Sawt Falasteen - Polish bishop goes on trial for paedophilia cover-up

The Bishop of Tarnow Andrzej Jez is the first member of the hierarchy to face criminal charges for failing to inform authorities of abuse by clergy.

The bishop, who denies the charges, told the court that "if we had not reported these two cases at all, this trial would not be taking place."

"Paradoxically, I am being charged for my zeal," he added.

Prosecutors said the bishop -- who could face three years in jail -- was aware of two cases of priests abusing underage altar boys.

One of the priests is believed to have abused 95 children, and committed sexual crimes against 77.

It was one of the largest cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland, with incidents going as far back as the 1980s in every parish where he served.

Neither clergyman -- whose surnames have been withheld due to Polish privacy laws -- was charged.

Too many years had passed in some cases and others who accused Stanislaw P. were not able to remember precisely when the abuse took place, as they were small children. The second priest, Father Tomasz K., claimed poor health, and the case was dropped.

Stanislaw P. was ultimately stripped of the priesthood by the church.

"This is a spectacular case, and in Polish realities essentially unprecedented," said Artur Nowak, a lawyer and writer who appeared in a watershed documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland.

- Increasing scandals -

In previous cases of alleged church cover-ups, prosecutors had declined to open investigations into church officials, arguing that the criminal code did not require police to be notified.

But a 2017 amendment to the code made it obligatory in cases of sexual offences committed against children under 15.

Bishop Jez's Tarnow diocese insisted Tuesday that "it made a dozen or so reports to law enforcement over the past years, implementing a 'zero tolerance' policy."

"I believe we are dealing with a kind of scapegoat situation," Zbigniew Cwiakalski, from the bishop's defence team, told reporters.

"It is not as if a victim immediately runs to the bishop and starts informing (him)," he added.

But victims of clerical child abuse welcomed the trial.

"I'm beyond happy that this is finally becoming public," Lilianna Kupaj -- who was sexually abused by a priest as a child -- said at the courthouse ahead of the trial.

"Let the world finally hear this," she added tearfully.

Poland had seemed to be bucking the European trend towards secularisation until recently, with 88.8 percent of Poles feeling a "sense of belonging" to the Catholic Church.

But an increasing number of abuse scandals, pushback against the country's strict abortion laws, and concern over the church's involvement in politics has contributed to a steep decline in the number of practising Catholics.

Last year Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research found that only 34 percent of Poles said they attended weekly mass -- down from almost 70 percent in the early 1990s.

Church abuse scandals have even touched former Polish Pope John Paul II.

Investigations into his time as archbishop of Krakow in the 1960s and 1970s accused him of neglecting to report known cases of child sexual abuse.

The Vatican barred three Polish bishops from celebrating mass in public in 2021 and ordered their dioceses to pay into a fund for victims over allegations of negligence.

- Growing secularisation -

Although the Polish constitution is secular, the state funds Catholic religious education in public schools.

A study in the Nature Communications journal last year found that Poland is the world's fastest-secularising country, especially among young people.

Earlier this week, a commission formed to investigate child sex abuse in the Sosnowiec diocese in southern Poland identified at least 50 children who were harmed and 29 suspected abusers, most of them clergy.

It revealed that local bishops had repeatedly failed to act when they received credible reports of abuse.

On Tuesday another Polish court began the trial of a priest accused of nine sexual offences against minors, as well as possession of child sexual abuse materials.

Polish bishops will meet next month to vote on a nationwide church commission on paedophilia.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST