In recent days, Poland has been upset by reports on private television that the former Pope John Paul II. knew about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland before becoming Pope. He also allegedly helped to cover up pedophile abuses.
Polish private television TVN reported on Sunday that Karol Wojtyla, then the archbishop of Krakow, knew about cases of pedophile priests in the church and also helped cover them up. He transferred sex offenders to other dioceses, one even to Austria, in order to avoid scandal.
Investigative journalist Michal Gutowski claims to have spoken with victims of pedophile priests, their families, and also former diocese employees. In the paper, he cites documents of the former SB secret police from the time of communism and rare church documents that he managed to get hold of. The Krakow diocese allegedly refused him access to its archive documents.
“Maxima Culpa. John Paul II knew.”
The program about one of the biggest taboos in the homeland of the Polish pope was broadcast on television shortly after a Dutch journalist living in Poland Ekke Overbeek revealed similar details. His book entitled “Maxim Culp. John Paul II he knew“, was published in Poland on Wednesday. Karol Wojtyla was the pope from 1978 until his death in 2005.
Many of the documents that Overbeek refers to in the book also come from the archives of the former communist secret service. The journalist assures that he compared them with other sources, especially with the testimonies of the victims. The book, with more than 500 pages, is the result of more than ten years of investigation, digging through archives and talking to witnesses.
“I found evidence that he not only knew about cases of sexual abuse among priests in his Archdiocese of Krakow, but also helped to cover them up53-year-old Overbeek said in an interview with the French news agency AFP.
The Polish Church and Government defend the former Pope
The Catholic Church in Poland harshly criticized the statements of the television and the book. Bishop of Cracow Marek Jedraszewski called the doubts about Wojtyla an attack on the Pope on Tuesday.
The current government also came to the defense of the former pope. “Today we do not have a war only on our eastern border. There are entities that try to start civilizational wars even inside Poland,” tweeted the Polish Prime Minister on Wednesday Mateusz Morawiecki. According to him, we should “as Christians to defend the memory of the Pope born in Wadowice“.
Meanwhile, the Polish ruling party Law and Justice (Pis) prepared a statement by the Polish parliament defending John Paul II.
According to experts, the defense of Wojtyla could become one of the leading themes of the Pis party’s election campaign before the autumn parliamentary elections.
In recent decades, Poland has been rocked by several cases of pedophilia in the Church. The Vatican has sanctioned several high-ranking officials as a result.
Source: Rtvslo
