Type of legal regime

The regulations pertaining to the institutional relation between the state and churches and other religious denominations appear in Article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April, 1997. The model established is based on the respect of freedom of conscience and religion (art. 53). That model significantly differs both from the regulations adopted in countries with a constitutionally established official religion (e.g. Greece) and in extremely secular countries (e.g. France). It has got a number of features in common with the systems existing for example in Germany or in Italy, which makes it possible to rate Poland among the countries which assume a friendly model of church-state separation.