The retired Archbishop of Genoa, Italy, Cardinal Bargnasco, fulfilled the mission requested by the Holy See and went to Poland for inspection. Cardinal Tiviz of Poland was accused of covering up several cases of violations during his tenure as the Archbishop of Krakow, but he rejected any charges.
(Vatican News Network)Card Baniasco concluded his visit to Poland on June 26. At the request of the Holy See, he will inspect in Poland on June 17 to verify any case related to his work “during his tenure as the Archbishop of Kraków Province (2005-2016)”. The Holy See’s Embassy in Warsaw announced the news in an announcement on June 26.
The announcement stated that the retired Archbishop of Genoa, Italy, “examined the past archives and held a series of meetings. His inspection report will be presented to the Holy See.” The case referred to by the Holy See’s Embassy “is also known to the public.” Cardinal Tiviz “was accused of covering up a number of violations, but the Polish cardinal always denied it.”
In addition, the Polish Bishops’ Conference held a press conference on June 28 to introduce the investigations into the sexual assault of children in the church from 1958 to 2020. This investigation was done in cooperation with the Statistical Center of the Catholic Church, the Office of the Protection of Children and Adolescents of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, and the St. Joseph’s Foundation of the Bishops’ Conference of the country. The document specifically pointed out that between July 1, 2018 and December 31, 2020, 368 reports of minor sexual assaults were received: 300 reports occurred in the parish and 68 reports were in the seminary. , Among the objects involved, 173 were younger than 15 years old and 174 were older than 15 years old. In these two age groups, the male to female ratio is equally divided.
However, according to the timing of the incident, 299 reports, or 81% of the total number of cases, occurred from 1958 to 2017, and the rest occurred from 2018 to 2020. Furthermore, among the reports from mid-2018 to the end of 2020, 51% of the cases were still under investigation, and 10% of the reports were rejected because they were not credible.
In general, allegations of sexual crimes against minors involved 292 priests and priests. As for the source of the report, 48% were the victim or his representative, and 19% were made by priests. In other cases, the victims’ relatives and friends, as well as national authorities and the mass media, are usually notified of violations.
Regarding the defendants, 46% of the defendants have suspended their duties pending investigation; 36% of the defendants have suspended any pastoral work involving children and youth: 37% of the defendants have been restricted from their activities. For the remaining cases, special procedures have been initiated, such as evacuation or prohibition of living in specific locations, assignment of some limited pastoral tasks, or canon law punishment. Among the accused priests, 16% had retired, and one in ten had not yet been relieved of their duties at the time.
It is worth noting that in March this year, the Polish Bishops’ Conference submitted the “2020 Annual Report” of the Office for the Protection of Children of the Bishops’ Conference. This report clearly points out the efforts of the Polish church to prevent violations and assist victims, especially in supporting individual treatment of 13 people in 9 dioceses, as well as prevention programs in church schools and 11 dioceses.
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