Polish parliament adopts resolution defending Pope John Paul II following sex abuse report

The lower house of Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, has adopted a resolution to “defend the good name of Saint John Paul II” after a TV report suggested the late Polish pope allowed priests under his authority to continue working in the church despite knowing they had sexually abused children.

The resolution, which condemned the “disgraceful media campaign” against the former pope, was proposed by the national-conservative ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, whose MPs voted in favour. Many of them also held up pictures of John Paul II in the parliamentary chamber.

Among the opposition, the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) and the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) also voted in favour of the resolution, which passed with a majority of 271 votes in favour and only 43 against.

Almost all of those negative votes came from The Left (Lewica). The largest opposition group, the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), chose not to vote at all, as did the Poland 2050 (Polska 2050), another centrist party.

How MPs from Poland’s parliamentary groups voted on the resolution in defence of John Paul II.

“The attempt to discredit John Paul II with materials that even the communists did not dare to use is reminiscent of methods that place the authors [of the report] outside the circle of civilisation to which Poland has belonged since 1989,” reads the resolution.

“We will not allow the image of a man whom the whole free world recognises as a pillar of victory over the empire of evil to be destroyed,” read the resolution. “Pope John Paul II is a symbol of Poland’s regaining its independence and liberation from the Russian sphere of influence.”

“The Polish people and their democratically elected representatives will never allow his memory to be destroyed with material fabricated by the communist system, which he opposed.”

Many critics of the investigation, which was aired on Monday by TVN, Poland’s largest private broadcaster, have argued that it relied on evidence taken from the files of the communist-era security services, who were hostile to the Catholic church.

Among them is the head of Poland’s Catholic episcopate, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, who said today that the “authors of [this report] assess[ed] Karol Wojtyła in a biased, often ahistorical manner, without knowing the context, uncritically recognising the documents created by the [security services] as credible sources.”

Others, however, note that TVN’s report drew on a wide range of evidence – including court records and interviews with surviving victims and witnesses – and that other recent journalistic investigations have produced similar findings.

They have also pointed out that the church has kept its own records from the time sealed, leaving investigators to rely on other evidence.

“The Sejm can adopt any number of resolutions, and the ladies and gentlemen of PiS can write anything there, but it will not change the facts,” Adrian Zandberg, one of The Left’s leaders, told Radio Zet.

“The facts are that under the rule of Bishop Wojtyła, then Pope John Paul II, the church had a systemic problem with paedophilia,” he added. “This is a fact and is also confirmed by Catholic researchers.”

Paweł Kowal of KO accused PiS of “wanting to enrol John Paul II in the Law and Justice party…Your actions bring nothing good”.

The leader of PSL, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said that his party “will do everything to fight for the good name of the Holy Father” but also “will do everything to compensate the victims of crimes”.

He added that he does not believe the communist files used by TVN, but also said that “the church should open its files in search of the truth…John Paul II will defend himself”.

Earlier today, Poland’s foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador to discuss the TVN’s reporting, given that the station is owned by American conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Main photo credit: Sławomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.