The centenary of the birth of Pope John Paul II, solemnly celebrated in Poland this weekend, was marred by the release this Saturday of a documentary on pedophile acts within the Catholic Church, covered by a local bishop cited namely. Immediately after the release of the film Hide and Seek , followed live on YouTube by nearly 80,000 people, the Polish primate, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, called on the Holy See to "open proceedings" on the cases cited .
The documentary, the second of its kind, directed by freelance journalist Tomasz Sekielski, recounts in detail the story of two brothers, victims among others of sexual abuse committed by a priest enjoying tacit but obvious protection from Edward Janiak, today titular bishop of Kalisz. "The film Hide and Seek , which I have just seen, shows that the standards of protection of children and adolescents in force in the Church have not been respected," reacted the primate of Poland in a video message broadcast by the Catholic agency KAI.
Shock
"In my capacity as delegate of the episcopate for the protection of children and adolescents I ask the Holy See, via its nunciature, to open a procedure under the motu proprio (an apostolic letter, editor's note) of Pope Francis on omitting a legally binding reaction, ”he insisted. Tomasz Sekielski's previous documentary, Just Don't Tell Anyone , released a year ago, has been viewed nearly 23.5 million times on YouTube.
At the time, it had caused a shock and a series of reactions at the top of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and of power, but, since then, the question has almost disappeared from public space. The two films raise the question of the responsibility of the Catholic hierarchy, without however digging into that of the lack of reaction during his long pontificate of Saint John Paul II, still venerated in Poland. However, Tomasz Sekielski has already announced a forthcoming documentary on the "role of JPII in the cover-up of crimes perpetrated by priests".
A series of events, masses, concerts broadcast on the Internet, radio and television are planned to celebrate the still living memory of Saint John Paul II, born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, in southern Poland.
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