Bishop Edward Janiak attends an event in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2005. File picture: Mieczyslaw Michalak/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters.
Warsaw - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop following allegations that he failed to act upon reports of sex abuse by priests subordinate to him, the pope's nuncio in Poland said on Saturday.
Bishop Edward Janiak, who continues to be banned from his former diocese of Kalisz, has been permanently removed from the church, the nuncio said.
In May, Janiak featured prominently in a documentary on paedophilia in Poland's Catholic Church titled "Playing Hide and Seek."
The film highlighted the bishop's alleged failure to act in the face of accusations of sex abuse against his priests, which triggered a Holy See investigation that commenced in early June.
The Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy has also decided to temporary close the Kalisz diocese's seminary, according to the nuncio's statement.
The Kalisz diocese will continue to be administered by the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys.
According to the Polish church, complaints about sexual abuse of minors were filed against 382 priests between 1990 and mid-2018, with about 625 victims.
Related Topics: