'Revolution' in Poland as nation confronts priestly abuse
Source: Associated Press
Revolution in Poland as nation confronts priestly abuse
By VANESSA GERA
May 25, 2019
WARSAW, Poland (AP) One victim spoke out, and then another, and another. A statue of a pedophile priest was toppled in Gdansk, put back by his supporters, and finally dismantled for good. A feature film about clerical abuse was a box office hit.
Poland thought it had started confronting the problem of clerical abuse and its cover-up by church authorities. Then a bombshell came: A documentary with victim testimony so harrowing it has forced an unprecedented reckoning with pedophile priests in one of Europes most deeply Catholic societies.
Polands bishops acknowledged this week they face a crisis and made a rare admission that they have failed to protect the young. Its also a crisis for the countrys conservative government, which is closely aligned with the Catholic Church, putting the ruling Law and Justice party on the defensive before Sundays European Parliament vote in Poland.
The documentary Tell No One was directed by journalist Tomasz Sekielski. Before its release on May 11, ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski had described discussion about clerical abuse as a brutal attack on the church and portrayed the LGBT rights movement as the key threat to children in the country. But the revelations in the documentary have pushed the party to face up to the cleric abuse crisis. It has vowed stiffer penalties for pedophilia, although its leaders have avoided pointing a finger at the church specifically.
Across the country, the film has triggered soul searching and raised questions, including whether the same bishops who moved perpetrators from parish to parish for years will be capable of cleansing the church. Some wonder if Poland, which is already being reshaped by economic growth and secularization, could eventually follow Ireland, where the abuse crisis broke the Catholic Churchs hold on society.
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