Catholic Priest Nabbed for Child Porn in Poland

Globalpost
May 15, 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130515/catholic-priest-nabbed-child-porn-poland

A 40-year-old Roman Catholic priest was taken into custody in central Poland under suspicion of possessing and distributing child pornography, a justice official confirmed Wednesday.

"A preliminary investigation has been launched. The man has been provisionally detained for three months," Inowroclaw public prosecutor Stanislaw Gluszek told Poland's Polsat News commercial TV.

Police confiscated the suspect's IT equipment.

Identified only as Marek M. for legal reasons, he was suspended from his duties as a Roman Catholic priest, which included teaching children catechism.

"He is still a priest, but he cannot administer any sacraments, nor can he preach," said Father Zbigniew Przybylski, spokesman for the Gniezno diocese.

Anyone found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography in Poland faces a maximum eight years behind bars.

A string of Roman Catholic priests have been prosecuted for paedophilia-related offences in recent years in Poland -- among Europe's most devoutly Catholic nations -- but the cases have not provoked any public outcry.

Alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests registered the "Be Not Afraid" foundation in Poznan, western Poland, last week intended to obtain damages from the Catholic Church, Poland's leading Gazeta Wyborcza broadsheet reported.

In April, Pope Francis gave a first pronouncement on the Catholic Church's pervasive paedophile priest scandal, urging Vatican disciplinarians to act "with determination" against the scourge.