Polish bishop first to face trial over abuse cover-upAFP, WARSAWIn a landmark case for the deeply Catholic country, a Polish bishop was to go to trial yesterday for allegedly covering up acts of pedophilia committed by priests in his diocese. This is the first case in which a high-ranking church hierarchy has faced criminal charges for failing to inform authorities of church abuse by clergy. “This is a spectacular case, and, in Polish realities, essentially unprecedented,” said Artur Nowak, a lawyer, publicist and writer who appeared in a watershed documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic church in Poland. Prosecutors said that Tarnow bishop Andrzej Jez was aware of two cases of priests abusing underage altar boys. Church abuse scandals have even touched former Polish pope John Paul II.

Source: Taipei Times February 18, 2026 18:17 UTC