A disgraced Polish archbishop has been elected mayor of his hometown after being sanctioned by the Vatican for ignoring sexual abuse by his clergy as two more bishops were disciplined for similar offenses.
In a statement, the Jaswila district council said Archbishop Slawoj Glodz, who headed the Gdansk Archdiocese until last August, had been elected administrator, of Piaski, adding that local officials had extended “heartfelt congratulations.”
However, Poland’s Catholic Wiez quarterly, which has campaigned against sexual abuse in the Church, warned the “unprecedented move” would provoke “irritation and scandal in society.” “Unfortunately, this isn’t the opening of a new TV comedy season, but part of our Polish ecclesial life,” Wiez said on June 24.
“As a doctor of canon law, Archbishop Glodz may well defend his decision from the letter of the law — but the letter isn’t everything. An additional issue is the disgust associated with yet another exposure of a person who, with Vatican-imposed penalties, should by normal logic be remaining silent.”