Pope Francis has accepted Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak’s resignation following a public scandal over reports that a “sex party” involving at least one priest had taken place within his own Diocese of Sosnowiec.
Neither Kaszak’s resignation letter, nor the Vatican, gave an official reason behind his decision to step down. However, Kaszak “asked everyone to forgive my human limitations” before noting “if I have offended anyone or anything, I am very sorry.”
The widely suspected reason for his departure pertains to the events which September’s reports claim to have taken place in an apartment belonging to the diocese.
The apartment is said to have been the location of a homosexual orgy in which a male prostitute, one of multiple participants, collapsed after an overdose on erectile dysfunction pills. When paramedics arrived at the scene, the incriminated priest reputedly denied them access to the building and thus also preventing the patient from receiving medical treatment.
Shortly afterwards the Roman Curia confirmed awareness of an incident involving the “intervention of an ambulance and police” before revealing a bishop had put together a commission to urgently uncover what had taken place.
The apartment where the event took place belongs to a priest who, for reasons of anonymity under Polish privacy law, can only at the present time be referred to as Tomasz Z.
The diocesan commission in early October stated that it had found “Father Tomasz Z, together with two other lay people, committed a very serious violation of moral norms, which the church does not consent to and strongly condemns”.
It added that “Father Tomasz Z’s conduct seriously violated the obligations arising from the clerical state, which may be considered a crime within the meaning of canon law.”
“Taking into account the great scandal among the faithful, the Bishop of Sosnowiec decided to initiate proceedings, under which the most severe church penalties, including expulsion from the clergy, could be applied to the priest,” the commission concluded.
A local civil prosecutor, meanwhile, said the priest was suspected of “failing to provide assistance to a person whose life [was] at risk.”
The degree of involvement and responsibility on the part of Bishop Kaszak, who has headed the Diocese of Sosnowiec since 2009 after being consecrated by Benedict XVI, is unclear at the present time.
Kaszak apologised “to all those who were affected and saddened, or even scandalised“ by what he called the “painful events”.
(<em>Photo: Youtube – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMuKgCXM6F8">link</a>)</em>
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