Poland’s powerful Roman Catholic Church on Thursday rejected a
first-ever request for damages by a victim of a convicted paedophile
priest, opening the door to legal action, judicial officials said.
A demand for 47,500 euros ($63,500) in damages was made by a
25-year-old male plaintiff, identified only Marcin K., who was molested
as a child.
A Catholic priest was last year sentenced to two years behind bars in
the case, but his diocese refused to be held financially liable.
“The
parties did not arrive at an agreement. The door is now open for a
civil lawsuit,” Slawomir Przykucki, a court spokesman in Koszalin,
northern Poland, told AFP after the mediation hearing at the court
failed.
“The Church does not feel it bears responsibility in this case.
Priests operate independently in their parishes. The parish, diocese and
the Church as a whole are not legally liable,” Krzysztof Wyrwa, a
lawyer representing Church authorities in Koszalin told Poland’s public
TVP Info news channel.
But human rights lawyers disagreed with the reasoning.
“It’s not possible for the Church hierarchy, whose parishes and
diocese are legal entities, to escape responsibility for the behaviour
of a person who is part of this hierarchy,” said Artur Pietryka, a
lawyer with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.
The case comes amid mounting allegations of paedophilia involving
priests in Poland, one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic countries.
In an unprecedented move, Polish Church leaders apologised last week
over alleged paedophile priests, as prosecutors on both sides of the
Atlantic began probes against two high-profile suspects.
Justice
authorities are looking for Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a 65-year-old
Pole who served as a papal envoy in the Dominican Republic’s Santo
Domingo for around five years during which he is alleged to have had sex
with teenage boys.
Authorities on the Caribbean island nation are also seeking Wojciech
Gil, a 36-year-old priest suspected of raping several young boys while
serving there.
Despite the apology, Church leaders in Poland said they would not be offering victims any material compensation.