A new report is alleging that John Paul II, the late pope was aware of pedophilia and child abuse cases before taking over. Read to know more.
The report claims former pope John Paul II was aware of child abuse cases
A new report is claiming the late pope was aware of the child abuse in the catholic church of Poland before taking over as the pontiff. Additionally, it is claimed that John Paul II helped in covering several cases of abuse. The report is based on an investigation for TVN, a Polish broadcaster by Michal Gutowski. In the report, Gutowski claimed that the pope, then known as Karol Wojtyla, his original name was aware of the pedophile priests within the church while he was serving as a cardinal in Krakow.
However, to avoid a scandal, former Pope John Paul II was transferring priests to different far-away dioceses. He served as the pope for 27 years, from 1978 to 2005. In 2015, he wrote a letter of recommendation for one of the accused priests to Vienna Cardinal Franz Koenig. However, there was no mention of the accusations of abuse. In recent years, several reports of abuse of minors from the Polish church have surfaced. Several high-ranking officials have been charged by the Vatican for covering up the issue.
More on the investigation
In his investigation, Gutowski interviewed the victims of the alleged priests. He also talked to their families and former employees of the church diocese. As proof, Gutowski cited rare church documents and documents from the Communist-era SB secret police. However, he was denied access to those in the Krakow diocese.
In the past, the Polish church has refused access to the police or judiciary in cases of the church’s abuse of minors. One of the sources claims to have personally notified John Paul II of the abuses in 1973. “Wojtyla first wanted to make sure it wasn’t a bluff,” claimed the source. However the then cardinal reportedly told the source “he would deal with it” and to keep it under wraps.