Poland primate leaves independent abuse commission project
Archbishop Polak will no longer oversee the creation of an independent commission examining the Church’s handling of abuse cases
Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the Polish bishops’ point man on abuse, will no longer oversee the creation of an independent commission examining the Church’s handling of abuse cases.
In a statement issued at the end of their June 10-12 plenary meeting in Katowice, the Polish bishops said the project would be entrusted to Bishop Sławomir Oder, a canon lawyer best known for serving as the postulator of Pope John Paul II’s canonization cause.
The change is significant because Polak, the Primate of Poland, is a prominent figure in the fight against clerical abuse, holding the post of delegate of the child protection office of the Polish bishops’ conference since 2019.
The announcement is also notable as it comes against the background of tensions among Polish bishops over the commission’s parameters. Polak favored a broader scope than some of his episcopal colleagues.
Abuse survivor advocates have accused the bishops of dragging their feet over the founding of the commission, which was first announced in March 2023 but seemingly stalled in the past two years.
The June 12 statement said the bishops were updated at the plenary meeting on the status of plans to establish the commission. The bishops offered further comments on the body’s draft statutes and operating principles, it noted.
“The bishops express their gratitude to the Primate Archbishop Wojciech Polak and the team led by him, which has completed its activity, for preparing specific foundations for the next stage of work,” the statement said.
“The plenary assembly decided to establish a team for the development of documents regarding the functioning of the commission of independent experts to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors by some clergy. Bishop Sławomir Oder was elected its chairman.”
Robert Fidura, an organizer of a landmark meeting between Polish bishops and abuse survivors in November 2024, suggested the leadership change meant work on the commission would begin again from scratch.
Tomasz Terlikowski, a journalist known for his criticism of the Polish Church’s response to abuse, also questioned the bishops’ decision.
He argued that the ending of Polak’s work on the commission meant that “one of the few committed, knowledgeable, and truth-seeking hierarchs has been removed from the case.”
“This is a clear signal that the episcopate does not want the truth, does not want justice, does not even want ordinary human keeping of one’s word,” he said.
The proposal for an independent abuse commission first emerged at the bishops’ plenary assembly in March 2023, as the Church in Poland faced an onslaught of abuse claims.
Polak, the Archbishop of Gniezno, announced that the bishops had “decided to start work on appointing a team of independent experts to investigate the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy in the Church in Poland.”
He said the bishops had agreed unanimously to take the step, explaining that the independent experts would thoroughly investigate state and Church archives, considering legal, historical, and sociocultural contexts.
The announcement followed the airing of a controversial documentary accusing Pope John Paul II of covering up abuse when he was Archbishop of Kraków from 1964 to 1978, and the creation of similar commissions in France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain.
At their next plenary assembly, in June 2023, the Polish bishops reportedly voted in favor of a motion to establish a commission addressing the period from 1945 to the creation of the new body.
In May 2024, a group of clerical abuse survivors wrote an open letter to the Polish bishop’s conference’s permanent council calling for “a precise date” for the commission’s launch. The letter led to the groundbreaking meeting between abuse survivors and bishops in November 2024.
But in February this year, bishops’ conference’s secretary general Bishop Marek Marczak sent diocesan curias a copy of a negative opinion on the commission’s draft operating principles issued by the bishops’ legal council.
The council recalled that in March 2023, the Polish bishops adopted a resolution expressing their readiness to create “a Church panel to investigate the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy,” with a historical focus.
But the council questioned the legitimacy of proceedings at the bishops’ meeting in June 2023. It said that Polak had proposed a commission examing the period from 1945 to the date of the investigative body’s creation. A vote was then taken by a show of hands, “without prior notice that the matter was to be voted on,” it said.
As the resolution was not written down, the council argued, “the nature of the decision taken is questionable.” It called for the bishops to hold a new vote.
The council also criticized the commission’s draft operating principles for proposing a body that would have “an investigative character and not a scientific-historical one,” for not excluding the possibility that bishops would be questioned about their actions, and for potentially usurping the Vatican’s right to judge senior churchmen.
Bishop Oder has been a member of the legal council since March 2023.
Archbishop Polak emphasized that the legal council’s opinion was not binding and rejected the assertion that the committee would have the power to question bishops.
Abuse survivor advocates, meanwhile, expressed concern that the bishops might abandon plans to establish the body.
But at a plenary assembly in Warsaw in March, the bishops insisted the commission “is necessary, should be established, and have a historical character with the necessary elements of interdisciplinary analysis.”
At the meeting, bishops shared comments on the draft document and said “further consultations” were needed with bodies representing male and female religious.
Speaking at a June 12 press conference, Oder said the draft operating principles were a starting point for further work.
“At this moment, we are entering a higher level of our work, which will serve to refine specific principles of functioning,” he said.
He added: “It’s about precision, both in legal formulations and in the specific rules for the functioning of this commission. We have experience that churches in other countries have shared with us. We want to avoid mistakes that have been made somewhere there.”
Oder, the Bishop of Gliwice, said his team would prepare documents explaining how the commission’s work will be organized, including access to Church archives and financing.
The team’s composition has not been announced, but Oder suggested it might include both new and returning members.
Asked when the commission would be established, he said: “It’s currently difficult to set a specific timeline.”
Thanks for this Luke. I hope you can keep an eye on it and keep us updated.This is an important subject.
"It's difficult to set a specific timeline." These bishops have been delaying justice for abuse victims, it seems to me. The Nike motto should apply: "Just do it!"