Lay activists repeated their call for an independent commission to investigate abuse within the Lithuanian Church after two further criminal cases against priests for sexual offences against minors.
The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office announced the cases on 11 August. Tadas Švedavičius, 56, pleaded guilty to committing total of 34 sexual offences against minors between 2002 and 2025, while 51-year-old Ryšardas Peciunas, charged with possession of child abuse images, denies allegations.
The Archdiocese of Vilnius issued a statement pledging cooperation with the law enforcement and said it would conduct canonical investigations. Both clerics were immediately suspended from their duties. However, the archdiocese claimed that church authorities only learned about the allegations from prosecutors.
This prompted an outcry and public debates over the effectiveness of mechanisms for protecting minors in the Church. Some priests lamented a lack of clear pastoral leadership from Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, who holds multiple administrative positions and is frequently away.
“The closest collaborators [of the archbishop] expect a leader and a father, not just a manager. They expect a vision and guidelines for today’s mission, not individual projects,” said Gabrielius Satkauskas, chaplain at the Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos and pastor of the Vilnius Archdiocese Youth Centre.
“There’s a deep-rooted disappointment in priests of all generations, which severely demoralises or even breaks them,” he told The Tablet. “It does not matter that the bishop’s intentions are good and the duties are numerous and important, but if a pastor resides in his diocese (which consists of almost a million of believers) only half the days of the year, then such a situation is unjustifiable.”
The controversy revived calls for an independent investigation into the scale of abuse in the Church in Lithuania, first proposed in 2023 after the chancellor of diocesan curia Kęstutis Palikša was sentenced for possessing child abuse images and suspended from clerical duties and any pastoral contact with minors.
Scandalised by the incident, lay Catholics and public figures issued an open letter demanding that church leaders stop relying on internal handling and follow international examples by establishing a transparent, comprehensive independent inquiry into sexual abuse within the Church.
Since then, the initiative has grown into the group Svarbus reikalas (“Grave Concern”), with their representatives sharing publicly their call for an independent investigation during the present scandal. However, Archbishop Grušas dismissed this idea as “untimely”.
“I do not think the time is right. And I still do not think we have grown into that,” Grušas told the 15min.lt news portal on 19 August, saying that the Church should focus on a system of prevention of such crimes and helping the victims.
“That is a missed opportunity to keep quiet and a communication error,” said Danutė Gailienė, a psychology professor at Vilnius University and a leading expert in suicidology and trauma psychology, especially in the effects of severe long-term trauma and historical trauma.
She said that such a position most likely reflects the internal conviction and the general mood of clergy that they are neither psychologically nor morally prepared for such an investigation, while at the same time feeling mounting pressure for one.
“People are getting braver and opening up, more signals of misbehaviour will surface,” said Gailienė, adding that if an important organisation wants a serious audit, it can only be done by independent evaluators, following the general logic and practice of democratic societies.
The reluctance of the hierarchy to open itself to external investigation might be explained by several reasons, said Arūnas Streikus, a history professor at Vilnius University and vice-chairman of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science.
It stems from fear of losing narrative control and exposing the dark sides of the institution that may tarnish “a carefully curated image of the heroic Church, fighting for freedom and morality of the nation, which has been held in some part of the society since the times of Soviet oppression”, he told The Tablet.
Another reason is the defensive stance maintained by many clergy who perceive modern abuse allegations as exaggerated and hostile attacks, intended to weaken the institution.
Finally, Streikus said, “the bishops, I think, might have a reason afraid that the investigation will reveal their insufficient efforts to respond adequately to the crimes of the priests under their command, for which they will finally have to assume appropriate responsibility in one form or another”.
He argued that a comprehensive investigation reaching back to 1945 is the only path forward. Only an independent tribunal can systematically uncover institutional flaws, restore fractured public trust, and deliver long-overdue moral justice to aging, traumatised survivors who have been ignored for decades, Streikus said.
“Abuse of power is the root of evil, which also leads to financial crimes, social elitism, and the clergy’s disregard for people. Only an independent investigation can help change institutional consciousness and encourage conversion”, said Fr Satkauskas. However, he warned that about half of clergy actively oppose an investigation, fearing that it might reveal other types of crimes or negligence.
“Mostly the younger generation [support the investigation], which makes up a very small part of the presbyterate. All those who support the changes do not have any serious position within the Church,” he said.