French nuns have received the news that their sacramental bread may be replaced by cheaper Polish hosts, it has been reported.

Authorities are contemplating buying the cheaper wafers, according to The Guardian, as the religious bodies at French shrine Lourdes were contemplating buying cheaper hosts from Poland – which are made by a secular workforce.

However, the Lourdes church has since announced it would continue to buy wafers made in France – but only after negotiating a price reduction.

Sister Marcelline, from the Carmelite convent at Carmel de Saint Germain-en-Laye just outside Paris, told The Guardian: "Foreign producers, namely those from Poland, have undercut the market."