WARSAW (Reuters) – Pope Francis’ representatives in Poland said on Saturday he had accepted the resignation of an archbishop accused in a documentary of turning a blind eye to child abuse.
A TVN24 news channel documentary filmed in 2021 alleged that the priest Andrzej Dymer, who died the same year, abused children and that the Archbishop of the Szczecin-Kamian Diocese, Andrzej Dziega, knew about this since 1995 but took no action .
“Holy Father Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Andrzej Dziega as Archbishop of Szczecin-Kamieński,” Poland’s apostolic nunciature, the equivalent of the Vatican embassy, said on its website.
A statement on the website of the Szczecin-Kamensk Archdiocese also said that Dziega was resigning.
None of the statements mention the allegations against Dziega, who has served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Szczecin-Kamieński since 2009.
The diocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dzega could not be reached for comment.
TVN24 reported on Saturday that after the documentary, Dziega fired Dymer from his position as director of the medical institute in Szczecin in northwestern Poland.
Polish media reported that Dymer was convicted by a church tribunal in 2008 of sexual abuse of minors. Dymer appealed, but the appeal was not heard before his death.
Poland, one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic countries, has been plagued by a string of child abuse scandals: two years ago, the church said it had received 368 reports of abuse of minors between July 1, 2018, and December 31, 2020.
According to the 2021 census, 71% of the population consider themselves Catholic.