A breakthrough in the Episcopate. A commission on pedophilia was established

On Wednesday, the Polish Episcopal Conference established a Commission of independent experts to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in Poland and gave it public legal personality, said the Episcopal spokesman, Fr. Leszek Gęsiak.

On the second day of the 404th Plenary Meeting of the Polish Episcopal Conference, the bishops adopted “the principles of operation of the Commission of independent experts to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in Poland and the Statute of the Commission.”

– After adopting these documents, the Polish Episcopal Conference established a Commission of independent experts to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in Poland and gave it public legal personality and, after consulting the Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Religious Congregations in Poland and the Conference of Major Superiors of Women's Religious Congregations in Poland, the previously adopted statute – said Fr. Goose.

He informed that the bishops “also approved the agreement on the establishment of the Commission” concluded between the Polish Episcopal Conference, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Religious Congregations in Poland and the Conference of Major Superiors of Women's Religious Congregations in Poland.

He announced that the texts of the documents would be made public and discussed during a press conference after the end of the Plenary Meeting on Thursday at. 15.

The decision to start work on appointing a Commission of independent experts to investigate the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors by some clergy in the Church in Poland was made by the bishops at the 394th Plenary Meeting of the Polish Episcopal Conference, held in March 2023 in Warsaw. The team entrusted with developing the principles of operation of the commission was headed by the Primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak. This team developed the documents on the basis of which the above-mentioned commission was to be established.

During the June Plenary Meeting of the Polish Episcopate last year, the bishops decided that the team of Archbishop Polaka will finish working on this project. In his place, a new one was appointed, headed by Bishop Sławomir Oder. He assured then that the task of the new body would be to refine technical and legal issues regarding the commission's work. He then stated that substantive issues remained beyond his competence.

In September 2025, the Legal Council of the Polish Episcopal Conference responded positively to the solutions proposed by Bishop Oder's team. The hierarch then explained that the project was based on materials developed by the team of Primate Archbishop Wojciech Polak.

The working version of the documents was approved by the bishops during the Plenary Meeting in October last year in Gdańsk. Then they referred them to consultations with the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Congregations – Men and Women. After obtaining their opinion, the documentation was to be returned to the Polish Episcopate. In an interview with PAP, Bishop Oder explained that based on these opinions, it will be possible to establish a new Commission and sign agreements between it and the bishops and between the Commission and individual religious jurisdictions.

Canon law does not allow any resolution of the Polish Episcopal Conference to be imposed on bishops. Therefore, they have the freedom to join this initiative and therefore the formal launch of the Commission will involve the signing of bilateral agreements between individual bishops and superiors of religious jurisdictions and this Commission.

In the opinion of a former member of the Management Board of the St. Joseph Foundation KEP (in 2020-2023), Fr. Dr. Grzegorz Strzelczyk and a group of anonymous experts, “the project by Bishop Oder aims to weaken the independence of the commission and gives bishops the opportunity to interfere in its work.” They wrote in December last year: an open letter on this matter to the Polish Episcopal Conference.

According to Fr. Piotr Studnicki, who in the years 2019-2024 managed the work of the Office of the KEP Delegate for the Protection of Children and Youth and was a member of Archbishop's team. Wojciech Polak, which significantly weakens the independence of the commission is the provision giving bishops the ability to interfere in its research work, as well as the lack of the commission's powers to call church superiors to listen or provide information.

In an interview with PAP, the priest expressed in December last year: fears that “the bishops will decide to appoint her, but will not give her real tools for work.” “As a result, it will continue to bounce back from mental resistance and simply will not fulfill its task, causing great disappointment, especially to the wronged people. In such a case, appointing it makes no sense,” he said.

In the meantime, several dioceses decided to establish similar bodies in their own country. The Archdiocese of Łódź did it on November 14 last year. On February 12, the first part of the report on sexual abuse of minors in the diocese was presented in Dąbrowa Górnicza by the Commission for Clarification and Redress of Sensitive Matters of the Sosnowiec Diocese.

If the bishops did not appoint the Commission during the March plenary meeting, the archdioceses of Krakow, Wrocław and Częstochowa also announced theirs. (PAP)

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