Ex-pope’s aide hit with claims of abuse cover-ups

WARSAW – A Polish state committee has lodged a complaint alleging an influential aide to pope John Paul II covered up clerical sex abuse, a lawyer for victims said Thursday. 

The 81-year-old aide, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, was the late pontiff’s friend and secretary and worked alongside him in the Vatican.

“The committee (looking into paedophilia) announced to us in a letter that it had lodged a complaint with prosecutors against Cardinal Dziwisz and three other bishops,” said Artur Nowak, a lawyer for around 20 victims of clerical sex abuse.

“It’s spectacular, and many of the victims aren’t hiding their satisfaction,” Nowak told AFP. 

Published online, the letter mentions Dziwisz as well as three bishops from the southern diocese of Bielsko Biala and Zywiec where the alleged abuse took place: Roman Pindel, Tadeusz Rakoczy, and Piotr Greger. 

Nowak said that according to law, prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to initiate legal proceedings after receiving a complaint, which in this case was March 2.

If the bishops end up in court and are found guilty, they could receive up to three years in prison, the lawyer said. 

Documentaries broadcast by Polish network TVN24 over the last two years have revealed shocking cases of clerical sex abuse and notably raised questions about potential cover-ups by Dziwisz.

The cardinal, who retired in 2016, is also suspected of having hidden other cases of sexual abuse by clergy, such as ex-US cardinal Theodore McCarrick from Saint John Paul II.

In November, the head of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Stanislaw Gadecki, urged the Vatican to clarify Dziwisz’s role following the documentary allegations. 

The politically influential Catholic church in the devout country was shaken last year by a series of high-profile cases of sexual abuse and cover-ups by clergy.

In November, the Vatican announced sanctions against Polish cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz – who died soon after at the age of 97 – banning him from carrying out his duties and using bishops’ insignia after an unspecified probe, which media reports said related to alleged sexual abuse.

Earlier this week, a Polish court jailed a priest, Arkadiusz Hajdasz, for having molested a young boy at the centre of a viral YouTube documentary that ignited national debate on clerical sex abuse last year. – AFP, March 12, 2021