Archbishop Scicluna to visit Poland amid abuse crisis

By Vatican News

“The Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, has expressed the closeness and solidarity of the Holy Father towards victims of abuse,” according to the ad interim Director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, who was responding to questions put to him by reporters on Friday.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is set to visit Poland in June at the request of the Polish Bishops.

In 2018, the country's Bishops invited him to conduct a study day on the protection of minors during the Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops' Conference, on June 13th, in Swidnica. 

Archbishop Scicluna's visit comes on the heels of a recently-released documentary which has provoked public debate about clerical sexual abuse in the country, though the invitation was extended months ago.

“Tell No One” contains testimony from men and women who say they were molested or raped by priests when they were minors.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak, of Gniezno, told a TV program on Thursday that the revelations will help to cleanse the Church, and has apologized to victims.

“If the Church is currently going through difficulties, serious challenges, even a crisis, they all serve the Church’s cleansing,” he told TVN24.