Poland summons American ambassador over report critical of Pope John Paul II on US-owned station

Poland’s foreign ministry has summoned the US ambassador for talks in response to the broadcast this week by an American-owned Polish TV station of a report indicating that the late Polish Pope John Paul II was aware of child sex abuse by priests under his authority.

In a statement, the ministry said that “the potential effects of these actions [by the TV station] are identical to the goals of a hybrid war aimed at leading to divisions and tensions in Polish society”.

“Therefore, the foreign ministry invited the US ambassador to inform about the situation and its consequences in the form of weakening the ability of Poland to deter a potential adversary and its resistance to threats”.

While the statement initially declared that Ambassador Mark Brzezinski had been sent a “summons” (wezwanie in Polish), which is the usual language used in such cases, it was later changed to say he had received an “invitation” (zaproszenie).

The controversy has been caused by the broadcast on Monday this week by TVN of an investigation into John Paul II’s handling of three priests accused of sexual abuse when he was Archbishop Karol Wojtyła of Kraków.

It found that he had allowed them to continue working in the church, and in one case suggested that a priest’s actions should be hidden from the authorities.

The findings have been seen by many as confirmation of longstanding suspicions that John Paul II was negligent in his handling of abuse in the church. It has led some, including certain figures associated with the church, to call for a reevaluation of the legacy of the former pope, who is a Polish national hero.

However, others – including the prime minister and some senior church figures – have suggested that TVN’s report was biased and unreliable, in particular because it relied in part on the files of the communist-era security services, who were hostile towards the church.

TVN is owned by US media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Its liberal-leaning news coverage is often critical of the national-conservative government, which has led to a number of conflicts with the authorities.

Earlier this year, Brzezinski publicly spoke in defence of TVN after it was placed under investigation by Poland’s broadcasting regulator at the request of the deputy leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

In 2020, Brzezinski’s predecessor as ambassador, Georgette Mosbacher, likewise came to the station’s defence after Polish state TV news, a PiS mouthpiece, called TVN a “fake news factory”.

The following year, the PiS majority in parliament passed a law that would have forced TVN’s US owner to sell its majority share. It was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda following mass protests and diplomatic pressure from Washington.

At the time of writing, Brzezinski has not commented publicly on TVN’s investigation into John Paul II nor on the summons to the embassy.

Main image credit: MAP (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

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.