A documentary exposing child sex abuse in Poland’s Roman Catholic Church has turned religion into a key issue ahead of the European election.
The film, “Tell No One,” showing how abusive priests destroyed the lives of their victims and faced no consequences, has shocked the overwhelmingly Catholic country in which the church is a key political player; released on Saturday evening, it had been viewed more than 8.1 million times on YouTube as of Monday afternoon.
The unflinching look at abuse in the church adds Poland to the list of countries — from the U.S. to Canada, Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Chile and more — that have been forced to deal with clergy child sex abuse scandals.
In Poland, where the church has more than a purely religious function — seeing itself as a force that defended the nation during times of oppression, and which now has enormous influence over education, culture, the law and politics — the scandal has quickly taken on a political dimension.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has struck a tight alliance with the majority of Polish bishops. Many priests, especially in smaller towns and villages, often openly back the party.
“Who raises a hand against the church, wanting to destroy it, raises a hand against Poland,” Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS and Poland’s de facto ruler, said during an election rally earlier this month. He added: “There is no Poland without the church.”
Church and state
Kaczyński was speaking after a recent speech in Warsaw by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council and a former Polish prime minister. Tusk had been introduced by Leszek Jażdżewski, a left-wing publicist, who used the occasion to denounce the power of the church in fiery language: “The Catholic Church in Poland, beset by pedophile scandals, engaged in a battle for money and moral influence, has lost the ability to act as the conscience of the nation.”
Jażdżewski was subjected to a torrent of abuse from the government and its media backers. Many opposition politicians scrambled to distance themselves from his words, afraid of angering the church and its followers, although Tusk did not.
Days later, police arrested Elżbieta Podleśna, a political activist who had made a poster of Poland’s holiest icon, the Black Madonna, and painted the halos of Mary and Jesus in LGBT rainbow colors. She faces charges of insulting the feelings of religious people, an offense that carries a potential two-year prison sentence.
Joachim Brudziński, the interior minister, tweeted: “No fairy tales about ‘tolerance’ give ANYONE the right to offend the feelings of the faithful.”
“I am sorry for every wound inflicted by people of the church” — Wojciech Polak, the primate of Poland
Kaczyński’s full-throated defense of the church could cause problems for his party in the wake of the release of “Tell No One.”
Grzegorz Schetyna, leader of Civic Platform, the main opposition party, attacked his rival after the documentary was released. “Who raises a hand against Polish children, raises a hand against Poland,” he said, referencing Kaczyński’s earlier remark.
Schetyna and other opposition politicians are calling for a government commission to investigate the church and how it has handled cases of abuse. The government is also vowing to prosecute sexual offenders, but was careful not to single out the clergy. On Monday, Brudziński said there would be “zero tolerance” for offenders, whether priests or “celebrities, directors, politicians, or reporters.”
Despite refusing to be interviewed for the film, some senior bishops made contrite announcements over the weekend. “I am sorry for every wound inflicted by people of the church,” said Wojciech Polak, the primate of Poland. However, Leszek Sławoj Głódź, the archbishop of Gdańsk, accused in the film of being aware of one of the child abusing priests, told reporters he hasn’t seen the documentary. “I don’t watch any old thing,” he said.
Kaczyński is racing to get ahead of the issue. On Sunday he insisted that it is his party that has been the most determined to root out sex abuse. He vowed to increase the penalty for such acts to 30 years in prison, and to raise the age of sexual consent from 15 to 18. However, he continued to strongly defend the church, saying: “Who wants to attack and destroy the Polish nation, first attacks the church.”
The politics of religion
The issue is a dangerous one for PiS ahead of the May 26 European election, as it risks galvanizing voters in the country’s largest cities — who tend to be more liberal and secular than PiS’s core support. In the 2014 election, only 23.8 percent of voters bothered to show up — one of the lowest rates in the EU. A new opinion poll conducted for the Rzeczpospolita newspaper has 55 percent of voters saying they are likely to vote.
Even if the real number turns out to be much lower, it’s clear that the European election has captured attention in Poland — in large measure because it’s seen as a test of strength before national parliamentary elections this fall.
“If you’re asking about the result of the election, yes, it is in danger,” Adam Bielan, deputy speaker of the senate and a PiS candidate for the European Parliament, said in a radio interview. “It’s not that we’re certain of victory.”
Jarosław Kaczyński’s full-throated defense of the church could cause problems for his party | Sean Gallup/Getty Images
However, it’s not certain which voters will be the most motivated — those who support the opposition European Coalition, those who form PiS’s core electorate, or those who back the new Spring party of Robert Biedroń, an openly gay politician who advocates a strict separation between church and state, said Marek Migalski, a political scientist with the University of Silesia.
“The temperature of the campaign is increasing, but we don’t know who will show up,” he said.
Over the last four years, the alliance between Law and Justice and the church has been good for both sides. But Polish society is rapidly changing. A 2018 study of religious practices by the Pew Research Center found that there was a 23 percentage point difference between young adults and older people in how important religion is in their lives — the largest gap of all 45 countries surveyed.
The church’s own statistics show a steady decline in Sunday mass attendance and in people deciding to enter religious orders.
“I’m not sure the film is a game changer, but it’s certainly not helping PiS” — Marek Migalski, political scientist with the University of Silesia
Last year “Clergy,” a fictional film about priests and child abuse, greed and alcoholism, broke box office records.
However, Poland is still one of the most observant countries in Europe. On a typical Sunday, about 40 percent of Poles are in church, priests are in control of religious education in schools, and almost no ceremony — from Constitution Day to the blessing of a new fire engine — takes place without the participation of the clergy.
The problem for Law and Justice is that its alliance with the church now risks tarring it with the church’s internal problems.
“I’m not sure the film is a game changer, but it’s certainly not helping PiS,” said Migalski.