- Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda has been chosen by the leaders of the Catholic Church in Poland to succeed Archbishop Stanisław Gandecki as Prefect of the Bishopric of Poland.
- Although more than 90 percent of Poles are officially Catholic, only less than a third attend Mass.
- Several Polish bishops have resigned over mishandling of abuse cases, and some are facing legal liability.
Leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic church on Thursday chose moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda as its new headmaster. While the church continues to struggle to deal with the abuse of minors by some Polish clergy, the number of Poles attending church is on the decline. It plummeted.
At a two-day meeting, bishops and archbishops elected Archbishop Wojda of Gdańsk, 67, to replace the conservative archbishop. According to the communiqué, Stanisław Gandecki from Poznań will be appointed Prefect of the Polish Bishopric for a five-year term.
More than 90% of Poland’s roughly 38 million people are still full members of the Catholic Church, but in 2022 only one in three Catholics attended Mass, according to the church’s statistical institute. It wasn’t even met.
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For 27 years, from 1990 to 2017, Wojda served in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples during the terms of three popes: Polish-born Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. He was then appointed archbishop of Białystok, a city in eastern Poland bordering Belarus. He became Archbishop of Gdańsk in 2021.
Jasna Gora Monastery, the most revered Catholic church in Poland. Seen at dusk in Czestochowa, Poland. Leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic church on Thursday elected moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda as its new leader. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk, File)
During his time in Bialystok, when thousands of migrants arrived at the border with Belarus, Wojda called for tolerance and tolerance, but also stressed that the border must be protected. At the time, he also strongly opposed equality parades for the region’s LGBT+ community, calling homosexuality a “sin”.
Observers do not expect Wojda to change the church’s strong defense policy despite revelations of clerical abuse of minors.
A number of Polish archbishops and bishops have stepped down or resigned with Vatican approval, accused of ignoring or trying to cover up incidents of abuse or downplaying the trauma of victims.
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In some cases, perpetrators have been prosecuted in court and ordered to pay damages to victims. In a recent case, the Diocese of Kalisz paid $76,000 to the victim of a pedophile priest in September.
The previous right-wing government forged close ties with the church and financially supported some of its institutions, earning the gratitude of many believers. That government also held similar views to the church in condemning abortion and promoting traditional family values.
The current pro-European Union government seeks to sever ties between the church and politics and to limit the privileged financial position that exempts the church from taxation.
Historically, the Catholic Church has been held in high esteem by Poles, standing by Poland during the 19th-century partition of Poland, during World War II, and during more than 40 years of Moscow rule, and supporting its commitment to culture and freedom. has supported. Communist government until 1989.
