Poland’s prime minister on March 8 stepped in to defend the good name of St. John Paul II, a "great fellow-countryman," following claims that he knew of sex abuse of minors by priests under his authority while archbishop in Poland and sought to conceal it.
A Polish bishop resigned following a Vatican investigation into alleged negligence in addressing cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests under the bishop's authority.
Poland's top vaccination official said April 15 he did not see any obstacle to the country's inoculation program from the "moral" reservations expressed by the powerful Catholic Church about two vaccines.
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.
Scholars and others spoke with NCR about Polish alienation from the church, related to the hierarchy's alliance with the authoritarian ruling party, attacks on the LGBTQ community, and clergy sex abuse.
When two priests were arrested in Belarus on Dec. 8 amid protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, there were fears of a full-scale campaign against the minority Catholic Church.
The Vatican has ordered an investigation into allegations that a now-retired archbishop in Poland was negligent in investigating reports of sex abuse of minors by priests in his Gdansk archdiocese.
People across Poland are vowing to stay off their jobs on Oct. 28 as part of a nationwide strike to protest a top court ruling that bans abortions in cases of congenitally damaged fetuses.
Women’s rights activists and many thousands of supporters held a fifth day of protests across Poland on Monday, defying pandemic restrictions to express their fury at a top court decision that tightens the predominantly Catholic nation’s already strict abortion law.
