A journalistic investigation, Sunday March 5 on the private Polish channel TVN, indicates that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was aware of cases of pedophilia in the Polish Church before becoming Pope John Paul II in 1978.
Testimonials
Michal Gutowski, author of the survey, assures that the cardinal and bishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtylawas aware of the affairs of pedophilia incriminating priests of his diocese. He would have transferred them from one parish to another to escape the tumults. One of these churchmen was sent to Austria, and the future pope is said to have written a letter of recommendation to Cardinal Franz König of Vienna, without informing him of the charges against this individual, report 20 Minutes and other French media.
On the sidelines of his investigation, Michal Gutowski went to meet the alleged victims of these priests, their relatives, but also former employees of the diocese. He also cites reports from the former communist SB secret police and Church documents he was able to get his hands on. For its part, the diocese of Krakow refused the journalist access to its archives.
“Wojtyla first wanted to make sure it wasn’t a bluff. He asked not to report it anywhere, he said he would take care of it”testified a man, who remained anonymous, who would have reported himself to the pope pedophile acts of a priest in 1973.
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“Revolutionary”
In the report, Thomas Doyle, a former American Catholic priest, canon law scholar and author of one of the first reports of Catholic clergy abuse in the United States, said: “What you have discovered is groundbreaking because it shows what many people have suspected for years, that John Paul II knew that this problem existed even before he became pope”. According to him, “He had to know, but there was no proof. And here we have proof”.
A book that contains similar accusations against Karol Wojtyla will be released this Wednesday, March 8 in Poland. This is an outline of an investigation by Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek, entitled ‘Maxima Culpa. John Paul II knew’.
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