The Vatican said March 29 that it is punishing a retired Polish archbishop and a bishop for their alleged roles in covering up sexual abuse committed by other clergymen.
Former Gdansk Archbishop Slawoj Leszek Glodz and former Bishop Edward Janiak of Kalisz have also been forbidden from living in their former dioceses or participating in any public religious celebrations there.
The Vatican Embassy in pre-dominantly Roman Catholic Poland also said each of the two is being required to contribute personal money into a fund helping victims of clerical abuse.
The embassy cited “omissions” by Glodz “in cases of sexual abuse committed by some clergy against minors, and other issues related to the administration of the archdiocese.”
In a separate statement, the embassy said the Holy See was acting on the basis of “reported negligence of Bishop Edward Janiak in cases of sexual abuse committed by some clergy against minors, and other issues related to the management of the diocese.”
Both Glodz and Janiak retired in 2020 as their cases were being investigated. Glodz was featured in a 2019 documentary about priestly sex abuse and cover-up in Poland that sparked a reckoning in the country.