Abuse in the Catholic Church: Polish media report accuses John Paul II of cover

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Pope John Paul II in Rome in April 2003, the pontiff died two years later

Photo: Maurizio Brambatti/ dpa/dpaweb

Before his election as Pope, John Paul II is said to have covered up cases of abuse in Poland's Catholic Church.

During his time as cardinal and bishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyla knew about such crimes, the private broadcaster TVN24 reported on Sunday, citing research by journalist Michal Gutowski.

According to the report, Wojtyla is said to have transferred priests from his diocese, about whose actions he was aware, to other parishes in the 1960s in order to avoid scandals.

According to this, one of the priests was sent to Austria by the future Pope.

Cardinal Wojtyla wrote a letter of recommendation to Cardinal Franz König (1905-2004) in Vienna without informing him of the allegations against the priest.

Gutowski researched for two and a half years, and his documentary can be seen on TVN24 on Monday evening.

The journalist claims to have spoken to victims of pedophile priests for his research, as well as to relatives of those affected and former employees of the diocese.

He therefore relied on documents from the former communist secret police SB and the church.

The diocese of Kraków, however, denied him access to its archives, according to the author.

The Catholic Church in Poland has in the past refused to release documents - even to the judiciary or to a public commission investigating abuse cases.

John Paul II died in 2005.

At the end of 2022, the Dutch author Ekke Overbeek made similar allegations against the Polish Pope.

The journalist explained at the time that Karol Wojtyla, as Archbishop of Kraków, had helped cover up cases of abuse within the ranks of the Church.

Among other things, he found information in secret service documents on specific cases in which Wojtyla had knowingly transferred abusive priests to other dioceses, according to Overbeek.

Even convicted perpetrators were allowed to continue working in other dioceses.

Church in Poland: Pope has "resolutely" fought against cases of sexual abuse

Polish media generally come to a different assessment of the Pope, who is still popular around the world.

According to the documents, Cardinal Wojtyla took decisive action against a priest who sexually abused several children, wrote the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, recalling a case in which Wojtyla reacted quickly and vigilantly.

The Catholic Church in Poland has always rejected criticism of John Paul II in the past.

He had led a "resolute fight against cases of sexual abuse of children and minors by some clergy," the country's diocesan bishops said in a November 22 statement.

Wojtyla introduced church norms for dealing with sexual offenses and declared that "there is no place in the priesthood and in religious life for those who cause harm to young people".

ala/dpa