However, according to the survey by the IBRiS Institute for the Rzeczpospolita daily, 37 percent of respondents would accept refugees entering the country if the costs of such an operation were covered by the European Union or the United Nations.
Meanwhile, 26 percent of those polled were against Poland housing refugees regardless of conditions.
Some 10 per cent of Poles surveyed said that Poland should receive Christian refugees only.
Asked about ways and means to resolve the refugee crisis, almost 30 percent of the respondents talk of closing the borders, including internal EU borders, whereas according to 18 per cent of Poles refugee camps should be established outside the EU.
Sixty-one per cent of Poles say they would not open their own home to a foreign refugee.
The poll was conducted last Friday and Saturday on a representative selection of 1100 adult Poles.
Rzeczpospolita writes in a comment that “it remains to be seen whether people’s views will be changed following the Pope’s call on every European church parish and religious community to take in one refugee family in a gesture of solidarity.”
A day before the Pope’s message, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Head of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, said that every Polish parish should offer concrete assistance to refugees.
“Our compatriots have been received with hospitality in Europe, the two Americas and Australia and now is the time for a reciprocal gesture of hospitality,” he said in a homily.
Foreign Minister on 'new challenges'
Foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna has said that Poland maintains its commitment to accept 2,000 foreign migrants.
In an interview for Polish Radio, he referred to unofficial media reports, in which numbers as high as 30, 000 are cited, stressing that two months ago the government agreed to receive 2,000 refugees from Syria and Eritrea.
He admitted, however, that several weeks after the decision had been taken the European Union is facing new challenges.
According to Poland’s foreign minister, it is highly important to draw a distinction between economic migrants and those who are fleeing war in their homelands. (mk/nh)