St. John Paul II knew about sexual abuse of youngsters by clergymen below his authority and sought to hide it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, a tv information report has alleged.
In a narrative that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three clergymen whom the long run pope then generally known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla had moved amongst parishes or despatched to a cloister through the Seventies, together with one who was despatched to Austria, after they have been accused of abusing minors.
Two of the clergymen, Eugeniusz Surgent and Jozef Loranc, finally served quick jail phrases for the abuse, TVN24 stated its 2 and 1/2 year-long investigation discovered. Wojtyla served as archbishop of Krakow from 1964 to 1978, when he grew to become Pope John Paul II. He died in 2005 and was declared a saint in 2014 following a fast-tracked course of.
BILL COSBY RELEASED FROM PENNSYLVANIA PRISON AFTER SEX ASSAULT CASE THROWN OUT
TVN24 quoted from paperwork of Poland’s communist-era secret safety companies, which sought to discredit the Catholic Church and had informers there. The paperwork are held within the archives of the state National Remembrance Institute. Journalist Marcin Gutowski additionally spoke with a variety of victims and a person who stated he knowledgeable Wojtyla through the Seventies in regards to the abuse by Surgent. None of the clergymen have been defrocked.
The TV channel additionally quoted from a letter that it stated Wojtyla wrote to the archbishop of Vienna on the time, Franz Koenig, recommending a priest to his care. Wojtyla didn’t say within the letter that Boleslaw Sadus had abused younger boys, and he was made a parish priest in Austria. Wojtyla stored in contact with Sadus additionally after changing into pope.
TVN24’s investigation concluded that there was little doubt Wojtyla knew about abuse by clergymen in his archdiocese and sought to hide it.
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, Poland, arrives to the World Synod of Bishops on the Vatican on Oct. 22, 1971. Wojtyla allegedly knew a couple of priest sexually abusing a baby within the Seventies. (AP Photo/Gianni Foggia)
The broadcast featured a journalist who has written about instances of priestly abuse in Krakow diocese and who argued that Wojtyla reacted in step with Catholic Church procedures of the time.
The findings will regularly result in a “deconstruction of the picture of John Paul II that now we have been utilizing to this point,” Dominican friar Paweł Gużyński stated Tuesday on TVN24, noting that some folks will not be ready to deal with the brand new information.
Gużyński pressured, nonetheless, that “there isn’t any equality signal between sainthood and whole absence of errors, even crimes, in somebody’s actions.”
Polish church officers tasked with the safety of minors stated in a communique Tuesday that additional analysis was wanted earlier than Wojtyla’s actions may very well be “pretty assessed.” The officers pressured that the church was ready to listen to from abuse survivors and to help them.
OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY ARRESTED AFTER TRYING TO PAY FOR SEX WITH 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL: POLICE
The channel’s investigation has unleashed heated reactions in Poland, with some observers deriding it as an try by left-wing forces to destroy the reminiscence of John Paul II and others demanding for the Catholic Church to disclose the reality.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a Catholic, tweeted a photograph of John Paul II greeting a crowd in Poland and added the late pope’s motto “Do not be afraid,” with none remark.
A Polish Jesuit priest, Krzysztof Madel, wrote on Twitter that that the main target must be on the victims, who want the reality to be advised.
An official on the Ministry of Education, Radoslaw Brzozka, stated on Twitter that John Paul II’s popularity was below assault from individuals who wish to remove Catholicism from Poland’s nationwide id.
John Paul II will not be the one pope below scrutiny for coping with predator clergymen.
His instant successor, Benedict XVI, who had a a lot stricter stance and defrocked lots of of abusive clergymen, was faulted by an impartial report commissioned by the German Catholic Church for his dealing with of 4 instances whereas he was Munich bishop.
Accusations of getting didn’t react to instances of abuse by clergymen in his native Argentina and in Chile, whereas bishop after which pontiff, have been additionally addressed to Pope Francis.
Commentators famous that the Catholic Church hierarchy has largely sought to guard the picture of the establishment over the wants of victims.
The alternative of Wojtyla for pope in 1978 energized Poland’s predominantly Catholic inhabitants to brazenly oppose the nation’s communist system and finally topple it.
Until lately, the Catholic Church in Poland has performed a big function within the nation’s public life. Revelations about pedophile clergymen and the church’s shut ties with the present right-wing authorities have depreciated its standing.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
