WARSAW — Poland’s Catholic Church, assailed by accusations that it for years ignored the sexual abuse of minors by clergy members, on Monday acknowledged that from July 2018 through the end of last year, it had received complaints of abuse against 368 boys and girls.
Pleading for “forgiveness” from “those wronged and all those shocked by the evil in the church,” the head of the Polish church, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, said the figures “do not express the full depth of the drama of sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by some clergymen.”
Nearly half the latest cases reported related to accusations of abuse against victims under age 15.
The timing of the figures’ release — just days after the Vatican said it was investigating accusations against a retired Polish cardinal of negligence on sexual abuse — suggested an effort by the Catholic Church in Poland to show that it is serious about grappling with sex crimes by the clergy, an issue that has badly tarnished its reputation and antagonized Rome.