Vatican Investigates Polish Bishop
A priest being investigated for alleged child sex abuse was allowed to continue working, including teaching children in a public school, for eight years after the accusations were made. Only this week, when media reports about the case emerged, was he suspended from his duties.
The Vatican has now ordered the curia in question to open an investigation into possible negligence by its bishop, who is accused of failing to report abuse in accordance with church guidelines and Polish law.
The episode is the latest in a series of allegations of abuse by clergy in Poland, as well as claims that the issue has not been treated seriously by the church hierarchy or even covered up. Earlier this year, the pope ordered another Polish bishop accused of hiding abuse to be relieved of his duties.
In 2012, a former altar boy, named as Janusz, informed the Bishop of Łowicz, Andrzej Dziuba, that he had been sexually abused as a 13-year-old by two priests, Piotr S. and Jaroslaw W. (whose surnames are concealed under Polish law).
However, when the bishop later replied to Janusz, he indicated that, because both priests had denied the accusations, the case was closed, reports OKO.press, an investigative news outlet.
The website also writes that, six years earlier, another former altar boy, Kamil, had informed the bishop of abuse by the same two priests, including a claim that Jarosław W. had raped him as a 16-year-old. It appears no action was taken against the priests in response.
Previous evidence, published last month by OKO.press, indicated that bishops in Łowicz had known about accusations of child sex abuse by Piotr S. since the mid-1990s, but failed to take action.