Pope John Paul II accused of covering up cases of pedophilia

Pope John Paul II accused of covering up cases of pedophilia

According to a journalistic investigation broadcast on Sunday 5 March by the Polish private television TVN, Pope John Paul II reportedly covered cases of pedophilia when he was still cardinal and bishop of Krakow, in southern Poland.

The documentary reveals, with supporting evidence, that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, before being elected Pope in 1978, would have been informed of acts of pedophilia committed by priests in his diocese. He then changed them frequently to prevent the scandal from breaking out, according to the journalist in charge of the investigation Michal Gutowski. One of the priests was even sent to Austria, with a letter of recommendation signed by the future pope, without any mention of the charges against him.

The Polish Church refuses to provide documents

The Polish journalist collected the testimonies of the victims of the priests, as well as those of their relatives and former employees of the diocese. He also relies on documents from the former Communist SB secret police and some rare Church documents to which he has gained access. However, he claims that the diocese of Krakow refused him access to the archives. Like our colleagues from the huffposthe is ” it has already happened that the Polish Church refuses to provide documents, even to justice or to a public commission of inquiry into cases of pedophilia “.

A second survey to be published

Quoted in the report, Thomas Doyle, a former American Catholic priest, canon law scholar and author of one of the first reports on Catholic clergy abuse in the United States, highlighted the impact of such revelations: “What you have discovered is revolutionary because it shows what many people have suspected for years, that John Paul II knew this problem existed even before he became pope.”.

On Wednesday, a book called “Maximum Culpa. John Paul II knew it appear in Poland. This is another investigation, conducted by the Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek, which contains similar accusations against Karol Wojtyla.

In recent years, the Polish Church has found itself at the center of several cases of pedophilia among the clergy, revealed above all by the local media. Several top Polish officials have been sanctioned by the Vatican.

Source: Madmoizelle

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