One book and a documentary film claiming that Pope John Paul II knew about and covered sexual abuses against children lead to a huge scandal in his native Poland, where the former Pontiff is revered. Conservatives and the far-right scrambled to "defend the good name" of John Paul II and seem poised to use the scandal to their advantage in the upcoming elections.
Are the accusations against the Pope part of a hybrid war? The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the reportage on John Paul II weakens Poland's ability to deter a potential adversary and resistance to threats
On March 6, the private TV station TVN broadcast a report by Marcin Gutowski named "Franciszkańska 3". Gutowski, who has been investigating cases of sexual crimes in the Church for several years in his "Bielmo" series, proves that former Krakow bishop Karol Wojtyla, who would later become Pope and take the name John Paul II, knew about the sexual crimes of at least three priests subordinated to him. He moved them from parish to parish and sent them abroad. An investigation by Dutch journalist, Ekke Overbeek, confirmed these findings. His book "Maxima culpa. John Paul II knew” became the subject of criticism even before it hit the bookstores (in the second half of March). Even Adam Michnik, the editor of the liberal daily "Gazeta Wyborcza", took the side of those condemning publications about Karol Wojtyla's past – many years ago he explained that when writing about the Pope, one must watch that the wording is not too radical and use "certain caution". And it is true that although the Polish media have been hunting cases of pedophile priests for years, and journalists do not apply a lenient tariff to bishops, rarely has anyone openly asked about Wojtyla's involvement in covering up or keeping silent about cases of sexual abuse in the Church. Until now.
The day after the broadcast of Marcin Gutowski's film, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński prepared a draft resolution which stated that "an attempt to discredit John Paul II with materials that even the communists did not dare to use puts authors outside the circle of civilization to which Poland has belonged since 1989." The bill was approved by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (the lower house of the parliament) with the votes of right-wing and populist parties as well as the Polish People's Party (its electorate consists mainly of rural residents strongly associated with the Church).
The US ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (TVN belongs to the American corporation Warner Bros. Discovery) and was told that TVN's report about John Paul II weakens Polish defence capabilities and pursues the goal of hybrid warfare, which is to lead to divisions and tensions in Polish society. In response to the TVN documentary, the Polish public television TVP, which is functioning as a propaganda tool of the right-wing government, is broadcasting one papal homily every evening at 9pm.
Disinformation campaign or inconvenient facts? An attack on sanctity and values or a difficult attempt to confront the national myth with reality?
It may be difficult for foreigners to understand the position of the Polish Pope, who died in 2005, in Poland. The authority of John Paul II surpasses that of the Church itself. Poles can complain about the institution – they often do and when they do they don’t shy away often do in obscene words – but no one utters publicly an offensive word about the Pope from Krakow. Poland is probably the only country in the world where John Paul II is more than a religious or moral authority. The Polish Pope is a national hero: he helped overthrow communism, made Poland famous throughout the world, and became a spiritual guide for hundreds of millions of Catholics all over the globe. The Pope became a national totem (which effectively suppressed criticism) – during his lifetime it was already recognized that he had achieved perfection in almost all areas. Therefore, when Overbeek's book and Gutowski's film revealed that John Paul II not only knew, but also, as the Archbishop of Krakow in 1964-1978, covered up the pedophile activities of his subordinates, Poles reacted with shock, anger, indignation and fear. The right-wing media and politicians were quick to pick up on that.
The parliament decided to protect the late Pope's good name with a special bill. The marshal of the Sejm ordered footage of the Pope's visit in Warsaw to be screened, and PiS deputies entered the parliamentary building with portraits of John Paul II. On the same day, Sejm officially declared that Karol Wojtyla is "the greatest Pole in history" and "a leading authority for all Poles.” “The Sejm of the Republic of Poland strongly condemns the media’s shameful campaign, based largely on the materials of the apparatus of violence of the People's Republic of Poland, the object of which is the Great Pope - Saint John Paul II," reads the text of the resolution adopted by the deputies.
Grzegorz Górny, editor-in-chief of the right-wing weekly "W Sieci", wrote: "It turns out that a figure regarded in all studies as the greatest hero in Polish history can be accused of complicity in a crime without reliable evidence. No wonder many Poles felt as if someone had spit in their face. The stake of this defamation action is not only the good name of Karol Wojtyła. The moral delegitimization of John Paul II is a strong blow to the Catholic Church, which draws its answers to the challenges of today to a large extent from the teachings of John Paul II. It is also a blow to the keystone of contemporary Polishness, of which the Pope is the best personification. It is a blow to our community, for which he remains the last great authority. So, ultimately, it is one of the key elements of the struggle for the future civilizational, cultural and religious shape of our country. It is a fight for the soul of Poland.”
Another right-wing publicist, Marzena Nykiel, states that "the Bolsheviks and German Nazis fought the Church in the same way as modern neo-Marxists do." On the other hand, the author of the TVN’s documentary, Marcin Gutowski, who was (like most Poles) emotionally attached to the figure of John Paul II, admits that he had a personal problem with this topic: "My searches led me into darkness, which I would never want to find, irreversibly influenced my inner compass and brought experiences painful that they cannot be erased.” His mother asked him not to deal with the case of John Paul II and not to destroy her world.
The myth of the immaculate Polish Pope is falling apart
During the pontificate of John Paul II (1979-2005), the world media wrote extensively about cases of sexual abuse against minors with the participation of the Archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick, the Archbishop of Vienna Hans Herman Groer, and finally the founder of the Order of Legionaries of Christ Maciel Degollado. For Western public opinion, the answer to the question: did John Paul II know about cases of pedophilia in the Church? became rather obvious. Polish commentators desperately tried to promote a different narrative. There were arguments that the Pope was deceived by his advisers. That when he found out, he was too old and had lost control of the Curia. Some, like Karol Wojtyla's friend prof. Karol Tarnowski claimed that this lack of knowledge is a proof of the Pope’s holiness because John Paul II was a man who did not know evil and had excessive trust in people.
Pope Francis, who canonized John Paul II at an express pace, explains that Karol Wojtyla’s restrained reactions to reports of church pedophilia has to do with the mentality of a man from behind the Iron Curtain, where the Church was being attacked by the authorities and had to develop defensive reflexes.
The film by Marcin Gutowski and the book by Ekke Overbeek describe the cases of pedophile priests in which Karol Wojtyła reacted with a defensive reflex, transferring them to other parishes. And these are the cases well documented by both journalists, who base their investigations on materials from the archives of the Church. The authors are accused of basing their "sensationalist discoveries" on the testimonies and denunciations of a clergyman recruited by the communist Security Service (SB), and Overbeek is accused that, as a Dutchman, he has no idea about how security authorities used to operate during those times. However, the book suggests that he has quite a good insight – the SB, instead of publicizing pedophilic scandals involving priests, preferred to use them to blackmail the culprits into collaborating with them. That’s how it worked not only in Poland.
“The Pope's actions on the abuse of minors – or lack of them – in the light of the Gospel are the most painful. The fact that you are to stand on the side of the weak is probably, next to the command to love thy neighbor, Gospel’s most important commandment. And here we have a powerful institution that is based on the Gospel, and its leader is completely against it in this matter. The juxtaposition of these two faces of John Paul II is painful,” explained Ekke Overbeek in one of the interviews.
The Polish Episcopate reacted nervously to the media reports, issuing a statement that “the case required further archival research” and closed its archives to outsiders (and fired the archive’s director). For an institution plunged into a deep crisis, the authority of John Paul II is the most valuable asset at his disposal. Gutowski's and Overbeek's publications, describing Wojtyła's cover-up of pedophilia scandals, can only be the first domino piece. The TVN’s journalist admitted that after the broadcast of his film, more witnesses and victims reported to him.
Substantive debate or another instalment of the inner Polish-Polish war?
The accusations against John Paul II are undoubtedly shocking for a substantial part of Polish society (especially conservatives), and hence the defensive responses. "You can see with the bare eye that the aim of the anti-clerical campaign is to deprive the Church of the right to speak out in matters related to morality, to set standards of conduct or to take a position on abortion, in vitro, euthanasia, contraception, sexual abstinence" – writes Marzena Nykiel, editor-in-chief of the right-wing portal wPolityce.pl. "With such an aggressive campaign, which will probably last for years to come, many parents will succumb to the constantly asked question: is my child safe at catechesis, altar collection, oasis or choir rehearsal? Telling people that the clergy is rotten will finally resonate in them, maybe it will cause discouragement, negation, rejection of the Church, Catholicism, and finally faith. This is certainly what social engineers are counting on,” wrote the columnist.
The debate quickly turned into another political civil war. Politicians felt fresh blood and considered the whole brawl as efficient political fuel. The far-right – along with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński – described Gutowski's report as an attack on Poland, and a blow to the foundations of the state. Other United Right politicians compared the film to the 1981 assassination attempt of the Pope by Ali Agca. The opposition protested that Parliament was not in charge of decreeing what’s truth and what’s not, but PiS clearly wanted to reduce the matter to a vote: for or against the "Holy Polish Pope”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs first issued a communiqué about the "summoning" of American ambassador Marek Brzezinski in connection with "the activities of one of the television stations", then it was corrected to an "invitation". The rest of the text about starting a hybrid war and weakening Poland's defence potential stayed as it was. In the opinion of the PiS authorities, summoning the ambassador raised the rank of this bizarre political narrative to the highest possible level. But there’s probably more than that. PiS hopes that it will finally be able to silence TVN, which is inconvenient for the ruling camp. And it hopes to do it before the autumn elections.
The education superintendent of Małopolska region appealed to all schools and kindergartens to place portraits of John Paul II in a prominent place, and on April 2, the anniversary of Wojtyła's death, the first Papal March is to take place through the streets of Warsaw. It is therefore certain that PiS will exploit the storm around John Paul II without moderation, especially now, when there is just over half a year left until the parliamentary elections. This could be the next, extreme-emotional dividing line to be used in the election campaign. The calls to remove the Pope's monuments and change the names of streets will be an ideal campaign gift for the ruling party.
