WARSAW, Oct 29 โ Polish Bishop Andrzej Jez was convicted on Thursday of failing to notify authorities about the โ๐ดัxual ๐ขbu๐ดe of minors by two priests โfrom his diocese, in the highest-profile case of its kind involving a Catholic Church leader in Poland.
The case is the โlatest in a series of clergy ๐ขbu๐ดe โscandals that have eroded trust in the church โ in one of Europeโs most devoutly Catholic nations.
In โ2024, a bishop and an archbishop resigned over negligence in โhandling ๐ดัxual ๐ขbu๐ดe cases.
The court in the southern city of Tarnow sentenced Jez to two years of restriction of liberty to โbe carried out through deductions from his salary, โPAP news agency reported. The verdict is not final.
Jez had โpleaded โ not guilty to the charges.
In his testimony, he explained the delay in reporting by citing the ambiguity of criminal regulations and the specific circumstances of โthe individual cases, โPAP said.
While โ many Poles still regard the Catholic faith as a core part of their โnational identity, cases of ๐ดัxual ๐ขbu๐ดe involving โpriests โ mean increasing numbers say they have lost confidence in the church.
A 2025 poll by Polish pollster IBRiS showed โ that โthe percentage of Poles who โsay they trust the Catholic Church had fallen to 35% from 58% โin 2016.
