Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, Poland, speaks during a news conference in Warsaw after being elected the new president of the Polish bishops' conference March He has been accused of negligence in a sex abuse case. Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor.
The report, filed by a victim-survivor advocate under the new procedural norms established by the papal document Vos Estis Lux Mundi , was sent to the Vatican's apostolic nunciature in Warsaw in March, according to the Polish Catholic media outlet Wiez.
On May 20, a letter was published that Polish abuse victims sent to all members of the Permanent Council of the Polish bishops' conference May 13, asking to suspend Wojda from his duties as president of the Polish bishops' conference "pending investigation of the alleged negligence. In an unprecedented move, 46 victims signed the letter — the first such large joint initiative of survivors of abuse in Poland that has been in a time of crisis since This is the first time our voice is heard as a group in Poland.
In response to the publication of the letter, Fr. Leszek Gesiak, spokesman of the bishops' conference confirmed in a May 20 statement that members of the Permanent Council have "received the said letter" and added that a "date will soon be set for a meeting of the Permanent Council, which will discuss current affairs of the Church in Poland. It will also take up the issues contained in the letter. In a report published May 9, Wiez stated that victim-survivors told the publication that the Archdiocese of Gdansk had treated them in an "improper" fashion in the course of the church's investigation after the victim-survivors came forward to report their abuse, Nosowski said.
Leszek Gesiak, spokesman of the Polish bishops' conference, left, is seen at a Jan. He confirmed that the bishops' Permanent Council received the letter Polish abuse victims sent about allegations that Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk was negligent in handling a clergy abuse case.
