Largest ever sex abuse compensation case against Poland’s Catholic church begins

Jun 23, 2026 | Law, Society

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A court has begun hearing the largest-ever compensation claim against Poland’s Catholic church by a victim of clerical sexual abuse.

Janusz Szymik, who says he was raped hundreds of times by a priest as a child in the 1980s, is seeking 20 million zloty (€4.7 million) from the archdiocese of Kraków, where the abuse took place.

Between 1984, when he was a 12-year-old altar boy, and 1989, Szymik, who waived his right to anonymity, suffered abuse at the hands of the parish priest, who has been named only as Jan W., in the village of Międzybrodzie Bialskie in southern Poland.

At the time of the crimes, Międzybrodzie Bialskie was part of the archdiocese of Kraków. However, in 1992, it became part of the newly formed diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec.

Twice as an adult, in 1993 and 2007, Szymik informed the then-bishop of Bielsko-Żywiec, Tadeusz Rakoczy, of the abuse he had suffered and expressed concern that the priest may have targeted other children. However, Rakoczy took no action. In 2021, he was disciplined by the Vatican for his negligence.

Only once Rakoczy had retired in 2013 did his successor as bishop, Roman Pindel, take Szymik’s reports seriously. Canonical proceedings were launched against Jan W., who admitted to sexual contact with the victim.

He was handed a five-year ban on conducting priestly ministry and ordered to live in isolation. In 2024, Jan W. was removed from the priesthood entirely by the Vatican, reports the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Although the statute of limitations for criminal proceedings against Jan W. had expired, in 2021 Szymik launched a civil claim for compensation against the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese: 1 million zloty for the harm caused by his abuse and 2 million zloty for the suffering caused by Rakoczy’s negligence.

The curia’s actions in the case drew controversy when it asked the court to determine if the victim took “pleasure in the intimate relationship” with his abuser and “derived benefits”. It also called for an expert to ascertain “the claimant’s sexual preferences, in particular…[his] sexual orientation”.

In January 2025, the court ordered Bielsko-Żywiec diocese to pay Szymik 400,000 zloty in compensation, the most ever awarded to a victim of clerical sexual abuse in Poland, after the judge confirmed that he had been “repeatedly sexually abused” by Jan W., reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

However, she also found that, while Bielsko-Żywiec diocese was responsible for a lack of response to the reports of sexual abuse in 1993 and 2007, it was Kraków diocese that should answer for Jan W.’s actions, given that he was under its authority at the time.

That ruling is still being appealed by both sides, but at the same time Szymik launched separate civil proceedings against Kraków archdiocese, this time demanding 20 million zloty compensation. That case has now got underway at Kraków’s district court.

Szymik’s lawyer told broadcaster Tok FM that the amount was calculated based on the fact that, in cases of child sex abuse, judges typically award compensation of 50,000 zloty for each act they fell victim to. “We will try to prove that Father Jan raped me at least 400 times,” added Szymik.

 

Among those summoned to stand as a witness is Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, who served as archbishop of Kraków from 2005 to 2016 and was before that the long-serving personal secretary to Polish Pope John Paul II, including during the latter’s time as archbishop of Kraków in the 1960s and 1970s.

According to Szymik’s lawyers, Dziwisz had received requests from another priest to intervene in the case of Jan W. In 2020, a Polish TV investigation claimed that the cardinal had ignored a number of cases of alleged sexual abuse brought to his attention, including relating to Jan W.

However, in 2022, Dziwisz was exonerated of wrongdoing by a Vatican investigation, which found that he had acted “properly” during his time as archbishop of Kraków.

On Monday, Dziwisz, now aged 87, failed to appear before the court as requested, with the archdiocese saying that he had fallen ill. The judge has ordered the cardinal to submit a medical certificate confirming his condition.

Meanwhile, proceedings continued on Monday, with the court hearing from, among others, psychologists and other doctors who had treated Szymik, reports broadcaster RMF.

The victim’s lawyers are also seeking to have Jan W. testify, but have so far been unable to determine his whereabouts, with the court requesting information from Bielsko-Żywiec diocese.

Speaking to reporters before the hearings, Szymik said that he was fighting “first and foremost for justice, as well as for fair compensation for the entire trauma”.

“My entire life has changed, been turned upside down, especially my spiritual and mental health. I believe that I am a broken person internally, but I am still fighting for justice and reparation. This gives me hope and encouragement that justice will finally be achieved after so many years.”

He also revealed that, before the court proceedings began, he had been invited for a meeting by the recently appointed archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, at which, for the first time, “I heard the words ‘I am sorry'”.

Poland’s Catholic church has in recent years faced a growing number of claims of sexual abuse by clergy and of negligence in dealing with the issue by bishops.

The Vatican has taken action against a number of Polish bishops over the issue. Most recently, in 2024, the Holy See announced the resignation of the bishop of Łowicz, Andrzej Dziuba, due to his “negligence in handling cases of sexual abuse against minors”.

Meanwhile, the Polish church has introduced new rules intended to protect children and other vulnerable people from abuse, has met with victims, and has apologised for its neglect in dealing with such cases in the past.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: EpiskopatNews/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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