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IPFS News Link • Poland

Poland to End Shopping on Sundays by 2020

• https://www.cnsnews.com

In a bow to its Christian culture and the government's desire for families to spend more time together, the Polish government has passed legislation that will end shopping on Sundays by 2020, reported the Catholic Herald on Nov. 27. 

Poland's religious makeup is 87% Catholic. In addition, there are about 507,000 Polish Orthodox Christians and 150,000 Protestants.

Poland's lower house of Parliament, the Sejm, passed the shopping day proposal last week by a vote of 254 to 156. The legislation would "restrict Sunday shopping to the first and last Sunday of the month until the end of 2018, only on the last Sunday in the month in 2019, and to ban it totally starting in 2020," reported the Herald

However, the legislation would allow shopping on those Sundays that fall before a major holiday. 

The bill now goes to the Polish Senate, where it is expected to pass, and then to President Andzrej Duda, who is expected to sign it into law. 

The Catholic Herald further reported that the Polish Bishops' Conference was not entirely happy because it would like to see all people free from wortk on Sundays. 

According to Catholic teahcing, "Just as God 'rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,' human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.


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