Caritas Poland, but also dioceses, religious orders, parishes, communities, Catholic movements, volunteers, families, and ordinary citizens. “This year has shown the extraordinary determination of Poles to extend every possible assistance to the victims of this war,” said Father Leszek Gęsiak SJ, Spokesman for the Polish Bishops’ Conference.
The scale of actual aid to Ukraine is hard to estimate and in practice far exceeds the official figures.
Helping refugees
As of 24 February 2022, over 8.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed the Polish border. They have found accommodation in a variety of places: hotels, hostels, monasteries, parish centres, and often private homes. Caritas Poland has provided assistance to some 2 million refugees from Ukraine. There are 32 Permanent Assistance Centres for Migrants and Refugees in Poland, which in 2022 provided support to tens of thousands of people from Ukraine. To date, the Knights of Columbus have established eight Mercy Centres in Polish parishes and estimate that some 300,000 people have received aid here. The overall extent of the aid offered is difficult to estimate, as during the months of the largest influx of Ukrainian refugees, many homes and organisations did not keep records of the people they received, using every opportunity to accommodate those in need.
Transports with aid to Ukraine
Organisations, individuals, companies, parishes, and religious congregations have sent hundreds of thousands of aid packages since the beginning of the conflict. The gifts obtained during collections in schools, monasteries, shops, and churches, helped to make parcels, sent on an ongoing basis by all possible means of transport, arranged thanks to the commitment of volunteers, who delivered aid to Ukraine in private cars.
By the end of 2022, Caritas Poland had dispatched around 1,000 truckloads of gifts to Ukraine. As part of the Parcel for Ukraine campaign, Caritas sent over 83,000 parcels of basic humanitarian aid worth over €6 million, while the Knights of Columbus donated 150,000 food parcels worth nearly €3 million. The Union of Polish Knights of Malta joined the aid effort; the value of the aid they provided well exceeds €21 million.
Financial aid
On the day the war broke out, Chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki made an appeal in which he expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people and guaranteed prayers and assistance to Ukrainians. Nationwide collections for Ukraine took place in Poland on February 27 and March 2, 2022. To date, more than €360,000 has been spent on aid to Ukraine from the funds of the Aid to the Church in the East Team of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.
Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church, donated €1 million worth of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, followed by another €300,000 disbursed later. Caritas Poland launched an appeal to Caritas Internationalis, which comprises 160 Caritas branches from around the world. The appeal has already brought more than €2 million; aid continues to pour in. Within 36 hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus committed US$1.5 million in humanitarian aid and established a Solidarity Fund with Ukraine. In total, the Knights of Columbus have raised around $20 million for humanitarian aid.
Polish clergy in Ukraine
There are more than 250 Polish clergy working in Ukraine (including 4 bishops), as well as more than 150 nuns. Before the Russian invasion, they ran senior citizens’ homes, single mothers’ homes, hospices for the homeless, orphanages, etc. Since Russia’s invasion, their involvement has expanded considerably. They have been providing all kinds of assistance to victims of warfare, helping the internally displaced, offering shelter to those whose homes have been destroyed, running aid distribution points, and visiting the elderly and lonely with gifts.
Polish nuns account for 40 per cent of all the religious sisters working in Ukraine. They daily serve in more than 150 places. Nuns from more than 1,000 homes of various congregations in Poland and Ukraine have provided aid to victims of warfare. In the first month of the war alone, almost 150 congregations of women religious assisted nearly 18,000 people.
Appeals and prayers
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the Church in Poland has been involved in providing material and spiritual aid to those affected. On 24 February 2022, Chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki made his first appeal to Polish Catholics, assuring Ukrainians of prayers and readiness to provide help. Two nationwide collections were carried out in parishes throughout Poland. Aid is continuously collected and sent to Ukraine through Caritas Poland, Caritas branches in all Polish dioceses, religious congregations and communities.
On 3 March 2022, Archbishop Gądecki wrote a letter to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, asking him to urge Vladimir Putin to conclude the invasion. At the end of March 2022, when visiting Poland, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I met with Ukrainian refugees here and expressed his gratitude for the aid offered to them. In mid-May 2022, Chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Primate of Poland Archbishop Wojciech Polak and the Metropolitan of Lublin Archbishop Stanisław Budzik went to Ukraine.
Pope Francis thanked Poles for their help offered to Ukraine. “I also want to thank Poles for all the help they are providing to the Ukrainian people,” said the Holy Father.
By decision of the Chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, the day of the first anniversary of the war, 24 February 2023, is a day of solidarity and prayer for Ukraine. Sunday, February 26, in turn, will be a day of a nationwide collection for Ukraine in all Polish churches.
