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Embattled bishop resigns, II
Accused of harassing seminarians
Still heatedly denying the accuracy of charges that he has been involved in the sexual harassment of seminarians, Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan submitted his resignation on March 28.
Archbishop Paetz, whose alleged sexual approaches to young men were the subject of a report in the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, had reportedly been the focus of a Vatican investigation. Prior to the archbishop’s resignation—which the Pope quickly accepted—spokesmen for the Vatican had refused to comment on his case, except to say that the Holy See was aware of the charges against the archbishop.

Accusations against the archbishop first surfaced in 1999. But for more than a year there was no response from Rome. According to a New York Times report, the complaints against Archbishop Paetz were finally brought directly to Pope John Paul II by “a personal messenger—whose identity no one in Poznan, Warsaw, or Rome will disclose.” The Pope reportedly ordered an investigation, in which several priests confirmed the reports about the archbishop’s advances.

On March 17, Archbishop Paetz ordered pastors throughout the archdiocese to read a letter at Mass in which he charged that the accusations against him were the result of “an unprecedented, massive, and one-sided campaign against my person” by the mass media. On the very day of his resignation, the archbishop presided at the Chrism Mass for the priests of the Poznan archdiocese—many of whom had joined in the public calls for his resignation.

After the resignation was accepted, several priests and laymen of the Poznan archdiocese came forward to confirm that they had warned Church officials in Poland about the archbishop’s activities. Father Tomasz Weclawski told the weekly Tygodnik Powszechny that several people had expressed concern to other bishops about Archbishop Paetz in 1999, but were rebuffed as the Polish episcopate closed ranks. Father Weclawski, a theologian at Poznan University, said he took a letter on the case to the Vatican in 2000. “The true interest of the Church is to see that such things don’t happen. But if they do, they should be addressed as soon as possible,” Father Weclawski said.