An investigation by a Polish television channel, based on documents and testimonies, concludes that John Paul II, before being named Pope, knew about and hid cases of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church in his country.
The television program, broadcast on Monday night, is the result of two and a half years of research, interviews and travel, and has the testimony of people close to the Polish Pope, as well as members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, explained the director. of the program. ., Marcin Gutowski,
The documentary looks at the cases of three priests who Karol Wojtila, then Archbishop of Krakow, moved between various locations in the 1970s when he learned of the accusations against him.
Among the testimonies is one of the victims of Father Eugeniusz Surgent, accused of sexual abuse of minors in at least five different parishes and who was denounced directly to John Paul II by several people.
Another of those involved in the abuse was Father Sadus, who after working as a catechism teacher, in direct contact with the children, accumulated a large number of complaints of sexual abuse of minors and ended up being sent to “a lucrative job” in the Gaubitsch parish, through the direct intercession of John Paul II.
During his time as cardinal, Wojtila would also have learned of accusations against other priests under his authority, receiving the information directly from the victims, who came to ask for his help.
The testimonies collected by the channel indicate that, in all the cases denounced, the future John Paul II, first, insisted on confirming the veracity of the facts and, later, he promised to take measures in this regard, but he never denounced or imposed punishment on the the culprits, according to reports.
Some of the documents presented in the investigation are reports from the Polish National Institute of Memory proving that at least one of the priests worked for the communist political police.
In addition, the material analyzed by the journalists shows that the mentor of John Paul II in the early years, Cardinal Sapieha, forced some seminarians to engage in sexual practices that included violent acts.
Rembert Weakland, who was Archbishop of Milwaukee (United States) for 25 years, is interviewed in the report and guarantees that John Paul II confessed to him that he knew about Sapieha’s behavior and that, when asked about it, he confessed “not knowing what do” and, according to Weakland, “fell.”
A former student of John Paul II, Anna Karon-Ostrowska, points out in the report that “perhaps Karol Wojtila has gotten used to, terrible as it sounds, that such things happen in the Church” and has therefore chosen to cover them up. . .
Source: TSF
