© Reuters.
WARSAW (Reuters) – Pope Francis' representatives in Poland said on Saturday he had accepted the resignation of an archbishop who was accused in a documentary of turning a blind eye to child abuse.
The 2021 TVN24 news channel documentary alleged that priest Andrzej Dymer, who died that year, had abused children and that the archbishop of the diocese of Szczecin-Kamien, Andrzej Dziega, knew about it since 1995 but took no action.
“The Holy Father Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Andrzej Dziega as metropolitan archbishop of Szczecin-Kamien,” Poland's apostolic nunciature, the equivalent of the Vatican embassy, said on its website.
A statement on the Szczecin-Kamien archdiocese website also said Dziega would retire.
None of the statements addressed the allegations against Dziega, who had served as metropolitan archbishop of Szczecin-Kamien since 2009.
The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dziega could not be reached for comment.
TVN24 reported on Saturday that after the documentary, Dziega had fired Dymer from his position as director of a medical institute in Szczecin, northwestern Poland.
Polish media reported that in 2008 Dymer was convicted by a church court of sexually abusing minors. Dymer appealed but the appeal was not resolved before his death.
Poland, one of the most devoutly Catholic countries in Europe, has seen a series of child abuse scandals, and the church said two years ago that between July 1, 2018 and December 31, 2020, it received 368 reports of abuse. juvenile.
According to 2021 census data, 71% of the population considers themselves Catholic.
