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During their recent "ad limina" visits to Rome, Poland's Catholic bishops complained that recent sanctions against their confreres who botched abuse cases are too harsh and unfair
By Magda Viatteau | Poland
The Catholic bishops of Poland have made no secret of the fact that, during their recent "ad limina" visits to Rome, they protested the severity of sanctions the Vatican has recently imposed on some of their confreres who allegedly mishandled sex abuse cases.
"There have been many critical remarks regarding the position of the Holy See towards bishops sanctioned for failures, infractions or oversights in the cases of priests accused of pedophilia," said an article on the "ad limina" visits that appeared last Sunday on Opoka.news, the information service of the Polish Episcopal Conference (KEP).
Some 87 bishops – including the ordinaries and auxiliaries of Poland's 46 dioceses – went to Rome for their once-every-five-years "ad limina" in four separate groups. The final group concluded its visit on October 29.
"The bishops noted disproportionate sanctions imposed on a bishop following a preliminary procedure," Opoka.news said at the end of a lengthy report on "ad limina" visits.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki of Poznan, the KEP president, had already expressed the same sentiment of indignation with Rome's sanctions back in mid-October.
In an interview with the Catholic agency KAI, he opined that a bishop who had shown tolerance towards a cleric guilty of abusing a minor is punished more harshly than the culprit.
He claimed that a priest who is convicted of a sexual crime "gets out of prison after five years and can start a new life, he has carte blanche", while the bishop "suffers a kind of civil death, even though he is not a pedophile".
"He is removed from office, covered in infamy and practically destroyed by the media," Archbishop Gądecki said.
But many people in Poland, including some practicing Catholics and even priests, believe the sanctions against bishops who cover up abuse are actually too weak.
Pope Francis issued a "motu proprio" calledVos estis lux mundi (You are the light of the world) to deal with offending prelates. Since it came into effect in May 2019, the Holy See has sanctioned one cardinal and eight bishops in Poland.
But only three of them had to leave the leadership of their dioceses -- the bishops of Bydgoszcz, Kalisz and Legnical. The other six were already retired.
The sanctioned bishops have been banned from living in their former dioceses and participating in public gatherings, religious or otherwise.
They have also been required to pay a sum of money to the St. Joseph Foundation, which was created to help victims of sexual abuse.
The Opoka.news article from last Sunday quoted Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, as saying the protocols and procedures outlined in Vos estis lux mundiwere issued "ad experimentum".
"It will be appropriate to assess what corrections will be necessary," the KEP's information portal quoted him as saying.
Cardinal Ouellet, who bore the brunt of the Polish bishops' protest against the sanctions, intimated that he had informed Francis of their concerns.
"The pope said that the various files pending in the Vatican should be examined. He mentioned the sanctioned bishops who, it seems, feel it very painfully and have even lost hope that their situation will change," the cardinal is quoted as saying.
"So, we must show them this hope, pray for them and raise their spirits," said Ouellet, according to Opoka.news.
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