Poland’s Catholic church received as many abuse reports since 2018 as in previous three decades

Poland’s Catholic church today published data on reports of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy that it received between July 2018 and the end of 2020. In that period, almost as many complaints were filed as over the previous 28 years combined.

“To those wronged by evil in the church, I would like once again to ask for forgiveness,” said Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the Primate of Poland, while presenting the findings, which the episcopate admits do not reveal the full extent of the problem There are “certainly many hidden cases”.

A number of senior Polish clergy have recently been punished by the Vatican for negligence in their response to abuse. Today, the pope accepted the resignation of another bishop, and at the weekend it emerged that he has sent an envoy to Poland to investigate claims against Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, former secretary to Pope John Paul II.

The data published today show that 368 cases of sexual abuse by clergy were reported to the church from July 2018 to the end of 2020. Not a single month passed during that period in which no cases were reported, said Father Adam Żak, the episcopate’s coordinator for the protection of children and youth.

By comparison, over the previous 28 years, 382 such reports were filed with the church – an annual average of 13.6 – notes RMF24.

Among the reports received between 2018 and 2020 (which relate to abuse carried out between 1958 and 2020), nearly half the victims (47%) were under the age of 15. There was an even split between male and female victims.

“This reminds us not to reduce this issue just to a ‘homosexual problem’,” said Żak. “It is important in this debate – which also takes place in Poland on topics related to LGBT groups – not to stigmatise only certain types of perpetrators.”

Accusations were made against 292 members of the clergy, including 58 accused more than once. Of the 368 reported cases, 144 have been found to be confirmed or credible, 38 were found unreliable and therefore rejected, while 186 are still under investigation.

“The data we present today do not fully express the drama of sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by the clergy,” said Polak. “These are statistical data, dry numbers, which cannot express the suffering of individual wronged people.”

“We are grateful and respectful to those who chose to speak about their harm by revealing their traumatic stories, often only years later,” he added. “And we must remember that not everyone has decided to speak about their harm and make such a report.”

Polak argued that the latest data show that the church’s “system for responding to harm against minors is working”, though he added that they were constantly working to improve it. He also noted that “the church reports all crimes of this nature to law enforcement agencies”.

The Catholic church in Poland has in recent years been hit by a number of revelations of abuse by members of the clergy and accusations that their superiors have swept the issue under the carpet.

Last month, Tadeusz Rakoczy, a retired bishop, become the latest Polish hierarch to be punished by the Vatican for neglect in dealing with reported cases of abuse. The former archbishop of Gdańsk, Sławoj Leszek Głódź, and bishop of Kalisz, Edward Janiak, have been similarly censured this year.

Last November, the Vatican also took disciplinary action against Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, who had been accused of carrying out abuse. The same month, a television investigation accused Dziwisz of ignoring cases of sex abuse and accepting bribes from those accused of it.

On Saturday, the Apostolic Nunciature in Poland confirmed that the Vatican had dispatched Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco to visit the country this month to investigate the claims of negligence against Dziwisz, who for decades worked alongside Polish Pope John Paul II. Dziwisz denies any wrongdoing.

Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, a Polish priest who has accused Dziwisz of ignoring reported abuse, confirmed that he was among those to meet with Bagnasco during the latter’s stay in Poland. “It was obvious that he wanted to know the truth,” Isakowicz-Zaleski told RMF24.

Separately, it was announced today that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Zbigniew Kiernikowski, the former bishop of Legnica, after he was investigated by the Vatican for negligence in response to reports of child sex abuse by a priest under his authority.

Main image credit: Jakub Orzechowski / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.