On Thursday, 29 October, bishop Paweł Socha, emeritus auxiliary bishop of the Zielona Góra-Gorzów diocese, died at the age of 91. The diocese announced the news.
According to Gazeta Lubuska, the clergyman died in Zielona Góra, in his 92nd year of life. He had been a bishop for almost 53 years, and local media describe him as the bishop with the longest tenure in Poland. The diocese did not give the cause of death in the statements cited by the media. As of publication, no date or place for the funeral had been announced.
Who was Bishop Paweł Socha
He was born on 10 January 1935 in Wojsławice, near Radom. As reported by Rzeczpospolita, citing PAP, in 1951 he joined the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentians, also known as the priests of St Vincent de Paul. He was ordained a priest on 22 May 1958 in Kraków by Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak. In 1969 he earned his doctorate in theology.
From 1962 he taught at the seminary in Gościkowo-Paradyż. As the weekly “Niedziela” (diocesan edition) recalls, he taught fundamental and dogmatic theology there, as well as ecumenism.
Consecrated by Karol Wojtyła
On 16 November 1973, Pope Paul VI appointed him auxiliary bishop of the newly established Gorzów diocese. He received episcopal consecration on 26 December 1973 in the cathedral in Gorzów. The principal consecrator was then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the future John Paul II. As his motto he chose the words “Facere veritatem in caritate” (“Doing the truth in love”).
After the reorganisation of the Church structures in Poland in 1992, he became auxiliary bishop of the Zielona Góra-Gorzów diocese. According to “Niedziela”, he served as vicar general under successive diocesan bishops: Wilhelm Pluta, Józef Michalik, Adam Dyczkowski and Stefan Regmunt. He retired on 16 January 2012.
Work in the Episcopate
For years he was active in bodies of the Polish Episcopal Conference (KEP). From 1980 to 1996 he chaired the Commission for the Clergy. He was also a member of, among others, the Commission for Polonia and Poles Abroad. In 1990 he took part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome devoted to priestly formation. From 1981 to 1997 he served as national director of the Apostolic Union of Clergy.
He remained active despite his age. On 11 March 2026, during the 404th Plenary Assembly of the KEP, he appealed to bishops to change their approach to pastoral care. According to PAP, he proposed moving away from “constant planning, activism” and from attaching importance to statistics, in favour of listening together to what God is saying. He also spoke about sexual abuse scandals in the Church, which, in his view, require “truth, justice and purification” to be resolved.
Honours and farewells
In 2018 he received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 2024 its Officer’s Cross. He was also an honorary citizen of the Gózd commune and was awarded the Honorary Badge for Merit to the Lubusz Voivodeship (2007). According to local portals (NewsLubuski.pl), among those who bid farewell to the deceased was Lubusz Voivode Marek Cebula.
What next
Information about funeral arrangements is usually published by the diocesan curia. For the faithful in the Lubusz Voivodeship, this matters for the funeral Mass and prayers in the cathedrals in Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. No such arrangements have been announced so far.
