Theresa Zettl
Child abuse in the Catholic Church is a topic that regularly appears in the media. What has now happened in a court case in Bielsko-Zywiec, Poland, cannot be exceeded in disgust:
The southern Polish diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec speculated in a court case about whether sexual abuse of a twelve-year-old boy would bring “satisfaction” if the boy was gay. After media reported on a document to this effect, the diocese apologised for the statement and declared that they would not pursue this theory in the trial. Specifically, the case concerned the complaint of 48-year-old Janusz Szymik, who claimed to have been raped several times by a priest at the age of twelve. The perpetrator was declared guilty by the Vatican in 2015. Szymik then filed a civil suit against the church, seeking damages of three million zloty (660,000 euros) for his pain and suffering.
The church reacted with a counter-attack: it demanded that the court determine whether the plaintiff was gay and whether he had therefore felt sexual satisfaction from the abuse. In addition, the diocese speculated that the plaintiff had probably “voluntarily” participated in the sexual acts.
Lawyer Artur Nowak sharply criticised the church’s strategy: “Alluding to Janusz’s sexual orientation has only one goal: to embarrass him.” He wondered what was going on in the minds of some church people when they re-traumatised a traumatised person.
The plaintiff was also surprised by Bishop Roman Pindel’s strategy: “Before, he had expressed pain and regret and asked me for forgiveness, now he wants to prove that I am homosexual,” Szymik told the news channel TVN24.
Following criticism, including from other bishops, the diocese said in a statement on Wednesday that it would no longer make the plaintiff’s sexual orientation an issue. “It must be clear that a child never bears responsibility for violence perpetrated against him,” a spokesman for the diocese said.
“Violation of the feelings of believers”
The Catholic Church in Poland is among the most anti-LGBTI churches in Europe. It is also vocal in other court cases. On Thursday, for example, Bishop Piotr Libera condemned the decision of a district court in the city of Plock for rejecting an appeal against a March 2021 ruling in the Rainbow Madonna trial. The court had acquitted three LGBTI activists of the charge of hurting religious feelings with a rainbow Madonna picture. Libera now stated, “This is incomprehensible to me. In my opinion, it means approving the desecration of religious symbols and hurting the feelings of believers.”
The Polish Church even denies gays and lesbians the right to exist: Thus, the National Bishops’ Conference 2020 declared homosexuality “harmful” and stated that gays and lesbians should be “cured”.
However, the Catholic Church likes to quote GENESIS 1:26-28 and the image of man in the image of God, but this only seems to apply to heterosexual people. But think about it, if there are gay, lesbian and transsexual people and man is made in the image of God, doesn’t God have to be gay, lesbian or transsexual as well?
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The same church that seems confused that people find it inappropriate for its sworn celibate head to be telling people to have kids instead of pets! Do they ever learn?