Protests in support of Father Adam Boniecki, a liberal clergyman who was gagged by Church authorities on Thursday over controversial comments he made in the media, have highlighted a schism in Poland's Roman Catholic Church. “I am ashamed that this can happen in my – our – church,” said Zbigniew Nosowski, editor of Catholic monthy Wiez.
Facebook pages and online petitions have already sprung up in favour of Father Adam Boniecki, the 77-year-old editor of the Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, who was informed by his religious order, the Congregation of Marian Fathers, that he must confine his media appearances to the afore-mentioned journal “for the time being.”
Boniecki, a confidante of the late Pope John Paul II, was disciplined on Thursday following a series of remarks in the media.
The announcement came just days after he drew criticism from clergymen for remarking in television interview that Janusz Palikot, leader of the newly created anti-clerical Palikot's Movement party, was “not really so evil.”.
The remarks followed on from Boniecki's attempts to play down the furore surrounding the participation of an allegedly “satanic” rock star, Adam Darski, in a talent-finding show produced by public television network TVP.
Since the gag on Boniecki, conservative daily Rzeczpospolita has quoted prominent clergyman Father Waldemar Chrostowski as concluding that Boniecki's remarks are “in many instances not compatible with the teachings of the Church.”